here's a quick recap of all the christmas knitting that i did this year:

felicity for stella

i knit this great slouchy hat for my brother's fiancee, stella, using the leftover yarn from my february lady sweater. felicity is such an easy, quick hat to knit. i highly recommend it! details on ravelry.

new new shale cowl for sue

this was another stash buster using leftovers from flair, the artfibers ming, which i'm convinced is some of the most beautiful yarn i've ever knit with. the new new shale cowl was also an easy pattern, only 4 rows to memorize. i would actually make it again! details on ravelry.

then there was the ridged lace cowl i knit for mary... and that's it! i'm glad they are all gifted and in their new homes.

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i'm knitting two (and only two) christmas gifts this year. two cowls for two lovely ladies on my husband's side of the family (and i will say no more about that!) one is done.

this is the ridged lace cowl as i mentioned in my previous post. all the details are on ravelry.

quick details: i casted-on two extra repeats of the lace since my artfibers ming is a little thinner than the called-for yarn. otherwise i knit the whole thing as written. it was easy to memorize and easy TV lace knitting, i promise!

now just one more cowl to knit, but i'm thinking about casting on socks first.

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i hope that everyone has been enjoying the holiday season whatever holiday you happen to celebrate! christmas is over and i'm back at work through thursday when i get off again for the new year. i'm sure many of you are on vacation or just have the time off. just think how lucky you are not to be sitting in your office right now.

i managed to get some great christmas knitting booty this year! look what i got!

mmmm, lace

i only hope that i can actually make something from them in 2007! time is swiftly winging away from me and before i know it i'm going to have a baby and no time for knitting for a while. i'm trying to get in some things for her first before she's born and then have some mindless knitting standing by for when she appears in our home. regardless, i'm happy to have these books in my collection. they're gorgeous and full of beautiful patterns.

well, my christmas knitting went off without a hitch. i finished all three hats i wanted to make and gifted them to my family members on the 23rd.

i used up most of the disney wool/acrylic blend that i bought in japan last year for these hats. yes, there is a disney brand yarn! and it comes with little tags that you can sew into your garments with pooh or mickey on them. very cute. the hat for my FIL was made with knitpicks swish i had leftover from the first pair of glittens i made and then the pair of glittens i am making for myself right now. i made up the pattern for my BIL's hat, the hat for linda is just a generic baby cable hat, and the FIL's hat was made with this pattern from fig and plum.

now, i'm still working on the noro 3-hole shawl. a row here and there adds up to a repeat here and there and now i'm more than half way between the 1st and 2nd hole. it's pretty mindless knitting so i work on it whenever i want to just watch TV and not do much thinking.

i made some stash enhancements recently which i have to take pictures of and add to the stash page. i bought 4 balls of dale of norway falk (2 black, 2 white) for the pirate hat and mittens for my father and 3 hanks of noro cashmere islands (yum!) for the hat and mittens for my mom. i'm loving this yarn! the noro is just gorgeous and i'm looking forward to doing my first fair isle with the falk. i'm going to practice with the last of my disney yarn (which is roughly the same weight and gauge as the falk) as soon as i've freed up the appropriate needles.

these appropriate needles are currently engaged in make some glittens for myself! i figure it's gotta get cold around here soon and i'll need some gloves/mittens when it does. i think that i made them a little too big but i have a feeling they might shrink up a bit when i wash and dry them.

swish glittens galore

this time around i've devised a new system of knitting them where i pick up stitches between the fingers and then decrease them away on the next round to close up holes. it works really well and the joins feel a lot more substantial. i'm sure i'll be done with these before the weekend. they're so easy! then i'll get started on the hats and mittens for my parents and some baby knitting.

can you believe that i'm actually thinking about buying another set of denise needles? gosh, i love them. i have a set of the new ones and a set of the old ones, but the old needles don't connect well with the new cables and i've not always been able use them for projects because of this. i could really use another newer set. have you seen the pink version? $5 goes to breast cancer research. sounds like a good plan to me!

some blog news: i've decided to discontinue doing book reviews on the reading blog. i know it doesn't get much traffic and i was doing it mainly to remind myself of the books i've read but i just can't keep up with it. i've got to let something go because i've taken on a rather large and consuming project outside of work and home life (and this blog) that requires more of my attention. i'll still keep you updated as to what i'm reading on the sidebar but that'll be it after the last two reviews of 2006.

