Preparing for 2012

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!  I did!  We celebrated Christmas Eve at my cousin's cabin and spent Christmas relaxing at my brother's.  Magical!

I don't know if I've mentionned it here, but although I learned knitting again from Knitting for dummies and the internet, I surely inherited the gene of knitting and patience from my mom!  Every week, she comes to my blog to see if there is something new and we talk about it over the phone (my parents still live in the little town where I grew up and it is a few hours from where I live now).  She will be surprised to see something she's made this time!  Funny fact: I totally get the "frogging and re-knitting satisfaction" from my mom ;-)

My mom is a smart lady and for Christmas, she bought some beautiful kits and made three of these scarves in one week: one in gray tones for my sister, one in pink tones for my SIL and one in blue tones (of course!) for me!  I'm not sure how it is done exactly, but these were fun and mindless projects for my mom and I can really appreciate that she gave us something crafty for Christmas!

As for me, as mentionned in the title of this post, I'm resisting casting on a new project in order to prepare for 2012.  The lovely Andi from My sister's knitter gifted me a beautiful pattern that I've always loved since the time it was released: Andrea's shawl.  Although I'm tempted to knit with the same colors as the original pattern (as I very often do when I pick a pattern), I'm almost decided on making it blue and without stripes with the beautiful skein of Malabrigo yarn also gifted by Andi-my-kntting-fairy ;-)  Thank you again Andi!

So here are my knitting goals for the near future: 

1. Finish the Douglas mittens.  I've just finished this morning the lining of mitten number one!

2. Cast on for Andrea's shawl if it arrives before the first package of the yarn club I suscribed to in 2012.

3. Cast on for the first project of TFA's Year in Color. I am so looking forward to it!

This is probably the last post of the year for me!  Take care and see you in 2012!  xx

So Sweet!

It really made my day when I found in my mailbox this afternoon a hand knitted gift from my dear friend Susan!  Susan and I met in the blogosphere mutually commenting on each other's blogs and exchanging e-mails!  She's hosting So Sue and she's also So Sweet!  ;-)

The color is beautiful although I wasn't able to capture it perfectly in the following pictures:

Such a nice color to brighten up the winter.  They fit me perfectly:

Can you see that they are have a touch of pink in them?  Lovely!

It was accompanied with a nice little card and a tape measure!  How thoughtful and I couldn't believe what a coincidence it is since mine broke one week ago!  And it is so cute!  Until now, there has been just a little bit of snow here, if you can see it through the window...

Thank you so much Susan!  I know I will be wearing them often! 

You definitely need to visit So Sue.  Susan not only knits beautifully but she is also sewing very nicely!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Baby shower

Today, we had a baby shower for Audrey.  She will have a baby very soon!  We all made a little something for her baby girl: hats, socks, blankets, toys, etc.  I made her a little Kira's hooded vest. I think it is such a cute pattern and it must be so practical!

Pattern: Kira's hooded vest by Yumiko Sakurai.

Size: 12-18 months.

Yarn: Sweater of Spud & Chloë.

Needles: US 7 / 4.5mm and US 8 / 5.0 mm.

Color: Firecracker.

Start to finish: November 2011 - December 2011.

For: baby Anne-Sophie.

Notes: No modifications.

The plain part went very fast.  The star tweed stitch took a little longer than I expected, but it wasn't that long after all!  And so worth it!  I was just a little worried that it would not be ready on time!

Yes, it was the secret gift I was knitting!  The good part about it is that there were only the shoulders to sew.  The rest is all picking up the stitches and knitting with circular needles.

There is also the so famous seed stitch at the bottom and around the armholes!  So cute!

Finally, I cannot pass telling you how I like the yarn I used!  I think it is perfect for baby knits because it is wool and cotton.  So warm but without being itchy.  Mostly, it's superwash wool!  The colors available are gorgeous too!  It was difficult to choose!

I really recommend this pattern!

Have a great weekend all!