My Sister: penguin washcloth (started); calorimetry & cowl in LionBrand microfiber yarn cherry
My Mother: pig washcloth; piggie slippers
My Aunt: nutcracker washcloth; shawl or scarf?
My Cousin: Skully cloth (done) & towel. Bottle cozy & can cozy.
The RGF: white poncho (started), ruffled hat, maryjane booties (started). Maybe some simple knit toys suitable for a 6 month old.
Dad: knitted police tape scarf
The Husband: ???
Simona: ???
Assorted stocking stuffers for women of the family to go with their washcloths: soap from farmer's market; shower puff; soap sack; other bath/shower items?
ChiaoGoo "Find a Cure" single-point bamboo needles.
Flat Feet Yarn from Conjoined Creations. White yarn is machine knit into 12" squares. Pairs of knit blanks (as they call them) are then dyed to order in combinations of colorway and intensity for a total of twelve choices. You knit the sock directly from the blank, just unravel the edge and go. Because the blanks are hand-painted each sock is an individual work of art. (80% Superwash Merino/20% Nylon. Size 2-3 US needles recommended.)
Today I discovered that Polartec makes yarn: PolarKnit. I think this would be an excellent yarn to make a cowl, mittens, and hat or calorimetry for my sister to wear while running in the cold weather. It's 100% Polartec Wind Pro polarfleece and comes in seven colors: Leap Frog, Mermaid, Carrot, Mallard, Deep Red, Black, Pink and Purple.
Not only do they make yarn, they make YarnDots. Cute little buttons to stick into your bulky knit items. I want to get the crocheting one for my mom and the knitting ones for myself.
It's mindless knitting with yarn that runs through my fingers softly and smoothly. The tiny little stockinette stitches done on size seven needles look so neat and feel so good.
You'd think from all this raving that I've made some of these for me, but I haven't. Not yet. These are for the baby-to-be, and I have many in the works for family: skully cloths for my godson, a martini in key lime for my mother, and a penguin for my sister.
I wanted to try knitting again. I was bored, stressed, and looking for something to occupy my mind. I found myself wandering through the yarn aisle at a department store and saw this yarn, this gorgeous yarn, that was all blues and greens and browns, just like everything I wear. I picked it up, I had to, and it was soft, and kind of strange looking; I didn't know it then, newbie that I was, but it was meant to mimic homespun yarns. The name should have been a clue--Lion Brand Homespun (Nouveau). Since then I've learned many people don't like Homespun for its acrylic nature, but I still love it.
The selling point for this wasn't the softness or the colorway, it was the free pattern included on the back of the label, the huge, aqua-colored needles I'd be using, and the assurance that this scarf would take only one skein to make and could be made in just two hours. It took me longer than that. I was a novice. Knitting is haaaard. And those size fifteens are awkward.
Since then, I've made five of those scarves: two for me, one for my mother, one for my sister, and one for a friend. At about the same time I discovered Martha Stewart's amazingly easy knit hat, and I've made quite a few of those, too, as they seem to suit this scarf well if done in garter rather than stockinette stitch, and because they don't squish your hair, as my sister put it.
Anyway, like I said, it all started with the yarn.
