A trap of my own devising.

It's November 10, there are approximately 40 knitting days until Christmas..... Notice I said "knitting days" not "shopping days"...... and really, if I think about shipping times... it's more like 25 knitting days...... yikes! The trap of Christmas knitting has been set, concealed and sprung......

Last year I knit several of my loved ones items for Christmas and although I enjoy giving my knitting to other people, the actual PROCESS of knitting on a deadline sucks.... I'm a moderately fast knitter, I think, but for some reason, the moment I feel like a deadline is looming... I stress. Last year was no exception and it was about 2 seconds after the last item was finished, I decided that I would only knit for gifts on alternate years.... well, except maybe my Dad's, now annual, socks.... and if I'm knitting something for him, I should knit something for Caren, his wife..... and if I'm knitting something for Caren, I should probably knit something for my Mother-in-Law.... and if I'm knitting something for my MIL, I should probably knit something for.... (insert recipient here). You see the trap, right??? Apparently, I did not... even though I set it myself.

My Christmas knitting has now grown.... and I thought of a new one or two today....... sigh..... Oh... and now that I have all of these Christmas creations to complete, I have found not one, but TWO sweaters that are begging me to cast on...... I even have the yarn for one of them.... maybe I should do a quick gauge swatch??? No! I must resist! and NEXT YEAR, I am determined! No Christmas knitting!!! ..... well....... except, knitted gifts are special and let's face it none of the people that I knit for are easy to buy for....... Perhaps I should space it out a bit better instead....... there. Next year's trap is already in place.... remind me of that next year... Ok?

My list so far (I'm only posting pics of stuff for people that I know don't read my blog... I don't want to give it ALL away).

1) Syd: Handspun, handknit scarf (this was supposed to be a just-because gift, but I'm sending it for Xmas) - Finished

2) Dad: Finished

3) Caren: 25%

4) MIL: Idea is brewing, not sure if I can complete for Xmas or not.....

5) Chey: Dragon, Dinosaur or Snake scarf... perhaps of my own design.... 'cause I've got a great idea in my head..... Not started, but will be done last....

6 & 7) Nina & Natalya: Crochet Caps..... I've already made myself and Chey one (the pattern is AWESOME and ADORABLE... I hate hats on me and I still love this one!) ... I'm going to give Chey's to Natalya because it's a bit big for Chey and and the colours would be awesome for Natalya's jacket. PLUS mine is made from the same yarn so it's a bit too matchy, matchy for my taste......


Those are just my "for sure" presents.... and looking at them itemized, they don't seem too bad..... except the list started as ONE..... and now is SEVEN.... in just a few days.....

Here are the cute hats..... the pattern is called "Swirls Cap" (ravelry link). It only took me about 3-4 hours to make. I used a thick fusible webbing for the hat brim, so the hats should be washable...... The designer had stopped offering the pattern for a while, but I noticed that it's back up....



I do have a funny story about Chey's hat. While I was making it, I asked her if she would rather have a flower instead of buttons like mine. She replied that she "hates flowers!". I asked her why and she looked at me and said, in a very serious voice "because, flowers don't kill you" (I'm assuming she meant "you" in general and not me in particular.... at least I hope so).... I told her she was getting a flower anyway and when it was done, she said it was nice because "it looks like a mouth with teeth so it can bite you" (eh? a mouth??? I don't see it, but whatever works to get her to wear the darn thing)........ her obsession with all creatures dangerous has apparently reached new heights...... I think my days of dressing Chey as a girly-girl are numbered..... she's definitely heading down the tomboy road..... sigh......

Hallowe'en and knitting.

Happy Hallowe'en (sort of, it was last night after all). I hope everyone had fun with the ghouls and ghosts and princesses last night!

Hallowe'en was great at our house. We were all a bit sad that my friend Christina and her boys couldn't come as her oldest was very, very ill.... We've made it a bit of a tradition to go together and have only missed a couple of years since we moved to Calgary. This year was particularly sad because they are moving to Egypt and we may not be able to go again...... sigh.

On a more upbeat note, our decorations were a hit! Dale went all out and blacked in our front porch with black plastic. I told him it couldn't be too scary (there are a lot of tiny children in our neighbourhood), but wanted it to be a bit nerve-wracking. That worked. Particularly with the older kids. They would stop at the end of the garage and we could hear them discussing who would go first ("I'm not going first! You go first! I KNOW someone is going to jump out at us!")... then would then creep towards the porch, giggling nervously..... and then... nothing. We didn't have anything too scary, just some fog, a strobe light and a few decorations... it was all about the approach. Not knowing whether it was scary or not seemed to be the best part. The funniest event was a brief moment when Dale came in the house to re-load the candy (we're guessing 100-150 kids again) and a 8 or 9 year old boy came to the door.... we heard an enormous scream and a huge crash and then a burst of hysterical laughter. Apparently the storm trooper I had hanging in the window scared the begeezus out of him (I thought of a scary mask, but I wanted startled, not reduced to nightmares)... he was so scared he even dropped his huge bag of candy.... the laughter was his mother..... I thought later, that I should have asked her for her number.... I liked her sense of humour.




Chey decided to be a Dragon this year and told me I needed to be a princess ('cause Dragons eat princesses...... I tried not to take it personally) and Eli chose Pikachu. I don't normally make costumes for the kids... I'm a good mom, but not "Super-Mom", but we couldn't find a Pikachu his size (that was a price I was willing to pay) and so, I sighed and said I'd try.... Turns out, I'm not bad at making costumes...... No pattern, just a stuffed PIkachu (a Pokemon character, for those readers who don't have small-ish children, or who are lucky enough to have children too small to know what Pokemon are) to go from...... The costume went so well, I even offered to make one for Devin (the boy who ended up being to sick to Trick-or-Treat)... his also turned out exceptionally well, all things considered.

Here we all are. Dale was originally going to be the tooth fairy, but we couldn't find the fairy wings in the kids costumes, I must have thrown them out at some point, tattered and ripped as they were.

The weather was great and the kids had fun (as did we)..... I love Hallowe'en.


I also finished my test knit this weekend. It's absolutely lovely. I've written down my mods on my Ravelry project page, and so don't feel the need to repeat them here. But here is a picture.....