Reach for the Stars

I have a ton of finished knits to post, and hopefully I’ll find time to do that over the next couple of weeks or so. I may not be blogging, but I certainly am knitting. I’m reading, too, but with carting the girl to basketball practice and games, choir practice, and Christmas pageant rehearsals, I’m exhausted…but having a great time.

I have some old finished knits to show you, but first something recent. My family decided to “adopt” a 6-year-old girl as part of our church’s “Reach for the Stars” program for Advent. In addition to getting the requested Barbie doll, I decided to knit her a matching hat, scarf, and pair of mittens. I asked The Girl to choose some yarn, and then I embarked on a week-long knitting escapade that ended with me weaving in yarn tails on the scarf and wrapping all the gifts simultaneously just minutes before we had to run out the door to Mass. (Yes, I’m a procrastinator, but I justify it by insisting I work well under pressure!) I also annoyed The Girl by constantly trying everything on her to check the sizing. (I suppose if I finally knit her a dinosaur, she’ll forgive me!)

Dandy Unoriginal Hat

Pattern: An Unoriginal Hat by the Yarn Harlot
Yarn: Gedifra Dandy (color 1445, 3 balls)
Needles: U.S. 11 Susan Bates straights
Started: 12/02/07
Finished: 12/06/07
Modifications: Instead of knitting the hat in the round, I knit it flat and seamed it up. I added a stitch on either end (slipping the first stitch purlwise with the yarn in the knit position and purling the last stitch) to make seaming easier (at least it worked for me). I went up in the needle size and held the yarn double. The cables show up wonderfully, except not in the picture.


Dandy Kid Mittens

Pattern: Bev's 2-Needle Mittens for Kids by Beverly Qualheim
Yarn: Gedifra Dandy (color 1445, 1 ball)
Needles: U.S. 8 Susan Bates circular
Started: 12/01/07
Finished: 12/02/07
Modifications: I knit the mittens at the same time on a circular needle.


Dandy Scarf

Pattern: I cast on 20 stitches and knit until I ran out of yarn.
Yarn: Gedifra Dandy (color 1445, 2 balls)
Needles: U.S. 11 Susan Bates straights
Started: 12/07/07
Finished: 12/09/07

As you can tell, when Serena took the pictures on Saturday night, I was still in the beginning stages of the scarf. I cast on Friday night as soon as The Girl went to bed and I finished seaming the hat and mittens. I chose an On-Demand movie for background noise, but Catch and Release was actually much better than I anticipated, and I stopped knitting to watch. I planned to finish the scarf on Saturday night, but fell asleep on the couch during the family movie. (Instead of telling my sister I was sleeping when she called, the husband and The Girl woke me up to talk to her. I was in a fog. I have no idea what I said, as I have no memory of the conversation.) I woke up at 6:15 am on Sunday morning (and the scarf must be delivered by the 9 am Mass) and frantically finished knitting and weaving in the ends just in time for it to be wrapped.

This does not bode well for finishing the few Christmas gifts I have planned.

Does anyone else procrastinate or otherwise get distracted from knitting (or any other task) when a deadline (self-imposed or not) looms?



** Photos Copyright 2007 Serena M. Agusto-Cox**