X-Mas Crackers uncracked

 After months and months of planning and knitting X-Mas gifts, the time has come for my big reveal.  The first gift I started working on took the longest to complete.  The planning began in June and the yarn arrived in July.  I had to special order a specific quantity of The Fibre Co. Arranmore Light in St. Claire.

It is a luscious 80% Merino/10% cashmere/10% silk blend made in Donegal, Ireland.

My MIL is Irish-American and I wanted to make her something with Irish heritage yarn using one of the patterns from the collection of MDK field guides she gave me for my birthday.  I chose the Corrugated Shawl.  It's also worth mentioning that because I enjoyed all of the field guides so much, one of my X-Mas gifts from Matt this year is new a 2021 MDK field guide subscription. 

One evening, August 24th to be exact, Xena was being particularly annoying and she spilled tea all over the partially finished shawl.  This led to me frantically washing and blocking it and it gave me a nice preview of what the finished shawl might look like.

I finished knitting the shawl on September 20, right in the midst of the of the Scrappy Happy Pals KAL I participated in over the summer/fall. 

It took 4 days to block and dry.

It took quite a bit of work getting it all pinned down in the limited space of our tiny apt.

I am always fascinated by how simply blocking a garment transforms the fiber into a fluffy, relaxed new entity.

This was such a fun and soothing project to complete but I must admit that some of the sequences definitely required a lot more concentration and counting than others.  

I'm pretty sure that this was the longest shawl I've ever knit. 

 

My MIL is tall and she since she lives in Boston, I wanted her to have something that she could wrap around and around to keep warm during the winter.

 

Here she is modeling her new shawl.  It fits perfectly!

 

It is very rewarding to knit a gift that fits so fine!

 

For Matt's stepdad, I knit these hilarious and adorable golf club mitts from a vintage 50s pattern using vintage yarn that was very hard on my hands.

Then I knit the Baby Sophisticate cardigan pattern by Linden Heflin for baby Armen.  I used Utiku Corriedale wool from Taihape, New Zealand in the Gravel colorway, shade 172.  The weight is somewhere between worsted and aran.  

I knit the 6-12 month size of the pattern.

 

But of course, that wasn't enough. Because I had some leftover yarn, I tried to knit Armen some mitts but then realized that even the smallest pattern was too big so needless to say, Xena now has a new pair of mitts.  I used a vintage Candide pattern that I dug out of our X-Mas archives at work.  

But because it was a 416 yd ball of yarn, very similar to the tale in Extra Yarn, coincidentally a book given to me by Armen's parents, I still had even more leftover so I made a hat!

I used the Ombre Elf hat pattern from work.

By that point in time I had some yarn leftover from another FO so I also knit some baby socks.

Who can resist knitting baby socks?! They're so fun and cute and they knit up so fast; they're like instant gratification.  No pattern.  I just used sock yarn, cast on 40 stitches using a size 2 needle.  I made the heel 10 slipped stitches tall (so I picked up 10 on each side for the gusset).  I used a star toe.  After I got down to 24 stitches total on the toe, I decreased every round until I had 8 stitches left and seemed them up like the top of a hat.

The socks are still a little big for baby Armen (which is a good thing) but the hat and the cardi fit perfectly!

For my cat obsessed friend, Jenny, I knit the legendary Professor Meow Pullover pattern from Knitpicks.

It comes in a kit and uses their Wonderfluff yarn.

I knit the smallest size of the pattern.  It was beyond easy to follow and I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to try their hand at basic intarsia.

I didn't bother to block it because it has a perfect natural drape.

It fits like a charm and Jenny assures me that she's been proudly wearing it everywhere.

You know it's a job well done when your sweater makes it into the Hanukkah family photo.

I loved this pattern so much, I plan to knit one for myself and perhaps another few as future gifts.

Then it gets a bit murky because I was knitting so many different gifts, I didn't bother to take detailed photos of everything.

But I did take some time to focus on these socks that I knit for my friend, Claire, using Manos de Uruguay yarn from her recently deceased mother (who was a very skilled and respected textile artist).  She specifically picked this yarn for me to knit a pair of socks with.  

I used the Bembe Pattern from 52 Weeks of Socks (and used the leftovers to knit Armen's baby socks above).

These are hats I knit for Etienne and Lou in Toulouse using the Classic 1x1 Ribbed Hat pattern from Purl Soho.  I also knit one for Matt's nephew in Rowan Tweed but forgot to take a picture.  Then I liked this Rowan Tweed color so much, that I finally just decided to make one for myself.

It's weird, I was hella into purple in the 80s but then I took a break from it and now I'm totally back into purple again.

It is possible to knit the adult size small of this pattern with only one 50g ball of Rowan Tweed but it requires a little extra if you want to add a pom pom.

 Last but certainly not least, I knit another humongous shawl.  This time I knit the Off-Center Faded Shawlette pattern from work for my SIL.  This was a very satisfying accomplishment for me because I've admired the shop sample for years and always wanted to try the pattern.  I used the following Dream in Color Smooshy (70% SWM/20% cashmere/10% nylon) colorways:

Simon & Susan 545 / Atelier / Riot Girls 543

The yarn is sold in 4 oz/400 yd hanks.  I couldn't resist posing for a photo with my mask and cake coordinating ensemble.

When I was in the middle of fading the final color into the shawl, (I swear I am cursed) Xena ripped the needles out of the my work, right at the center increases of the shawl.  It was impossible for me to repair her damage by laddering and in the end I was forced to insert a lifeline and rip back 2 days worth of work.  Fun times.

I used nearly every last inch of yarn to make this.

I was knitting down to the last second.  The shawl wasn't even finished blocking and drying until the very day that Matt left for Boston. 

Ironically, I'm still not sure if my SIL has even received it yet since they've been there but regardless of how well it is or isn't received, I believe it is truly a thing of beauty.

I find the subtle fades mesmerizing to look at.

Either side looks great; in fact, the purls create an even a subtler fade and because of the cashmere, the yarn is SO soft!

While I planned, knit, blocked and wrapped all of these gifts, I often thought about the importance of the entire process of gift giving.  It is incredibly special to me and not something I do lightly or would do for just anyone.  Sometimes it comes with little or no reciprocation, but that's not the point.  While the completion of all of these projects on top of the pandemic this year nearly killed me, I am also extremely thankful for all of the joy, education and let's face it - distraction - they brought me.

I am already more planning more gifts for next year.  I will never be an entirely selfish knitter but in 2021, I must admit that I do plan to knit many more things just for myself and/or Xena and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it.  I have an intentional desire to make holiday knitting less stressful and more bearable for many more X-Mas's to come!