holiday knitting revealed!

So it seems like everyone likes their knitted gifts. I’m so glad! I started last January and made good progress up until summer. I finished up after it got cold again. Everything was in the mail and delivered on time. I think this is a record for me!

handmade christmas knitting

These are wrist warmers from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts: ladies’ version. I made a cowl to match using the same spiral rib pattern. The yarn is Patons SWS, which I really love! Michael’s put this on clearance last year right after Christmas and I bought a ton. I have no idea why they stopped carrying it. The colors are so beautiful.

handmade christmas knitting

These are wrist warmers from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts: men’s version with matching cowl in Patons SWS. My brother-in-law asked me if I realized that these were really “in” right now. I told him I had my finger on the pulse of the latest knitting trends!

handmade christmas knitting

Another set of wrist warmers, but I didn’t have enough to make a circular cowl. I had to knit this one flat and add a button. The purple wool was from my stash, so there was no getting more! Luckily it blocked nicely. The yarn is Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, the only wool that doesn’t itch its recipient.

handmade christmas knitting

Finally, a new hat for my brother — in Virginia Tech colors, of course — and a matching cowl. The hat is Hot Head from Stitch ‘N Bitch and the cowl is a matching 2×2 rib. The yarn is Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky.

project notes: Everything went as planned with these. Next year I’ll be sewing gifts, instead. Guess I better get started soon!

i forgot the combination

These wrist warmers are knit in the round until you get to the thumb. You go back and forth until the thumb is finished and then go back to knitting in the round. As you can see on the left, I was having issues with the thumb section and I couldn’t figure out why.

wrist warmers

A little back story: When I do ribbing in the round, I knit continental and purl combination. I don’t know why. It just seems easier to me. When I’m going around and around, it doesn’t matter. What I failed to remember is that when I go back and forth, my stitches are twisted. Doh!

So, both wrist warmers were finished, but in the back of my mind they were bugging me. I don’t remember exactly when I realized my mistake. It was probably in the shower. Isn’t that where all of our a-ha moments occur? Last night I ripped back to the beginning of the thumb and paid closer attention to the orientation of my stitches. The fixed one is on the right.

Now that I’ve figured it out, I feel kind of dumb.