Holiday knitting!

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments on Gavyn. I hope that it works out for anyone who knits it!

It's December, 9 days until Christmas, in fact, and my holiday gift knitting is about 60% done. But, before December even got here, I finished my Christmas stockings for me and Bill.

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes and Bare Worsted. Colors: Fern, Evergreen, Winter Night. I bought 2 skeins of each Wool of the Andes and ended up using about 1 1/2 of each for the two stockings. I also used some leftover Classic AL in Aged Wine.

Pattern: Cascade Christmas Stocking [Ravelry] [Web Link]

Mods: I ended up knitting the heel with the decreases every round instead of every other round. Otherwise, it was too big and floppy. I also went back at the end, snipped a stitch and ripped out the top. I decided that knitting our names into the top would make the nicest looking finished result. I searched on Ravelry for a free letter chart and found this. I modified it a little to accommodate the size of my stockings, and I think it turned out great, if I do say so! I also did a ribbed edge at the top instead of a rolled one.

I also have done a little Christmas shopping for, eh, . . . myself. The latest issue of Interweave Knits featured a page on some lovely knitting accessories. I bought these:

4" x 4" and 1" x 1" gauge squares by KaratStix. They arrived in a lovely package and are just darling. They definitely beat my crappy tape measure I've been using!

Knit Klips [Website] With all the sweaters I knit and sew together, I thought these would be a great. I've already used them to seam together my Ribbon Trim Cardigan, and I didn't have to rip out the seam because of mismatched edges.

Hope you all are having a stress-free December. I got my Christmas cards done, and holiday baking is next. Anyone have a good recipe for oatmeal cookies? Happy Holidays!

Gavyn

Over the summer, I spent some time on Ravelry looking for a pattern for a one-year old boy. I didn't want anything cabled or fancy, and since I hadn't learned fair isle yet, I didn't want any of that. Oh yeah, and it had to free. There are TONS of patterns on Ravelry, but I had a hard time finding something with interest. Some of the great kid patterns like Trellis were too interesting and others like the Placket Neck Sweater were not interesting enough.

So....what to do, but make it up myself! I knit Beau for Bill before by winging the pattern, so I figured I'd just do the same thing, but shrink it down to kiddo size. The result: my first actually-written-up pattern, Gavyn, named after its recipient.

Pattern: Available on Ravelry as a free PDF download [HERE]. If you are not on Ravelry, please email me at fpknits at yahoo dot com and I will send it to you.

Sizes: 0-6 m, 6-12 m, 1-2 y, 2-4 y, 4-6 y

Yarn: During my journey to WEBS this summer, I picked up some Valley Yarns Superwash in Hunter Green (color 600). Since it's a kid sweater, it's gotta be washable. Pictured is the 1-2 year size and I used just over 3 balls of yarn.

Disclaimers: I did not test knit every size. I calculated the stitches based on the pattern (stripes and squares) and gauge. I did consult other kid patterns to see what the width, length, armhole opening, etc. should be. If you knit it, please let me know how it works out.

In my next post, I have lots of goodies to show you: new books, yarn and knitting accessories and some Christmas knits, too. Hope everyone is getting in the holiday spirit!