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ok ok! i'll do some colorwork. sheesh. who knew it was so popular? some of you admitted that you always wanted to make something stranded but didn't have the time or the gumption to start, and some of you wrote to say how much you love it and that i should try it too. so i am.

it seems that my mom took an interest in yesterday's post and asked for IOUs for hats and mittens for both her and my father for christmas and i'm happy to oblige. now i must sit and think about what patterns and yarn to use. i think that i'll give the hello yarn pirates hat and mittens a go for my father and then switch it up to some elizabeth zimmerman for my mom. (of course when i mentioned buying more yarn to my mom she said, "don't you have enough yarn?" little does she know!) or maybe she would like a hat and mittens in noro since she hinted that she liked that yarn so much. hmmmm, decisions decisions. either way, i'll begin these in january along with the baby knitting. thankfully, these are all small projects.

but right now i'm concentrating on some christmas knitting which is almost done. i've finished two hats and the third (and last) is almost complete.

christmas knitting almost complete

more details when all is said and done. the noro 3-hole shawl is slowly coming along but i have no photos. just imagine it bigger than before.

this past saturday was the spiders holiday party! we had such a great time together! i got a chance to dress up and even managed to get my hair cut and blown straight that morning (it had been months since getting my hair cut! it's getting long!) the majority of our NYC spiders were there and we ate good food and knit and generally had a blast. the white elephant gift exchange this year was a lot of fun but poor cathy got her gift stolen numerous times (this happened to sarah last year!) i got a set of beautiful wood DPNs from veronique.

blue sky alpaca DPNs US1

the needles AND the case are just lovely. i wish i had more pictures of the actual party but i was too pooped to do much. i sat on the couch and tried to get as involved as possible but i'm getting big. getting up and down from the sitting position is starting to be tough!

anyway, can you tell we had a great time?

love this one.. what is katie looking at?

check out the stealthy camera in the corner

and here's a shot of us all together thanks to jess's trusty camera and the top of carrie's tv.

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well, i'm finally in my third trimester and boy am i tired. i think that i woke up about 5 or 6 times last night! my guess is that this is mother nature's way of preparing me for the incoming baby but, really, i could use the rest! i'm still working 5 days a week (and probably will right up to when i burst) so i could definitely use a break. oh well.

anyway, this'll be the first post in a while about knitting where i don't have an FO to show. are you disappointed? hahaha, i'm feeling the pressure! but there's christmas knitting going on at chez gleek and progress being made on the 3-hole shawl so i guess i'm doing something!

one christmas hat done, another half way there

i suppose you COULD count this as an FO but i'm lumping all the christmas knitting into one project and won't consider it done until it's ALL done. here we have one hat complete (on the right, a baby cable hat. very stretchy) and another at its half way point. i'm getting knitting in whenever i can nowadays especially during my lunch hour while i listen to music at my desk. it's my calming point of the day.

one hole down!

and here is the 3-hole shawl with one hole complete. i knit on this whenever i'm bored of the hat. i think that i should be able to get to the second hole by christmas if i'm lucky, but i have one more hat to make after this one is complete so i'm not holding my breath.

after christmas knitting is over though, it's clear sailing into next year. on the plate for january is some baby knitting and more glittens for me (which should be really quick because i'm making them a bit smaller than the last pair.) i also am determined to make some stupid sock creatures for the peanut and resurrect some of my old stuffed animals from my parent's house. lots to do before she arrives!

now before anyone else posts about this, i wanted to share this link i saw on apartment therapy this morning! GIANT KNITTING! seriously this is some cool stuff. rugs and housewares. i really want that garter stitch poof to sit on. check out the giant needles they use at the end of the post. bet the TSA won't let you bring those on a flight.

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