Handmade Christmas 2018

I didn't make very many Christmas gifts in 2018 - I had a 7-month-old, I'd been back at work for a rather overwhelming fall semester, and we were flying cross-country to visit family for the holiday.  In the end, I made two gifts, both from kits I bought from Connecting Threads.  The first one was a Santa Claus apron for my husband, who cooks and bakes a lot (since our son was born in May 2018, he's made dinner almost every night and baked bread and desserts at least two or three times a week, as I've struggled to keep my weight up while breastfeeding).  He also gets really into the Christmas spirit, so when I saw the kit for the apron I really wanted to make it for him.  The kit was really well done and pretty easy to sew up - you can't quite see it in the picture above, but the apron has two large patch pockets on the front, so it's quite functional!

The other gift I made in 2018 was an advent calendar for my son.  This kit is for a quilted advent calendar with small pockets, which are topstitched onto the quilted background so they are almost invisible.  This is really adorable, and hopefully he will enjoy it as he gets older.  This year, we put little dove chocolates in the pockets, and he really enjoyed eating them when we remembered to let him (and he learned to say "please" for his chocolate!).  For next year, we need to figure out a location and method for hanging the advent calendar where we can see it and where toddler hands and dog mouths can't reach it easily.

Old man sweater

This is the last of my Christmas gift knitting ... finished in April!  Robert had been wanting an "old man sweater" since Christmas 2015, when I made an olive green cable cardigan for our nephew, who was then six months old.  I wanted to knit one for him, but I wasn't quite sure what he wanted, and I definitely didn't want to knit him something he wouldn't like.  When the Interweave Knits Winter 2017 issue showed up, with a feature on sweaters for men, I was excited, and with Robert's cooperation, I mashed up two of the patterns in it to make this sweater for him.

He decided he wanted a pullover, not a cardigan, and we agreed that a shawl collar was required.  This would point to the Donegal Sweater, but he thought the collar poofed out too much at the back of the neck, and he wasn't wild about the stitch pattern - he really wanted cables.  He did like the cable panel on the back of the Belfast Cardigan, although he didn't like the overall fit or styling on the model.  So I replaced the decorative panel on the Donegal Sweater with a slightly adapted version of the cables from the Belfast Cardigan (the stitch counts were only off by one, so that was pretty easy).  I measured a ready-to-wear sweater that he wore a lot last fall and winter to choose the size, and then I started knitting.

Unfortunately, I started with the wrong size needles, so I had to re-knit half of the first sleeve when I didn't get gauge, and I was also knitting or sewing several other things for Christmas, so I ended up wrapping one and a half sleeves to put under the tree on Christmas morning.  I finally finished the sweater in April, and Robert loves it!  He got to wear it several times before the weather warmed up too much for wool sweaters, and every time he wore it he eagerly reminded me that I had made his sweater!  The fit is pretty good - the sleeves are a bit long and wide, but that certainly hasn't stopped him from enjoying wearing it.

Pattern: Donegal Sweater, with modifications
Size: 47"
Yarn: Valley Yarns Northampton, Color #50 Medium Grey, 100% wool, seven skeins
Needles:  US6 for ribbing, US9 for body
Started/Completed: December 2016/April 2017
Modifications: Replaced the decorative stitch pattern on front and back with cable panel from the Belfast Cardigan.  Reduced height of the the back neck shawl collar

Scarf and Mittens

I am way behind on posting the things I made last fall!  When we moved to what Robert affectionately calls "the frozen North" last summer, I promised to make Robert a scarf and mittens.  He previously owned a pair of leather gloves and a fleece hat, but not a scarf or mittens, and we knew he would need them for the winter.

The scarf is a ribble pattern.  I had Robert page through my stitch dictionary to see what he liked, and then I suggested the reversible cables as something that would be thick and warm, and not too much of a pain to knit.  I cast on 86 stitches, knit a few rows of garter stitch, then switched to ribbles with a 3-stitch garter border on each side, knit until it was as long as he is tall, and finished with a few more rows of garter.  I was somewhat reluctant to knit a scarf because I remember them taking forever and being pretty boring, but I was pleasantly surprised that this came together quickly - and he loves that I made it for him.

