Yes, Virginia, there was Christmas knitting...

And now that the recipients have their Christmas woolen snuggies in hand, on foot or around neck, I can post pictures of all the projects. 



As you can see, I went on a bit of a mitts jag this season.  So summing up (Sing along to "On the first day of Christmas..")

Five pairs of mitts
Four size 6 dpns
Three hours embroidering (OK, not that long but it felt like it.  Turns out the letter "S" is really difficult to freehand.)
Two soft wool scarves
and a Pair of nice warm socks for my hubby.
(Hey, I didn't hear you singing!)



There was a small rainbow of Maine Morning Mitts out of Noro Kureyon.



My DDS requested some mitts to go with her Ohio State sweatshirt.  So, tahdah!  Knitting the mitts was easy, finding red/black/white yarn was a fun quest,  embroidering "OSU" on them was not and not just because I wanted the letters to be sized and spaced perfectly.  Perfectly, I tell you!   OK, maybe that was the problem.   My DH kept saying, "The letters looked fine." as I ripped out the stitching for the sixth time. 

Pattern:  Basic mitten pattern from Ann Budd.  I just stopped before the shaping at the top of the mitten and thumb.
Yarn:  Lana Grossa Cento (1.2 balls)



And these mitts, made from my own handspun, went to our Mail Ma'am.  She's just a delightful mail carrier who not only delivers our mail with a smile but leaves our dog a treat everyday.  So she delivered the fiber, I spun and knit it, and returned the finished project to her.  Kind of a whole circle of life thing...only with fiber.

Pattern:  Fetching (According to Ravely (online knitting site), people have knit nearly 14,000  pairs of Fetching mitts.  That's just mind blowing!)
Yarn: My own BFL handspun from AllSpunUp

And finally...


Another pair of Fetching mitts for DearMomRoss to keep her hands warm around the house.  And when DearMomRoss opened them, she was just so thrilled with them she nearly made me cry.   More knitting coming her way....

Pattern:  Fetching  (Um, now 14,001)
Yarn: Sublime DK (Cashmere, Wool and silk)  Lovely soft stuff to work with.



A scarf for my DDS who requested a scarf long enough to wrap around her and keep her warm while walking around the hilltop campus.  Here are the stats on this one.

Length:  Nearly 7 feet
Yarn:  Nearly a fifth of a mile of yarn knit up in that one.  (Brown Sheep bulky -- wool and mohair)
Pattern:  K2P2 over and over and over and over and over.....and over.....and.....over.....K2....P2...in ...my....sleep



And if you ever want a quick buttery soft scarf, pick up some Malabrigo Chunky.  It's like knitting with marshmallows.  If you could stretch marshmallows out to make a yarn and form a stitch without them sticking to each other and degrading when they got wet and drying out over time.  Ok, not the best analogy.  But the yarn is incredibly soft and squishy. 

Pattern: Filippi scarf by Tamara Del Sonno from One Skein Wonders
Yarn:  Malabrigo Chunky (1 skein) in butter yellow (also for DearMomRoss)

Last knitted item:


And DH requested some new socks.  Here they are in a simple broken rib pattern some basic socks made from Berocco's new Vintage yarn.  Vintage has some nylon and acrylic in it so I'm hoping they will wear a bit longer than plain wool socks. 

I love knitting for Christmas because not only do I get pure enjoyment out of just knitting and creating something, but I get to think about the person I'm knitting for while I'm doing it. 

Here are a few pics from our Christmas holiday...


The traditional blinding-of-the-children-with-flash-photography when they descend the stairs pre-dawn on Christmas morning.  The brief resulting exclamations ran something like this   ..."Ahhh! Mom!  I can't see anything!"   "All I can see is a big yellow dot!"  Moms have to have some fun.   Complaints only echoed for about a half a second before they saw the tree with presents under it.



Um, Christmas cookies!

And this is DearSon's prize Christmas gift


Yes, a lego R2D2.  Yes, about an inch tall.  Yes, sometimes the best things do come in small packages.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and a peace filled New Year!