Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Holiday Headstart
When I learned last year that Marcia was setting up a Holiday Headstart group, I joined immediately. The basic premise of the group is that you knit at least one holiday gift each month so you avoid last-minute frenzied knitting.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a bit of a planner and I typically have all my holiday gifts knit by the end of the summer. But my daughter . . . well, she's not quite so far-sighted. Each year I swear I won't succumb to her last-minute pleas for hand-knit gifts for her friends, but when actually faced with the alternative--i.e., a trip to the dreaded mall--I usually give in and whip out a scarf or a hat.
So I viewed Marcia's group as an incentive to stock up on teenage-friendly gifts. Yah, I know, teenage girls are fickle and I run the risk my daughter will reject things in December that she approves in May. No matter. Anything she doesn't want next winter can be donated to a shelter or Dulaan.
Surprisingly, however, my first Holiday Headstart project is neither a scarf nor a present for my daughter's friends. It's a hat for my neighbor.
I used this hat design as a guide and a chart from Nanette's excellent booklet for the stranded motif.
My neighbor's wife died last year. Although she was quite possibly the best knitter I ever knew, I swallowed my pride each December and knit something for both her and her husband. She loved felted items and he was usually on the receiving end of a hat or mittens. He’s a very fit octogenarian who walks every day regardless of the weather. Even last week, when the day-time temperatures here barely rose above the single digits, I saw him pounding the pavement early in the morning on my way to work. One day I saw him wearing a hat I gave him a few years ago knit from this pattern. The recent frigid temperatures convinced me it was about time to knit him a new hat--one with even longer ear flaps.
My neighbor is Norwegian, so I thought he'd appreciate the Norwegian star. I had to fudge a little to work the decreases into the pattern but I'm pretty pleased with the finished hat.
It was a fun, fast project; I completed it in just one night and part of the next morning. You gotta love those size 6.5mm needles.
Or not.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm a bit of a planner and I typically have all my holiday gifts knit by the end of the summer. But my daughter . . . well, she's not quite so far-sighted. Each year I swear I won't succumb to her last-minute pleas for hand-knit gifts for her friends, but when actually faced with the alternative--i.e., a trip to the dreaded mall--I usually give in and whip out a scarf or a hat.
So I viewed Marcia's group as an incentive to stock up on teenage-friendly gifts. Yah, I know, teenage girls are fickle and I run the risk my daughter will reject things in December that she approves in May. No matter. Anything she doesn't want next winter can be donated to a shelter or Dulaan.
Surprisingly, however, my first Holiday Headstart project is neither a scarf nor a present for my daughter's friends. It's a hat for my neighbor.
I used this hat design as a guide and a chart from Nanette's excellent booklet for the stranded motif.
My neighbor's wife died last year. Although she was quite possibly the best knitter I ever knew, I swallowed my pride each December and knit something for both her and her husband. She loved felted items and he was usually on the receiving end of a hat or mittens. He’s a very fit octogenarian who walks every day regardless of the weather. Even last week, when the day-time temperatures here barely rose above the single digits, I saw him pounding the pavement early in the morning on my way to work. One day I saw him wearing a hat I gave him a few years ago knit from this pattern. The recent frigid temperatures convinced me it was about time to knit him a new hat--one with even longer ear flaps.
My neighbor is Norwegian, so I thought he'd appreciate the Norwegian star. I had to fudge a little to work the decreases into the pattern but I'm pretty pleased with the finished hat.
It was a fun, fast project; I completed it in just one night and part of the next morning. You gotta love those size 6.5mm needles.
Or not.
