Believe it or not, I managed to knit a few Christmas gifts in 2010. Unfortunately, I’m not completely thrilled with all of them. (Nor with the photos I took of them, but the lighting and timing was far from ideal. Oops. Kris fail.) But… let’s talk about those, shall we?
First off, something for my niece!
Pattern: Elefante by Susan B Anderson
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Ice Blue
Needles: US4 Plymouth Bamboo circulars and DPNs
Non-deliberate modification: I didn’t sew the ears on quite the way the pattern called for, because I kind of wasn’t paying attention. Deliberate modification: I made the trunk a little longer, just for kicks.
I actually like this a lot – it’s cute, and it stood up to T’s quality testing (and by quality testing, I mean yanking the heck out of all parts once I had everything sewn together). So it should survive a two-year-old, right? I’m not sure how my niece feels about her little Elefante yet as she was more fascinated by the wrapping on Christmas day, but maybe I’ll find out the next time I see her.
Next, we have something for my mother.
Pattern: Pretty Thing by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Plymouth Encore DK in color 217
Needles: US6 Clover bamboo circulars
Yes, I know a mostly acrylic yarn is not a good choice for lacy things. But my mother’s expressed a preference for machine washable yarns more than once, and in my experience she’s also not the most attentive when it comes to sorting out the machine washable clothes from the non. (There’s a reason I started doing my own laundry at a fairly young age!)
I modified this a fair bit since the yarn is thicker than that called for in the pattern. I cast on fewer stitches and cut out quite a few rows in the middle.
Yarn: NaturallyCaron Country in Charcoal
Needles: US5 Clover bamboo circulars and DPNs
Finally, a hat for my father, which is the project I’m least happy with. Partly my own fault, though. I didn’t use a pattern, I just winged it and knit this to fit me, as our heads are the same circumference. However, our heads aren’t actually shaped the same. As my father himself pointed out, his head’s kind of oddly shaped, so, well… oops. Forgot to account for that.
But I actually find this encouraging because he’s never actually given me feedback on (admittedly mostly storebought) gifts before. He’s always been more the type to quietly return something or stash it in the back of his closet. So the fact that he actually told me what to fix for next time makes me think I’m finally on the right track – he wouldn’t bother to give me feedback if he wanted something completely different, right?
So, that’s it for gifts. That’s also almost it for the 2010 FOs – just one more post to make before I finish up last year!
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