Christmas Vaca Report

So much to share today!  As I have briefly mentioned before, I LOVE VACATION!!  I love it even more when the weekend before vacation begins brings monumental knitting accomplishments.  So here are the goodies from this past weekend.

First, my work in progress is a pair of 3/4 finger gloves for each of the Scouts.  I'm using Knit Picks Palette fingering weight Peruvian wool, and I am loving it absolutely.  I had a pattern that I was using, and since my comments are that it's totally screwy and had fingers so frick frack large that it defeated the whole purpose of keeping in the body heat, I tore it all out and said:  "I got this."  So I am down to knitting the thumb, and then I will have a pattern of my own making, which I will share freely if Knit Picks doesn't want it.  Until I began knitting these, which I am calling size large, I did not realize how huge my 13 year-old's hands are!  They are as big as Honey's, and he's not a man of small stature.  When this kid grows into his hands, I will be looking at a skyscraper-sized teenager.  Holy man!

These gloves are going to be called "Sportsman" because they are so dang warm, even unfinished, and they are perfect for being in the wintry outdoors.  I am making them for the boys to use as liners to their winter gloves for camping, and then to wear while they sleep in the often below freezing temps in their tents.  These Boy Scouts hike 11 miles up a mountain and then camp in January on the top of that mountain for the weekend.  Last year it rained for the whole hike, then snowed while they slept.  These gloves will be good for Scout 1's outdoor archery/hunting obsession, too.  I'm thinking they'd even be perfect for hiking or jogging if worn by themselves.  And, you can use your smartphone, too, because there are no finger tips.  Anyway, enough of the sales pitch.

And then there are two little yarn goodies that I have from the past few days.  First, Spinning Sunday brought the first fingering weight yarn of my electric spinning wheel dabbling, and we'll go with "Hyacinth" for this one.  It's 50% Romney and 50% bamboo silk, hand carded together, hand spun, and seriously soft.  I just finished it--in other words, wet it to set the twist and let it dry--so I haven't measured it yet; but I am thinking of using it for something lacy, like a garter stitch scarf using very large needles.  Or, maybe, for some fair isle patterning in a hat or something.  I don't know, but this one's not going into the shop.

And since I seem to be on a purple kick lately, here's the hand-painted sock yarn that I whipped up.

It's dyed with Japanese silk dye, and the colors may be a little pale by comparison to their true appearance.  I decided to use this one for the next pair of socks, which is coming immediately after I am finished with Scout gloves and right before the Buttercup Beret (click on the image at left for the free pattern).  By then, it should be the new year, and I will finish my Macrame Vest pattern design that uses an alpaca mix and a Turkish stitch in time for the new year.  I'd like to start the year with a focus on the sweaters that I have queued up, and to finish the 80s shrug, too.  So, introducing "Groovy".   I decided not to put this one in the shop because I discovered after I dyed it that there were several places in the skein where the yarn had been pieced together.  That's no problem for me to knit with; but I would hate for someone to buy the yarn and be dissatisfied because they don't know how to work around the knots.

I probably won't be back until Wednesday because I'm going to spend this vacation knitting, come Hell or high water; so, happy knitting to all!  

P.S.  If anyone wants to send me some snow for Christmas, that would be swell!  There's just the tiniest chance of snow on Christmas morning, and my fingers are crossed!