As Promised: The Knitted Gifts Gallery

After five months of concerted effort and diligent knitting I can present the holiday knitted gifts gallery. I started my planning in March with a list of folks for my holiday knit list. Then I reviewed patterns, chose the ones I wanted and shopped for yarn with specific people in mind. Once it was all gathered, I began knitting the small stuff first. Then life got in the way and I got slowed down.

By August I was re-evaluating my list and had joined Ravelympics. My plan was to get another batch of gifts finished and I managed to do that, seven projects finished in seventeen days.

I have knitted beaded hats and scarves** for all four nieces, plus hats and tudoras for the parents.

I also designed and created a nightcap** for the self-proclaimed oldest living elf in captivity. I am waiting for the report from him about how it works when he wears it to bed.








There are some gifts that failed to get photoed because of the last minute rush to get them finished and wrapped. And there are still a couple on my needles, plus the one for my mom that got wrapped as two skeins of sock yarn with a note - Let there be socks TBK - that will get started next week.

As you can imagine, I am working on my list for 2009 beginning this week. First I have to clean my knitting shelf so I can find the patterns I wanted to do for the 2009 Holiday season. And I have requests from the Evil Elf in Germany that there are needs for more knitted items for his family.

**The beaded hat/scarf and nightcap patterns will be available soon from my blog and linked to Ravelry for anyone who needs to treat the special people in their life to fun knits.

Moebius Update: FO and Lessons Learned

What have I learned from my first Moebius knitting experience? Lots of helpful hints for others wanting to travel this path with the brilliant Cat Bordhi and her interesting technique.

First, take a class! I had read through the instructions in the book several times, looked at the pictures and attempted to do as it said. Frustration is a keyword I will use to describe the experience. Once I saw it in class, book in front of me to match up each step, it began to make sense.

Second, once you have your initial project started, take up some other yarn and needles and to practice the cast on again. It is easy to forget how it goes together if you only do the cast on once every two weeks/project. Also, you might want to try a smaller needle size on the left needle (if you are using interchangeable circulars like Denise's) when you are knitting the first row. It helps the yarn move smoother onto your needle. Remember, gauge is determined by the right hand tip size.

Third, if you have the time, type up the instructions from the book into line by line format. Reading the instructions in paragraph form can be very confusing and lead to mistakes.

Fourth, use a distintively colored waste yarn, not even close to the color of your project.

Fifth, trust your abilities. Once you have completed the first one it becomes easier to understand how to use the waste yarn, pickup for the bowl part, and why you need complete, undistracted time during the cast-on, count and knitting the first rowfirst row.

Sixth, to get a nicely shaped basket, use the balloon method to dry it. It is best to begin blowing it up then insert it and continue to inflate until it is tight in the basket. These, pictured, dried for about three full days before I popped the balloon. They were made off the large basket pattern with the majority of a skein of Cascade 220.

These baskets turned out a good size and will make a fun accent to any room in the house. The purple one will be used to hold pencils, paper and post-its at my upcoming knitting classes. My next plan is to make a small one to see how that turns out.

I hope everyone is enjoying Spring and finding fun and passionate pursuits!