To recap: A holiday in knitting

This is just a quick post, as it's been a busy several weeks, and I'm still coming to grips with the whole "2013" thing; weren't we just fretting about Y2K?  Where did the last decade go?

Nevertheless.  For all that I can't get my head around the year, I did manage to reach some knitting goals for this holiday season.

Wonderfully mismatched/matching socks for Younger Daughter (her favorite kind)?

Check.

Warm hat for Rick (designed to work for skiing on cold days)?

Check.

Sweater for Older Daughter (pattern chosen by her)?

Check.

Mittens for me?

Ummm...

A few details.  The socks are plain old socks, using Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel, knitted out of Zauerball on size one needles.

I am particularly proud of Rick's hat.  The pattern is a heavily modified version inspired by Ellen's Que Sera, Suri hat (in other words, she gets the credit for what went right, and is in no way to blame for the weird things that I did that didn't turn out so well).  The yarn on the outside there is handspun (I think I posted about it before?) dyed by Erica at DesigKnit.  I spun it woollen and then chain-plyed it, hoping to keep the colors fairly true and non-barber-pole-y, and to create some striping in the hat itself.  I think I succeeded.

Aren't those colors gorgeous?  I will most definitely be doing the chain-ply thing again - definitely.  And because Rick wanted it to be very warm and somewhat wind-proof for cold ski days (of which there will be some this weekend in Mammoth), I knitted a lining out of a merino/possum yarn that I bought in New Zealand years ago, and which I have been saving.

I think this is definitely going to fit the bill.

Older Daughter's sweater is knitted out of Malabrigo sock.  I bought it at the year-end sale at my LYS, and as soon as I walked in the door and saw her face when she looked at it, I knew it was going to be a sweater for her, not me, and so it was.  The pattern is the Lilly Tunic, knitted in the S/M size.  This was a very nice pattern, with small details that really make an otherwise-plain sweater like this special.  For example, the box pleat in the front was fun.

And the little pleats at the tops of the sleeves.

It also has very neat (literally) i-cord edging around the neckline and the hems, which finishes it off nicely.  Older Daughter has been wearing this quite a lot, mostly with a wide belt, which I hear is rather the thing.

So, I did manage to finish the three knitted gifts that I had planned for the holidays.  Hooray!  I immediately cast on for the mittens that I have been craving in a rather ridiculous sort of way since I first saw them, in hopes of finishing them before we go to Mammoth.  Tomorrow.  Hmmm...  It's not impossible, and I really would rather like to, as it's rare that I go somewhere where mittens really make a huge amount of sense, but they will up there (where the nighttime lows will be in single digits).  Hence this short post.  Briefly, they are the Oh, Deer! mittens, knitted out of Alpaca With a Twist Fino, which I bought ages ago specifically to knit these mittens.  The yarn, however, is veryvery fine, so I am holding it double to knit, using size zero needles.  There was one rather unholy mess made by trying to knit that braid edging out of two colors of yarn, both held double, but I got through it, and they're incredibly soft and (I hope) warm.

But here's the part that sold me on them:

Antlers!  On the palms!  Seriously - too cool, right?

You can see why I have to go and finish them.  Right now.

But not without wishing you all a Happy New Year, first - a year filled with all of the things that you love best.