Merry Christmas or the Holiday of Your Choice!

DD, ensnooded but faceless and unshod, by the Christmas tree.

In the Mood for Snood

With the zeal of the converted I have joined the snood worshipping society of sewing and knitting bloggers. My extended family is already adjusted to getting their Christmas gifts from me somewhere between New Years Day and never, so I'm sure they won't mind waiting for these newly knitted treasures.

First, a snood for my SIL-to-be of Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick. I used the original Guardian pattern gone viral thanks to Karen. Here I am wearing it upside-down to demonstrate its versatility.



Next, another scarfette, this one for my brother. Brother and Sister-in-Law-to-be live in a colder climate than I so no doubt they are dying for something to tie around their necks.



This one is made of some 100% cotton South American Space Dyed yarn from the sale bin at the local Stitch Cafe with nifty buttons that cost more than the yarn.



Then theres another snood just like the other snood for DD. I've redirected the green scarfette from her to my mother but I forget why--oh yes, because it was already done and I could mail it on time for Christmas, except I didn't. Also we bought DD a coat that clashes with the color of the scarfette.

Next up: I've decided to make gift bags and envelopes of all the Christmas fabric we started using last year instead of wrapping paper. And I'd like to whip up something for DS and DH for Christmas, which is still 3 days (ok, 2 days and an hour) away. Plenty of time. Too bad they don't need snoods.

Ceci N'est Pas Une Snood.

OK, to be fair, it was never meant to be a snood. It's my DD's little scarfy thing, now complete with leather buttons. The original pattern looked like this:



--oh, my goodness, now that I look at the pattern again I didn't put the buttons where they were supposed to be! I forgot how the original looked and thought it should button as shown here (but without the buttons.) Anyway, I realized it could also be buttoned end to end to make what I would call a cowl, like this one, or this one, or this one, but which the entire sewing and knitting blogosphere, inspired by Karen of Did You Make That, calls a snood as it churns them out by the dozens.

I always thought a snood looked like this thing on the back of Honeysuckle Weeks's head as she plays Sam Stewart in Foyle's War:


But what do I know? A thousand blogging knitters can't be wrong, can they?

Here, by the way, is my purple scarf, completed.



I wore it today (maybe I'll block it later) with my latest Vogue 8575 as I cycled to work, stopping on the way to pick up more yarn to make this for a friend:



By the time I got to work I had cast on and knit the first two rows! (No, not while pedaling--I bike to the subway then me and my bicycle ride the rest of the way.)


This stuff is addicting!

Silk and More Silk

I went to Goodwill to look for ethical (i.e., used) buttons for DD's scarfette but no luck. Instead, I scored a wonderful baby blue silk sweater and a deep red silk blouse. I love silk and I love to buy silk at Goodwill. I always imagine I'm going to refashion whatever it is--usually a ginormous man's shirt, but then I just wrap up in it and that's that. As it turns out, these items just fit. I feel so frugal and ethical thrifting silk--although, I guess silk is not such an ethical fiber (as compared to wool or cotton) because the silkworm has to die to give it up. But I'll settle for delusional ethics.

Below is a glimpse of the sweater along with my WIP--the one row lace scarf by Turvid, which I'm making out of the rough silk yarn I spent too much on when I decided to try knitting again. I first made it into a small shawl that showed every single mistake and was too warm for my climate, so I unraveled that and now it's becoming a lacy scarf. Should I give it to my mother who will not wear it because it is purple but will be happy I made it for her? Or keep it because it is purple and I will wear it?



Oh, you can also see the state of my funky hair, currently bleached and treated with Manic Panic Virgin Snow to make it white (ish). Somehow I lose my nerve every time I set out to add color, but now that my classes have ended maybe I'll decorate it for Christmas.

(Actually, now that I look at the finished post my hair appears to be neon lime green. I don't think it looks like that in RL, but what do I know?