Some show and tell finally

Now that gifts have been given, I can finally boast about a few things.

I knit these for Lucas in the summer, wrapped them up in several layers of zip lock baggies just in case moths found them and nearly forgot to put them in his stocking. A basic pair of socks, no fancy patterns, just good old green socks that work well as a head band.

This photo makes no sense in this post, but it is too funny to exclude. Lucas at the back door, pretending to be a cat wanting in. We didn't let him in for a few moments. That's what he gets for smoking behind his mother's back. Yes, he's nearly 30, and can smoke if he wants to, but what the hell is he thinking? His health, my health, his insurance costs, his budget, nag, nag, nag.  Done.

For Phoebe, who loves tea, I found this wonderful colour work pattern (here)

This is a much cuter pattern than it shows. The entire poem of  "I'm a little teapot" goes round and round with abstract patterning between the lines. I saw it done up in much more cheerful colours and loved it. It is pretty easy.

and gradually knit them up. You'd think that with her living in Ottawa I would have tons of time to complete the knitting without her seeing the gift. It always seemed difficult to get this project rolling but persistence paid off. I did do the steeks differently. I zigzagged up the steek lines with the machine twice, but then used a red cotton to edge the openings; One for the handle of the teapot, one for the spout. I like this better because it doesn't stretch out. Had I used a button hole stitch or a wrap stitch, the openings might have stretched out of shape over time.

Phoebe is pretending to be her teapot.

Poor Steve. I have a pair of socks on the go for him, but it was even harder to knit without him seeing this project than for Phoebe's. His socks are currently unfinished. He has lots of others. It's the thought that counted, at the time.

The Let it Snow cross stitch is finished except for turning it into a little pillow. What on earth a little pillow with a Christmas motif has to do with Christmas, I don't know, but this is the second one I've made.

Once Christmas was over, I cleaned up the studio (again) and pulled out this great horse fabric for a shirt for Phoebe.

I thought she wanted to make it, she was sure I did. It took us a day or two to figure out who was doing what. I sewed, Phoebe problem solved. There were several poorly worded instructions and the insets around the cuff were murder. I've done a few before on men's shirts, but these did not make sense. We invented our own method. The button strip in the background was also awful, but it turned out to be a cutting error, again due to poor instructions. Steve saved the day on that issue.

I'll be making this for myself in a few weeks and will discuss it more fully then. In the meantime, I have the projects lined up for 2017. Several paper pieces, several cloth pieces, a third Christmas pillow, a whole bunch of clothes to sew and several writing projects. I also have the alto recorder to learn, choir to attend, and a water colour  on-line course to work through. There will not be a shortage of projects, but maybe a shortage of attention span. This has been a problem for the last few months due to some family issues, but those seem to be unkinking.

To top it all off, the cat has acne! She was too embarrassed to pose. Have you ever heard of this before? She needs a daily facial cleanse and an acne cream. The shenanigans around this make those years of teenagers with skin blemishes pale in comparison. (ha ha, a pun)

To keep us all bright this winter, we are passing a travel guide on Iceland around the family. Each person gets to choose what to do for one day and the rest of us have to tag along with good cheer. We did this when the kids were around 10 & 12 on a trip to Washington and Virginia and those were the best days of the two weeks. Lucas gets the travel guide first, then we will mail it to Phoebe. Steve will be next and I will be last. We hope to go to Iceland in the early spring and we are all really excited about this.