The mittens have a ribble cuff to match the scarf.  I spent a lot of time browsing Ravelry for free mitten patterns.  Although I have a really fun mitten book (Knit Mittens!), all of the patterns in it are pretty fancy, and I wanted something plain.  I eventually settled on this vintage pattern.  I also came across this stranded pattern on the same site - I'd love to make those in the future!

I originally wanted to make a matching hat to go with the scarf and mittens, but I didn't have enough yarn.  I only bought 3 skeins of yarn, and only have about 75 yards left.  Maybe next year I'll get another skein, hope the dye lots are close enough, and make the matching hat.


Pattern: My own brain for the scarf, vintage pattern for the mittens
Size: N/A
Yarn: Valley Yarns Northampton in Denim Heather (100% wool); 2.7 skeins = 270 grams = ~675 yds total
Needles:  US size 9 for the scarf, US size 5 for the mittens
Started/Completed: I don't remember - Fall 2016
Modifications: Ribble cuff instead of plain cuff for the mittens

 

Mending

I learned a new skill last week!  This sock (the first pair I made for Robert) has been sitting in my mending pile for several weeks.  I finally sat down and worked my way through the whole pile so I wouldn't have to move un-mended clothing.  I used this tutorial on how to knit on a patch, and I'm happy with how it turned out.  Next time I would pay more attention and make sure to knit the patch in the same direction as the socks - it didn't occur to me that this would be an issue when I was picking up stitches, but I think that would make it easier to graft the live stitches to the sock at the end of the patch.  I wasn't really thinking and knit this patch in the heel-to-cuff direction, even though the socks were knit cuff down.

The leftover black yarn from these socks is long gone, so I used some of the leftover navy blue from Robert's new socks.  Hopefully the patch will be hidden under his pant leg, so he can continue to wear these as dress socks!

Birthday socks

Robert's birthday was just over a month ago, and he had been wanting another pair of handknitted socks.  I knitted them in secret, but I didn't have enough secret knitting time to finish them before his birthday.  I ended up wrapping a package with one and a half socks in it, and then I finished the second sock a few days later.  He's happy with how they turned out, and they will help keep his feet warm in the cold Midwestern winter!

Pattern: From the recipe in More Sensational Knitted Socks (Alternating triangles stitch pattern)
Size: 70 stitches
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Sock in color 5601
Needles: US1 DPNs
Started/Completed: April 2016/May 2016
Modifications: No pattern to modify!

CMS/Colloquium knitting: Secret Socks

I started a new project in CMS last week - a project I'm not working on at home, because these socks are going to be a birthday surprise for Robert.  The yarn is Cascade Heritage Sock in a color that I think is navy but other people seem to think is black.  I cast on 70 stitches and I'm working a stitch pattern from the More Sensational Knitted Socks book (which is a fantastic book!).

I made a good start on it in my two hours on Thursday afternoon, and it came to church with me this morning.  I have a bit over a month to get it done, so I think it's definitely doable!

Handmade Christmas

My dad and his wife collect paintings of the mountains that are the view from their kitchen window by local artists they've met.  The walls of their house are overflowing with gorgeous landscapes.  They are also really difficult to shop for.  If there's something one of them wants, they buy it, and they don't like to have too much stuff lying around.  So for my dad's Christmas gift this year, Robert made a maple candleholder with the mountains carved into the front.  My dad has always really liked light natural wood, and this past summer he had the kitchen re-done with maple cabinets.  Robert and I think it turned out beautifully, and we hope my dad enjoys it!  We gave my dad's wife this shawl, and it seemed like she likes it a lot.

My mom made these hot beverage cozies for Robert and me.  The coffee press cozy is made from her handspun yarn that she and I dyed with coffee last August.  The bottle cozy matches one of my favorite pair of socks (which my mom knitted for me when I was in college).

Last but not least, Huck got this awesome bandanna from my cousin, who has recently started a business making these and doggie bow ties.  He looks so dapper in it!  He also seems to like (or at least not notice) wearing it.  It's cleverly constructed to fit on the collar, so he doesn't have something else tied around his neck.  I've tried to make him wear stuff before, and he's never been willing to put up with it, so I'm impressed that he is so happy to wear this!

