A Very Matthews Christmas

I am on the ball this year with Christmas gifts. I have already finished all the gifts for my in-laws this year. I've got a good deal more knitting to do for my Mom, Walker and me, but I've made excellent progress.
For Mary, I made the Smock-a-Ruche Scarf from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. I used Cascade Eco + Bulky. Not my favorite yarn ever, but it keeps the shape well and I liked the color a lot. I think Mary will, too.For Walker's mom, I made the Twisted Stitch Gauntlets from Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007. I used Karabella Aurora 4, which is a really soft merino in sport weight. Not a terribly easy knit, but enjoyable all the same. I really like that the cuff will go over her coat sleeve and keep her wrists warm.

I asked Walker's mom what the boys would like for Christmas and I was pleased to hear that they wanted the easiest things ever to knit: hats! For Walker's dad, I made the Jacques Cousteau hat (a Ravelry download) in Knitpicks City Tweed DK. Really really soft yarn, but I think there are too many little 'fuzzies' in there. Good for a men's hat, though.

Charles is getting a Seaman's Cap, also a Ravelry download. The yarn I used was Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes, an excellent standby yarn. I got a little creative with the striping because I was running out of the black yarn, but I like the result all the same. It was a little small on Walker's head, so I'm really hoping it'll fit Charles...

I guess we'll see come Christmastime.

For the rest of the family, I am working on a beautiful shawl out of Knitted Lace of Estonia for Mom and just finished the Tilted Duster from Interweave Knits Fall 2007 for Miss Caroline. Once I finish Mom's shawl, I'll do a Wilkes gift edition. I am also working on a matching pair of stocking for the Mister and myself for our first married Christmas. They are based on the Judy's Colors stockings, which are only sold in absurdly expensive kits, so I made a heavily modified version of my own, so ha! I'm done with the cuff portion of Walker's, so I still have a ways to go...

In non-Christmas related news, I'm going to have to frog Venezia. She is just too small and blocking is not what I need. I'm going to have to either start over or move on to something else. Sad :(. After all the Christmas stuff I have a few other projects I want to work on, so redoing the Venezia marathon is not exactly a welcome development right now, but it's such a beautiful pattern that I can't abandon it.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got to spend some quality time with your families. Good luck with all your Christmas shopping/other holiday endeavors!

Cheers,

-Allie

Back to "Normal"

Well, we're back from Paris and settling back into normal schedules. It's weird not having wedding planning to do anymore. And, as you all know, I have a hard time not having anything to do, so I've thrown myself headlong back into knitting!

Firstly, I finished the Kingdom gloves:
Despite not being wild about the pattern, I like the way they turned out. Now my only complaint is the way the cuff is set up, so I decided not to keep them. Vicki will enjoy them much more than I will. I really liked working with the Knitpicks Gloss yarn, though. Highly recommended.

After all those tiny cables, I wanted to work on something with a bigger gauge and a much simpler pattern, so I found the Francis Revisited Sweater by Beth Silverstein. The gauge was so big, the whole thing only took me about 5 days, 5 glorious days of mindless stockinette. This picture doesn't really do the sweater justice--it makes the thing look a lot more see-through than it really is, but you can see how loose the gauge is. The opacity is a lot more like the previous photo and the color/fit is like the one below.Really comfortable, really cute. Here's the back.Next on the agenda is my slew of Christmas gifts. Since we're doing Christmas with the Matthews this year, my list has expanded quite a bit and, as you can see by the sidebar, I've started early. I've been working on the batch of Matthews gifts first (partly because the Wilkes have asked for considerably more complicated gifts!) and once I finish with the last one (about halfway done) I'll dedicate a blog post to all of them. I decided it would be easier if I split the two posts up.

In fact, I should have started posting this stuff ages ago, but the reason I waited was because I wanted to include some wedding photos in my next blog post! Yes, they're up and if you really want a print, you're more than welcome to order one from her site! I don't have the hard copies or the digital disc yet (should get them later this week), but I wanted to share them with you guys as soon as possible!

Happy stalking! And to wrap things up, here's Jericho making a fort out of a yarn shipment box.

Cheers,

-Allie Matthews (!)

2 More Days!

Wow, I can't believe it's so close! My to-do list is done and the in-laws have arrived. I just wanted to get a few pictures up for all of you to enjoy while we're on our honeymoon in a couple of days, so this will be a short post.

First on the list: the skinny empire sweater. I wanted a cute little warm-weather sweater (which is now already obsolete until May) so I made one! I got the pattern out of Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits and knit it with Knitpicks Telemark. If I'd had more cash lying around, I probably would have picked a more luxurious fiber than straight wool, but I really liked the way the telemark kept the ruffle in the collar. I like the mint-green color too.



If I did it again, I would probably have made it a little longer, but I still think it's super-cute. Here's the back:Next on the list is the first of the Kingdom gloves that I've been working on since about June. I'm just not that interested in the pattern. It's too complicated for something I'm not very excited about. I got the pattern off of Knitty, I think it was the summer issue. I've just had more interesting things to work on, so these have been neglected some. I will finish glove number 2 when we get back from Paris (eee!)

And thirdly, and most importantly, is the shawl I've made for my wedding day. Obviously I wasn't thinking straight when I thought I halter dress would be a good idea for Maine in October (I don't think I would have cared then, anyway, it's a gorgeous dress). And I didn't even think that I would need more warmth until about 4 weeks before the big day. So I ordered the yarn (Valley Yarn's alpaca/silk lace, which I love love love--so soft!) and set straight to work. I think the result is quite lovely. I finished it in exactly two weeks, even making it a little wider and a little longer than the pattern called for. I got the Lilac Leaf Shawl pattern out of Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush. It was very straight forward worked up really quickly. Here's a closeup of the lace edge:

Well, I think that's all for this update. I have to scurry off again to do wedding things. Once I get back and get back into the swing of things, I'll have more to tell you. I'll even see some of you tomorrow, yay!

Cheers,

-Allie