Yes Virginia, I really do still exist though my blog might indicate otherwise. I must say I was truly shocked to realize it has been 3 weeks since my last post. I knew I was delinquent. I guessed it had been roughly 10 days since I last posted. But I was blown away when I realized it had been three weeks. Twenty-one days! One week short of a month!!! Where has the time gone? Clearly I have been in a whirlwind that is the holiday/birthday/year-end season.
The weeks have been busy helping Miss K get ready for her Jr. High holiday faire. She and a friend made 40 pairs of flannel PJ's and shorts! They also made 10 tied fleece blankets. It was a huge amount of work but they did quite well and sold all but 3 pairs. They were very excited. A special thanks goes out to my Mom who was really the laboring oar with the help. Miss K did most of the sewing herself but Grani was there for moral support, assistance when needed and the seam ripper. It appears that much as I hate frogging my knitting Miss K hates ripping a seam. Do you think that could be genetic?
On the knitting front I have been working on a holiday scarf for myself. I had not intended to but was in the yarn store and saw the most gorgeous shades of deep red and green in Touch Me yarn. I decided to splurge but then had to find just the right pattern. I recalled seeing a cute scarf made in ribbing with two colors. The "bumps" where one color and the "valleys" were another. I knew that was what I wanted but I could not remember where I had seen the pattern. I looked and looked and looked and finally realized it was 2 color brioche. I cast on, ripped out, cast on ripped out and cast on again. I couldn't get it right. Then I tried stripes - both horizontal and vertical. Then I cast on the brioche again. I was making good progress (about 10 inches) when I made a mistake. I tried to go back but the stitches got messed up. In a fit of frustration I frogged the entire scarf. I knew I only had one more chance. Both my patience and the yarn were worn quite thin. So I went to the good ole Babs Walker treasury and found a two color slip stitch that just might work. It had the look of brioche and also the pattern looked a bit like little Christmas trees to me. It is not reversible but the back side looks nice enough. I'm now just about half way done and glad I finally found the right patern. The photos really don't do the yarn justice but you can see the stitch. I was worried that the scarf would be too short as I didn't buy much of the yarn but I think it will turn out to be about 50+ inches long so that will work just fine.
I also finished the girls holiday hats. Miss K (the wearer of all things green) got the green and red one in 2 color brioche (hey - I had to use it somewhere!) The red was really too thin - if I do it again I need a thicker yarn but it turned out pretty cute. There are some serious flaws in the decreases but luckily they are hidden where the hat folds. I was on a serious deadline to get the hat done before the town light parade and I finished about 5 minutes after we were supposed to be there! For some reason I would knit round and round and round and it didn't seem to grow very quickly.
Horsey Girl's hat is a more typical santa hat but the yarn is stretch and sparkly so it gives it a bit more pizzaz. They both wore them to the light parade and looked adorable but I'm not sure they'll ever wear them again. I hope they will. Next year I'll add one for the Little Man.
I hope everyone is enjoying the season and that your holiday crafts are going well.
After Christmas we headed up to Oregon to spend some time in the snow. As we were packing to leave sunny California (where it is unseasonably cold at 55 degrees) to head to sub freezing temperatures I realized something that amazed me. Astounded me really. I. Have. No. Hats! Can you believe it? Me of the ever loving, hat knitting craze? Seems I've given them all away! 
This one's for 
