Saturday, January 17, 2009

Parade of Christmas FOs - Part One

So, of course I meant to show off the Christmas knits much sooner, but then laziness life got in the way and so on. To make matters worse, I actually uploaded these photos ages ago but then discovered that posts don't write themselves. But, without further ado, let me show you the Christmas knitting!
In addition to the mittens I knit for my cousin (here), I knit several large (time-consuming) gifts for Christmas this year. The first of them was the Lady Eleanor stole that I knit for my mother:

By the way, this was December 27th. Note the complete lack of snow. In western PA. When I arrived home on the 22nd (at 5:00am - I had a real adventure getting to PA from Seattle, but thankfully I did arrive without anywhere near the hassle that many people had. When I have the strength perhaps I'll talk about it.), there was a ton of snow, which promptly melted and then fell again just as I was leaving. Such is life. Anyway, the stole...

Project Stats: Mom's Lady Eleanor

Pattern: Lady Eleanor, by Kathleen Power Johnson, from Scarf Style. Raveled here.

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, colorway 221, about 9 skeins. Yarn purchased from Little Knits.

Needles: Size 9 bamboo circulars.

Time to knit: July 15-August 21, 2008. Talk about getting a head start on the Christmas knitting! This was my Ravelympics project, although I did start a tad early because I was so excited to get going.

Modifications: I made this stole two squares narrower than the pattern suggests. I find mine to be a bit cumbersome and I thought something slightly narrower would be easier to wear.

Impressions: I'm really happy with this, In fact, I like it much better than the one I made myself, and I did contemplate keeping it and giving my mother mine, which she's seen and liked. I love, no, adore, Noro Silk Garden. I know a lot of people complain about Noro yarns having random bits of grass/sticks/etc in them, and being scratchy, but to me this is part of their appeal. Plus, Silk Garden? Not scratchy. I like the "rusticness" of Noro, and use it whenever I can. It's such perfect yarn for this project, and it really does get even softer upon blocking. This pattern is really fun - enterlac looks all tricky and complicated but it's really easy if you just trust that it's going to work out, and it's addicting because you always want to do just one more square. My mother was very happy with this and wore it often while I was home, and I don't think that's just because I was watching...but if it was, I don't want to know. So, I count this one a resounding success!

Next up, the vest of improvisation...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Emily, My hair looks good! I wear the scarf all the time. I am still debating the fringe. I like it, but I have 2 issues. It drags on the ground if I am warm and unwind it some and I have caught it on everything from a shopping cart (sounds impossible, but I assure it is not) to a doorknob to a branch. love, mom

Anne-Marie said...

I was wondering where that picture was taken... no snow in December! who would have thought?

f. pea said...

Wow, that stole is awesome! I have been itching to start an entrelac project... thanks for the inspiration!

Jodi said...

It turned out beautifully! Knitting ahead for the holidays is definitely the way to go. I started this summer, too, and it completely paid off.