Saturday, December 22, 2007

Still busy

Only 2 days left until the 24th. I am still busy finishing up the knitted gifts. I hadn't planned on knitting most of these, they were somewhat last-minute ideas. When I bought fiberfill 2 weeks ago for the Hedwig owl that I had started in August for Thomas I thought I could also knit a doll for Ellen for Christmas, especially since she will be getting a dollbed that my husband and the boys built for her. And so I quickly finished this little boy

It was a fast knit, only the finishing took some time. And I already changed the pattern to knitting in the round for the 4 limbs and the pants to avoid too much seaming. It was a fun way to use up a lot of the cotton yarns that have accumulated from kids' sweaters over the last few years. And since the doll will need a blanket in her new bed I started this:


It is going to be a log cabin doll blanket, based on the pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting. And it is using up some of my wool leftovers from various projects. I am almost done with it now, just have to add a border.
After finishing this I hope I will be able to work on the Hedwig owl. And maybe even a hat for my husband.
Back to knitting.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Es weihnachtet sehr ....

When I was a child we didn't get to see our decorated Christmas tree until Christmas Eve - all lit up with real candles! But now that I live in the US we set up and decorate the Christmas tree in the beginning of December but still leave it up until January 6th.

Of course I couldn't resist buying this little ornament when I saw it at One Thousand Villages last week:


I was also busy with the advent calendar for the kids. Since they still had Halloween candy left over they are getting puzzle pieces every day until they each have a full puzzle on the 24th.


There is still some time for knitting though. I finished another hat for Ellen. I love the colors and the feel of the Lorna's Laces yarn. I especially like how the top of the hat turned out. It is just ribs alternated with twisted ribs.

I bought the yarn for this hat without much thinking and decided that the colors didn't look good on me. But I think I know who will like them and so I now have a Christmas gift for her. It is the yarnharlot's Unoriginal Hat knitted in Malabrigo Worsted (double stranded).


And I started another gift - the boy doll from Zoe Mellor's Knitted Toys. I only bought the beige yarn for the face and body, all the rest is various leftover yarn. I couldn't decide if I should do the fairy doll or the boy for her. If I get it done fast and it turns out, I might just make the fairy doll also.