Christmas Musings

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We had several Christmas celebrations with family and friends this year.




Christmas Eve was spent at our house with both sets of our parents. A few years ago we started a tradition of opening Christmas crackers with our meal - it's always a fun time! Inside each is a paper crown and a small prize. I got a skull and crossbones tattoo - score!




We opened gifts that evening and Santa's helpers were there to make sure it went smoothly :)



On Christmas morning - we headed over to John's sister's place to open gifts and have breakfast with Simon. He was decked out in his finest Christmas PJ's and had fun tearing the paper off the presents. John gave Simon the sock monkey he made a few weeks ago.



I knit Simon an R2D2 hat - I love how it came out!! The pattern is here and more details are on my Ravelry page here. His dad and uncle are huge Star Wars fans - so I thought this was only fitting!



I also knit Simon these cute mittens. I made up the pattern as I went along and will probably write up the directions if anyone wants to make a pair for the little one in their life.



After breakfast - we headed to our friends Tara and Tien's annual Christmas open house. We had fun catching up and eating more good food!



After the open house - it was off to our third stop that day - Christmas dinner at my sister in law's husband's parents house. We had yet another wonderful meal, opened more presents and were entertained by Simon playing the piano!



I gave William the hat I made for him while we were there too. I told him I made this three different ways. I couldn't find any roving to match the colors I wanted so I used Jolene's drum carder and made a batt, then spun it up with little coils and bumps and then knit it. I think it suits him!



How was your holiday? I hope you had fun with family and friends.

Mittens mittens mittens!

I am so in love with these mittens! I was inspired to knit a pair after seeing these gorgeous mitts that were knit with handspun. I thought to myself - I have tons of handspun and I never seem to know what to make with just a single skein. Here is my solution!



Pattern: Classic Mittens - a simple free vintage knitting pattern on Ravelry here and online here
Yarn: Handspun dyed by Hello Yarn in the Turkey Attack colorway.
Needles: Size 8 DPNs
Mods: I just used the pattern as a guide and adjusted the fit as needed. That's the beauty of mittens - you can try them on as you go!

Here's the yarn before knitting it up:



Love these colors - they will go with my entire wardrobe.

I actually knit these in about 5 hours total - I just couldn't put them down!

Two Birds in Hand

I finally finished my Bird in Hand mittens. I started these back in February, but due to my fickle knitting nature - they were put aside for a bit.

Thanks to Sarah for finishing her beautiful pair - she inspired me to dig mine out and get back to work!




Stats:
Pattern: Bird in Hand mittens by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Berroco Peruvia - 100% Peruvian Highland Wool - 174 yds / 160 m - I had EXACTLY enough yarn in the main color to complete these mitts. I literally had about six inches left after I kichenered the second mitten.
Needles: Size 3 DPNs
Alterations: I changed nothing about the colorwork pattern, but I didn't knit all the "braids" that the pattern called for. I knit the first one, but it took so long and you couldn't even see it with the yarn I used - that I cheated and just knit Purl bands for the rest :)



My hands can't wait for it to get cold now!