Happy Birthday & Merry Christmas

My birthday is in July. Last year (ie 2008) my sister-in-law ordered a copy of One Skein for me. It arrived at the beginning of December.

Since then I've knitted up two items from its selection of yummy patterns.

Petal Bib (Rav link)

Yarn: Bendigo 8 ply Cotton

Needles: 4.0 mm Knitpicks options

Mods: none

and Baby Hat (Rav link)

Yarn: Cleckheaton Bamboo

Needles: 3.25 Addi Turbo

Mods: knitted on smaller needles than pattern. Pattern knitted as per the larger size to give a hat for a newborn.

I'm really enjoying knitting patterns from this book. Probably because they've been pretty quick to knit up (duh).

So Birthday knitterly goodness flowed right up to Christmas.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, we drove up to Petlins, at Rhodes, to purchase a ball winder, and this

Now it's out from under the bed, and able to be used. I totally love it. Joe seems quite taken with the mechanics of the ball winder, and wanted to know if I had any more to wind. Well not just yet, but he can wind the next ball.

And from my parents in law I received something with this label.

Here it is sitting on the ottoman.

It hold so much, it reminds me of Mary Poppins' bag (though not made of carpet).

I only knitted one Christmas gift this year ...

A tie for my brother in law.

This was the project that spurred me on to try blocking with guitar strings. It was a lot more work than I imagined. Mostly in the lining ... I had calloused fingers from the sewing needle. He's promised to wear it at the next 'suitable occasion' (hmmm).

Pattern: Knitpicks Mens Bias-Knit Tie

Yarn: Patonyle

Needles: 3.25 Addi Turbos

I had a lot of trouble blocking the skinny end as wide as the specs indicated, which affected how well the lining sat. If I were to make this again (and I won't) I'd line it in a colour similar to the yarn (like the pattern suggests).

Looking through the photos on the camera, I actually knitted one and a half Christmas presents. Here's the half.

With the Christmas knitting out of the way, I'm plugging away at my Estonion lace stole (promise to post pics sometime soon), Joe's jumper (as soon as he tries it on to check the sleeve - again), and a pair of socks (in yummy squishy Koigu).