Knitting for the New Year

I have been knitting way more than I've been showing, so in honor of the first day of 2009, I will be catching you up on many of the items I've knit between October and December. Some are gifts and the rest use up yarn from the stash. I'll start with a couple of projects that were done a long time ago and just never got snapped. First up, Eunny Jag's Endpaper Mitts using a couple of balls from the stash. The light blue is the same sock yarn I've used for a couple of things now and it just never seems to end. The maroon is a secret-pal gift that lost its tag a while ago. It's merino handwash I believe. This was a fun project that took much less time than you would think with the colorwork and thin yarn. And they are so handy- no pun intended-because you can use them in cooler places while typing, knitting, writing. I LOVE fingerless gloves and I really like the pattern of these.Next up is the Juliet Cardi from Zephyr Style. The yarn was a gift from Gaby when I was visiting Buenos Aires this summer.The raspberry is a perfect color for me, though I inexplicably didn't own anything in it until now. And it came with the sweetest wooden buttons that worked perfectly for the pattern. I used up all but the smallest bit of yarn for this, so I feel like it all combined to create a wonderful serendipity. This photo was taken today, incidentally, a day short of 19 weeks along.

Now, the gifts.
My dad got a Koolhaas hat by Jared Flood make with Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran yarn, a combo of silk, cashmere, and merino.He has chosen to roll the bottom sailor-style. That's the beauty of this versatile hat.Mama finally got her own pair of Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays. (Last year's most popular gift on my list). As for all the other socks in this pattern, I used Brown Sheep Superwash in a nice cornflower blue.

I've saved the cutest photos for last. Everyone in my family has the same xmas stocking pattern, knit by my great-grandmother 20-30 years ago. This year, I made Julian one, though the brilliant yarn selection we have in Winona meant I could only find worsted weight, making a much bigger sock than the rest of them. But hey, isn't everything bigger these days than they used to be?