Black dress socks finished

I finished Robert's black dress socks on Wednesday evening.  He is happy with them, and I think they turned out well!  I ended up having quite a bit of yarn left over, so I kind of wish I had made the legs longer, but it's always hard to figure out how long to make the legs on cuff down socks. 

I'm also making good progress on some other long-term UFO's...

Men's dress socks

A month or two ago, my husband Robert mentioned that if I was looking for knitting projects, he would wear a pair of dress socks if I made them for him.  Black dress socks immediately became my next knitting project.  I ordered some solid black Cascade Heritage Silk sock yarn and got to work.  I'm working out of the wonderful sock recipe book More Sensational Knitted Socks.  The color in the picture is not quite right - the yarn is black, but it's hard to get a photo that shows both the color and the stitch pattern at the same time.  This photo is already a bit old.  Since it was taken, I've turned the heel and started the gusset.

A wooden trivet

Robert finished this lovely trivet week-before-last.  He had been working on it for a long time - starting in the idea and sketching stage, then preparing the wood, kolrosing the design, and then oiling in and sanding to finish.

The wood is from a fallen tree in my father-in-law's back yard, and the leaves are the leaves from that kind of tree.  Kolrosing is a Scandinavian wood-decorating technique.  It involves scoring a groove in the wood, and then rubbing in finely ground coffee and cinnamon to create the color.  The Pinewood Forge website has some information about kolrosing - I think this is also where Robert ordered his tools.

The trivet is really lovely - the picture doesn't do it justice.  It now lives permanently on our dining room table!

Mini-quilt wedding gift

 My father-in-law got married, not this weekend that just ended, but the one before.  Robert and I wanted to make a nice gift for him and his now-wife because we think they are really awesome and wanted to commemorate their marriage (and what can you buy for parents - they are a firmly established household and could buy anything they needed or really wanted).  We decided on a cute mini-quilt (my part of it) with a lovely kolrose-d stand (Robert's part) similar to the one Robert made for our wedding cake topper.

I followed this tutorial at Two More Seconds for the heart applique, but made it a lot smaller.  Most of the fabrics are from a warm scrap pack I got on sale from Hawthorne Threads a few months ago, and a few are leftovers from other projects.    I embroidered their wedding date by hand before I sandwiched and (minimally) quilted it.

Here's the stand.  There are two narrow vertical sleeves on the back of the quilt to put over dowels that go in the holes of the stand.  The T and A are in blackboard bold (a mathy font - both my father-in-law and his wife are math professors), which fit perfectly because the theme of the wedding was "Nerd love"!

I didn't finish the binding on the quilt until the morning of the wedding and in my excitement to get it wrapped up I forgot to take pictures of the finished product ... maybe I'll get some the next time we visit ... or maybe I'll forget ...

Miniature herb garden

Two of our friends had a housewarming party on Saturday evening.  Robert and I decided to make a little indoor herb garden for them.  We picked out a strawberry pot, four different kinds of seeds (thyme, oregano, cilantro, and parsley), and a decorative pepper plant to put in the top.

It wasn't the right season to get seedlings, or that would have been our first choice, but Robert planted one kind of seed in each side hole in the pot, and we made little stakes to label which seeds went where.

We hope all of the seeds sprout!

Wedding cake topper (& stand!)

When Robert and I got married in April, my mom and a family friend of ours made the cake topper for us - the night before the wedding!  I got the idea for this from one I saw on Etsy, and it turned out really well.  Robert and I decided to save it as a keepsake, and he made a stand for it out of bird's eye maple. 

He used a decorating technique called kolrosing to write our wedding date on it, and finished it with some combination of oils.  Here you can see the gorgeous patterning in the wood.

Here it is on our beautiful wedding cake on our wedding day.  This last photo was taken by our lovely and talented wedding photographer, Alyssa of Dandy As Lions Photography.

