The Best Christmas Gift (Adriana)

Last spring when I was bitten by the sewing bug I kept seeing gorgeous quilts on knitters' blogs (especially here and here). I had just finished helping my parents go house hunting and I couldn't shake the idea that they needed a quilt for their new bedroom. I knew that I was crazy but I'm sure many of you know what it's like when you get an idea in your head. Bear in mind that I had never made a quilt before, or even really sewn much at all (except for my dress). But I had my heart set on a quilt and I wanted to go for it.

On Heather's advice I decided to make a Blooming 9-Patch from Tradition with a Twist. I ordered the yarn from Quiltology, which had been given rave reviews by the Theresa. The owner, Colette, was wonderful. I had decided that since my parents' bedroom was green and since they had both worked in provincial parks, I wanted to go with blues and greens. This is what Colette came up with for me:


Such a great combo of fabrics. I couldn't have come up with something so beautiful myself.

I found the pattern easy to follow and before I knew it I had strips!


And then squares:


I managed to make the first few sets of squares during the summer but then school started. Grad school and quilting did not mix and I wasn't able to work on the quilt until December. I spent a full week working 12 hour days in order to get the quilt done for Christmas. It was tiring and stressful at times but it all came together. In the end I was able to finish the top but I lacked the time and the machinery to actually quilt it. I decided to leave it as it was and let my parents decide if they wanted it finished or left as a bedspread.
On to the pictures!

When I came back to it in December I had around 70% of the 9-patches to put together and all of the solid squares to cut

I saved those to the end so that my cutting skills would have improved

Once I had all the squares it was time to lay them out to sew into long strips.

Cleo supervised


Here she's testing how well the fabric holds up to a cat bath

Once the strips were sewn it was time to lay everything back out again

As you can see, my living room floor wasn't big enough

When I went home for Christmas I didn't put the quilt under the tree. I didn't want mom to have any ideas about what she was getting based on package size. (I'd been trying to confuse her by saying that I was making her and dad smittens or a Tracy Ullman sweater). On Christmas Day I told my brother to entertain the folks, and Pete and I sneaked into their room to prepare the surprise.


Here it is laid out in it's new home

I left Pete in the bedroom with the camera while I brought mom and dad to the room. I told them to close their eyes and I led them in. Pete, my brilliant photographer, managed to capture the moment when they opened their eyes:



Which was followed by this moment:

(Mom and I may have cried a little)

Needless to say, they absolutely loved it


It turns out that leaving it as a bedspread is perfect since they wouldn't have gotten much use out of a quilt and this they can enjoy all year round.

It's hard to get a shot of the full quilt. This is the best we could manage:


It was a lot of work but I'm so happy that I did it. It makes me so happy to give something so beautiful to my wonderful parents. I'm very blessed to have them. Making them so happy was the best present I could have received.

Christmas Swag (Adriana)

I think that gift getting occasions become even more exciting when you have an interesting hobby (*cough* obsession *cough*) like knitting. I always try to make things easier for my parents by giving them a very detailed wish list and since a number of my friends are knitters they give some seriously awesome gifts. Look at what Sam (celticghirl13 on Ravelry) gave me:


2 skeins of Noro Transitions! The purples and green colourway is so me. Thanks Sam!

I scored another skein of the same and I've started to make an Entrelac Scarf:

Entrelac is seriously magical. I'd always been a little afraid of it but I'm really enjoying knitting it (I'm almost done the first skein, this picture is out of date). One day, when I have a fancy job, I'm totally going to make Lady Eleanor. Check out Julie's gorgeous version.

I've decided that I need a new grown-up wardrobe for my practicum that going on right now and in anticipation of that fancy job that I'm positive I'll get when I'm done school. To that end, I asked my parents for Silky Wool to make Ms. Marigold.

I love that beautiful green colour.

