I spent the entire month of December knitting as quickly as possible. Afterwards, my hands were so cramped I didn’t even want to look at knitting, let alone take carefully posed photographs of it to share on the internet. I gifted several items neglecting to document them first, but here are a couple that I managed to catch on their way out. Thanks, in part, to my awesome photographer sister (bet you’ll never guess which of the photos are the ones she took!), here are some of the crafty things I’ve made:

Cabled fingerless gloves for the sis. Since she is a photographer, she needs her fingers free to hit buttons and whatchamacallits on her doodads; this does not mean the rest of her hands should have to freeze.

Pattern: Cabled fingerless gloves, also a Yarn Barn Pattern
Yarn: Wool / silk blend from my favorite LYS, The Yarn Barn
Time to complete: About 2 days, knitting off and on.
Notes: Lovely, well-written pattern. Will have to make a pair for myself, once I become unbroke again and can afford shiny silk blends.

Slipper socks for the brother-in-law. He’s been needing slipper socks for some time, so I thought I’d finally set myself down to making them. Unfortunately I chose colors that he can’t distinguish, being color blind. Doh!

Pattern: Moccasin Socks from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Around
Time to complete: 4 days, again working on and off
Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash in Fired Brick and Truffle
Notes: These didn’t take too terribly long, but I should have started them earlier…I ended up having to wrap one sock with an IOU for its soon-to-be-completed brother. One day after gifting and it was already well-coated in cat hair, as you can see in the photo.

The cursed sweater’s send-off, before its bon voyage across the sea.

Pattern: Leo, from the Fall ‘04 Issue of Knitty
Time to complete: Way too fucking long!
Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash in Coast Grey
Notes:
1. I’m not sure if it was the pattern sucking (hey, some finished measurements might help for someone who does not knit at the exact gauge or use the same expensive yarn as the author!), or me being completely spatially challenged and unable to adapt a vague pattern to my specific needs. Likely, an unholy combination of both factors.
2. Yeah, the sweater curse, in this case, more or less held true. Oops!
3. He doesn’t like the neckline. Boo. Well, I think it looks nice on me.

Panda for my roommate, who has a bit of an obsession with the lovable creatures.

Pattern: Of my own devising (yes yes, I will post it when I get a chance to write it out!)
Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, in Coal Black and Natural
Time to complete: Approximately one week
Notes: Originally I was going to felt this, which is why I got WoTA in Natural instead of in a white color (yarns that have been dyed white tend not to felt so well due to the chemical treatments). But I was lazy and decided that felting a black and white panda would be far too much hassle than it was worth. And anyway, the recipient was pleased with the unfelted result.

Daisy the hat.

Pattern: Roughly based on Crazy Aunt Purl’s roll-brim hat recipe, though obviously, as you can see, Daisy does not have a rolled brim.
Yarn: The noble Lion Brand Homespun
Time to complete: 4 hours
Notes: I had planned a knitting group meeting a few weeks ago, but had to cancel because Nature decided to rain down icepicks and razorblades dusted in crystalline sugar that day. So, bored out of my mind, I knitted myself a companion for my head. Daisy has been a trustworthy hat ever since, and the best part is, she is machine washable! (My head had heretofore been exposed to the elements uncovered, due to my unfortunate tendency to accidentally felt my wool hats. Luckily, Daisy is machine washable).

Other things I made:
1. Scarf for my dad, which he subsequently turned into an excuse to make rabbi jokes. Good ol’ Dad!
2. Scarf for my stepmom, to which I got so attached, I wore it out to a bar a few nights before I actually relinquished it to her possession. Hee hee.
3. Scarf for Indie Dan, who desperately needed one. I made it kind of long and skinny, to kind of resemble him.
4. Felted cloche for Louise, which is still not yet completed (she’s still working on my Christmas present, so I don’t feel quite as guilty)

It doesn’t seem like all that much, especially comparing to serious knitting blogs (which, of course, this is not), but I do feel I could slow down on the knitting for a bit! Doesn’t mean I will.