oh the weather outside is frightful

I realize it's February 25th and not December, but I didn't have a camera two months ago to take photos of all my christmas knitting!

For my mother I knit Branching Out from Knitty using Rowan Kidsilk Haze (70% super kid mohair, 30% silk, colour: 600 Dewberry). This was really frustrating to knit at first because I kept forgetting or adding yarn overs and ending up with the wrong number of stitches. I had to pay strict attention! I was a little worried at first because it was knitting up rather bunchy and ugly, but I took it in to a yarn store while I was in Vancouver and asked the lovely lady there for some advice about blocking. Following her suggestions I soaked the whole thing in a sinkful of lukewarm water with a drop of dishsoap, swished it around a very little bit. Then I filled the sink with fresh water and dunked it in there. I rolled up the scarf in a towel and stepped on it to get as much water out as possible. Then I pinned it out on an ironing board. It dried in no time and come out all flat and soft and lovely! My mother says, that despite all the holes, it is very warm. :)

I knit a scarf for my dad using Catalina (100% baby alpaca, colour: 206 Natural Jute). I love this yarn. It felt like butter. Really. The pattern came from One Skein and is a cross between the Double Cable Scarf and the Triple Cable Muffler in the Rib and Cable Quartet series. My yarn choice, although soft like butter, was a different thickness than suggested, hence my adaptation. I think I'd like to try another one in a heavier weight yarn.

Also from One Skein, I knit my sister's arm warmers using the Silk Sleeves pattern. She requested black and since I had a bunch of fine alpaca yarn (Mystic Alpaca, I don't believe this is 100% alpaca because the label says machine washable and to tumble dry. Could that be possible?) I used that.

My other sister got a Dayflower Lace Scarf in Misti Baby Alpaca (100% peruvian baby alpaca, colour: 7238 chartreuse melange). I don't know why I knit it so tightly, except that it was my first attempt at lace.

And lastly for my brother I knit this scarf following the mock-cable rib pattern from Warm Fuzzies in Stitch'n'Bitch Nation using Lang Silk Dream (50% merino, 50% silk, colour: 24 silver and 4 black). I kind of wanted to keep it for myself. I switched colours every two rows so that I would not have to cut the yarn. I hate weaving in ends! This scarf ended up needing four skeins. Sometimes knitting is expensive.

Maybe next year they will get matching mittens!