SpiderWomanKnits

Happy Holidays to all the knitting lovelies out there in Blogland! Our days have been busy in a good way and we are about to embark on a week long trip to visit all the folks we love so I'll be absent from the blog world for a while. So many laughs have been had, gifts have been exchanged, cooking and baking has taken place, songs have been sung, and knitting has been done that these pictures below are such a small representation of our last week but here they are none the less...

A (not so great) photo of our tree. There is so much stuff on there for our first tree I don't know how we managed it. If you look close you will see the knitted ornaments and stars, my sons beads, my DH's popcorn and some embroidered ornaments I sewed with felt.
Christmas Eve. The little guy and me baking some chewy spiced cookies for Santa.
A completed and gifted knit for my brother. This is the Manos (green) vs. Malabrigo (grey) hat. We'll see what happens. My brother loved the hat, it fit him perfectly, and it matches his coat which was not intentional but still pleasing. Ah, the warmth.
So off we go on a week long journey to the Tri State area with gifts and good cheer in tow. I hope that everyone experiences the magic and peace that come along with this time of the year and I wish nothing but the most wonderful and creative New Year to everyone as well. "See" you all soon :-)

Just completed the Lopi Lace Scarf from Weekend Knitting and I love it! This picture is horrible and reflects the icy- cold-grey-day that we are having in New England. The scarf is purple. I mean purple in the truest sense. If I can get it off my neck it will be gifted to my friend Hildi who doesn't have a computer and therefore can safely say does not read my blog. Lucky for me this scarf works up in a day and I just happen to have another skein of the same yarn purchased from the Hawthorne Valley Yuletide Fair so if I can't get it off my neck, I'll just make another.

The Manos Fingerless Mitts I made are there too and I am greatly disappointed in this FO. The pattern is fine and works up super quick but after two days of use the Manos is HORRIBLE! I mean pilled and messy and just awful. It isn't often that I purchase Manos and I figured for a 1 skein project I could splurge a little but I just can't believe what happened to these. Has anyone else had this happen with Manos?

As soon as my little guy locates tha camera batteries he thought would make good cargo for his trains this morning I'll get some better pictures of the purple scarf, the mangled mitts, and our almost completed Christmas Tree.

My good friend and fellow knitter, Aileen, sent me the link for these quick and cute stars yesterday. They work up in about 5-10 minutes and take such a small amout of yarn. I've made about a dozen already and plan to adorn our with some a gift some to neighbors, family, and friends.

While I am busy knitting for our tree and for gifts, my son stayed busy beading this strand of garland. The wooden and silver beads have large enough holes so his little hands could manuver easily. He did a great job and is proud of his contribution. It took him a few weeks but he finally ran out of beads. And my DH has even been busy stranding popcorn! Tonight we'll dress our tree with all our handmade goodies (and a few store bought ones). Can't wait.

And now folks it's time for another installment of Deck the Halls with Balls of Yarn!

I knit have been knitting these ornaments up quickly both as gifts for extended family and for our own tree this year. The pattern (that is now entirely stuck in my head) is from Handknit Holidays, a book that is proving to be very useful and inspiring so far.

Ok. Back to it.

I am so busy knitting gifts I don't have very much time to blog. All that coupled with the fact that my little guy seems to be giving up his afternoon nap doesn't lend itself to much leisure.

Though I have to say I am enjoying all the holiday projects I have lined up. Including this one which will be another addition to our tree this year. Over the summer Jess and I struck gold at a garage sale and I picked up a bunch of single balls of mohair (pictured) for next to nothing. Well, now they are on their way to becoming homemade tree garland though I have to say I haven't even put a significant dent in any of the balls and probably won't. Then what to I do with single balls of strong colored mohair? Any suggestions?

So much knitting so little time :-) Back to work...

It wasn't this (there is actually a completed pair of Manos fingerless mitts now but I just didn't get a chance to take a picture of them yet)...

Or this (Yeah, I know it is just a PomPom but there is a whole bunch of them in the works and heading for our Christmas Tree this year. It's bigger than it looks in the picture) ...
but I did it anyway.