A Kindle case

 Robert's birthday was just over a month ago, and I had a great idea for a birthday present for him, except that I didn't think of it until the weekend before his birthday, when I was gearing up to start teaching a three-week class and didn't have time to make it.  I finally had time to make it this week, and gave it to him a month late: a case for his Kindle. 

When Robert and I flew out for my mom's graduation last month, his Kindle was just floating around in my backpack with no case to protect it, so I decided that what he needed was a case for it.  I got this fabric in a scrap pack from Hawthorne Threads, and Robert had admired the boy going to outer space with his dog.  Since one of Robert's favorite genres is science fiction, I decided it was a perfect fit for his Kindle.  I mostly followed this tutorial at Live, love, quilt.  I made it to the Kindle's measurements (different from the iPad in the tutorial), decided not to quilt it, and used a hair-tie for the button loop.  I was worried about making the loop the right length, so I wanted to use something stretchy rather than fabric.  I'm mildly concerned about the elastic breaking or stretching out, but if that happens I can always pick apart the top-stitching and replace it. 

Robert seems happy with it, and I am also happy with how it turned out!

A productive day - and a Christmas tree!

After a lovely Thanksgiving on Thursday, yesterday I spent the day relaxing and working on some projects that I've been meaning to finish for a while now.  First I mended two sweaters that have been sitting in my drawer with holes since last winter, including this one that had a hole in the right elbow.  It's a delightfully warm and lightweight cashmere hoodie, so to fix the hole I needle felted a little heart over it.  Robert says he's never going to stop teasing me about "wearing my heart on my sleeve."

 I also finished the second of these two project bags.  They have a large buttoned pocket for yarn and a small sleeve for a pencil sewn into the lining.  I think they're the perfect size for sock projects.  One of them is headed for New York, where a new friend my mom and I met at yarn school last month lives.  She gave me some really lovely sock yarn, and I wanted to make her something to say thank you.  I hope she likes it!

Then this morning, Robert and I went out and bought a Christmas tree.  Then we went and got a simple felt tree skirt, six strings of white lights, a bunch of little red ball ornaments, and a lit-up star tree topper.  We also put on several gold and silver Rosendahl "Karen Blixen's Jul" ornaments that I already had.  Robert carved a little wooden tree ornament, and has plans to carve some more!

CMS/Colloquium knitting

 I made pretty good progress on my second embossed leaf sock in CMS and colloquium this week. 

Robert harvested the last of the basil on Saturday.  Here's what the plants looked like - they were getting pretty sad-looking, but Robert picked every single last leaf and we had enough green leaves to make a good-sized batch of pesto, and then we tossed the purple leaves whole into our pesto and homemade pasta.  Delicious!

Robert planted new plants from seed, so in a couple of weeks we should be eating lots of basil again!

Nøstepind - a Robert project

 While my mom and I were working on our quilt tops last weekend, Robert was inspired to work on a project, too.  He had almost finished my nøstepind a few weeks ago, and just needed to buy sandpaper to give it the finishing touches.  So he went and bought the sandpaper, and smoothed and polished the wood.  The handle was still a little bit too long, so he whittled the end off, and left a sweet signature on the bottom:

Then he gave it two coats of oil, and it was done!  I think it's quite wonderful, and I've already used it to wind yarn for my sweater.  Also, I gave back my mom's little Danish nøstepind that she had loaned us as a model.

Robert's hiking stick

Robert finished his hiking stick about two weeks ago. He smoothed out all of the rough bits, sealed it with multiple coats of polyurethane, and put a copper cap on the bottom end to protect it from wearing down with use. It's really quite beautiful.

His next project is a small nostepinne for me. Just about all of the commercially available nostepinnes I've seen are HUGE. My mom has a small one that she bought at a living history museum in Denmark in 1993, and Robert offered to carve me one that will fit my hands and the skinny sock yarn I usually knit with!

A Robert Project

Robert and I were on spring break week before last. We went backpacking with some family friends. Robert spent most of our daylight non-hiking time working on a beautiful hiking stick - removing the bark on the upper part and smoothing the surface with his knife. None of my pictures show him hiking with it, but I think our friends have some.