When I originally made up my Christmas list my mom was going to be in Toronto and was willing to stop by Lettuce Knit to pick up some sock yarn for me (I requested some STR). Her trip ended up being cancelled and she tried to order it over the phone but unfortunately every colour that she thought I'd like they only had in medium-weight. After a few more failed attempts to order over the internet it was decided that she'd get me some Koigu from nearby Cloth and Clay. My parents loved this colourway and thought that I would too:


Obviously they were right

Those are the Monkey socks I made for mom in the spring using purple Koigu :)
This purple Koigu is all mine!

My brother asked me what I wanted and so I sent him to the LYS with a few options. By the time Christmas rolled around I'd forgotten what I'd asked for so I was delighted to receive Regia sock yarn designed by Kaffe Fassett!

I promptly cast on a stockinette sock but after turning the heel (sorry for yet another out of date picture) I put these aside to finish up Dad's Ginormous Socks, which are now almost done and will be blogged soon.

I'm off to Toronto again on this weekend but this time it's to visit Gen, Heather and Mike! We're going to see the dinosaurs at the ROM (hey ladies, want to take pictures of the walls again ;P) and hopefully fit in a visit to Lettuce Knit! I need more STR!!

Christmas Socks (Adriana)

Last year I decided that I needed a pair of Christmas socks to celebrate my favourite holiday. Since I had very specific image for these socks I decided to dye the yarn myself.


I measured out the yarn to the appropriate length to make it self-striping, then dyed part of it red, part green and speckled the white sections to look like candy sprinkles. I love these socks and they will take a really long time to wear out since I only wear them during December!


My family laughed at me when I lay on my back and stretched my legs up in the air in front of the tree but it is a great shot :)

This year I wanted to make another pair of Christmas socks. Luckily I had recently acquired some STR in Jingle Bell Rock in a Ravelry swap. Like the previous year, I cast on these socks in early December and rationed out the knitting because it made me so happy to work on them. Christmas socks definitely help put me in the holiday spirit.


I used the Marigold pattern because the purl rows reminded me of garlands. I can't tell you how delighted I was that this yarn didn't pool.


Here are the socks posed in front of Pete's parents' Christmas tree (I did get a few strange looks from his dad as I prepared for the photo but he didn't say anything)


Without flash the socks are blurry but you can see the pretty tree

I'd heard of people running out of yarn with STR but I had tons left over. I'd seen some beautiful ornaments on Everwhelming Liz's blog and I thought this would be the perfect use for my yarn (I still have tons left).


A sweet little ornament on my beautiful tree


This was such a quick knit; I did it in a few hours. My family were all so impressed with it that I think I need to make 6 more for next year. I might work on my embroidery skills so that everyone will know which stocking is theirs.

Christmas Part 1 (Adriana)

I hope that everyone had/is having a great holiday. Mine was different than previous years but it was still enjoyable. This year not only were my parents in a new house, but Pete was there with me and we spent Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day with his family.


The beautiful Christmas tree at my parents' house. Decorating it is one of my favourite part of the holidays and I was so happy to have Pete's help this year.

After making sure that the cat was settled safely with my folks we were off to Pete's parents' house. Since this was my first Christmas with them I came bearing a pie (apple) with Julie's patented star top crust!

The pie was a big hit.

Pete's mom is a knitter so I knew that she would appreciate what I had made for her

Dayflower Scarf made with Silky Wool


Doesn't it look great on her?

I'm so glad my parents moved because their new house is only 90 minutes from Pete's parents which made for a very pleasant drive on Christmas (before the move it would have been more than 4 hours).
As always, my granny loves her socks.

Regia Silk Color in Roma (from Yarn 4 Socks), my own pattern (available here)

I wasn't sure what to give my uncle Peter so on a whim I decided to make him Sheldon. It was a great choice because I think he likes it better than anything I've given him before.

Pete and I had fun with the wrapping


Uncle Peter has named this turtle Tommy and apparently he and Granny have been fighting over it. I think I might need to check out more knitted toy patterns in the future :)

It's such a great feeling to have something you knitted with love be so well received. Christmas is much more fun now that I'm a knitter. More posts to come in which I will show off the yummies I received and the present which made my parents cry (in a good way).

One more thing, I made a little hat for Bertha's daughter June to celebrate her first Christmas. You've got to check out the cute pictures!