a little more photoblogging, then i’m done. i think (nearly*) all the handmade christmas gifts have been wrapped and shipped and received, so i can finally blog some finished objects here without spoiling anyone’s surprise.

napkin rings i made for my sister-in-law. they are knitted from very thin wire with beads worked into the wire fabric, then sewn into tubes and curled into the doughnut shape. the pattern, Venezia, came from knitty.com.

lace scarf i knitted for my grandmother. this pattern is also from knitty.com. although it’s a relatively easy lace pattern, as lace patterns go, it hasn’t changed my opinion that knitting lace is a hateful, hateful activity. lace is something that i only knit for very special gifts for very special people.

the muffler i knit for my brother’s girlfriend, Carrie. the pattern came from a user named “mintyfresh” on ravelry.com (i think you need an account in order to access it). i loved the idea of a muffler instead of a scarf, something that you can just loosen when you come inside instead of having to unwind, have it drag on the floor, etc. i used my favorite cotton yarn for this, made by Blue Sky. it’s super soft and organically grown.

sweater and hat set for my new niece, Geneva. its about a 9 mo old size, so it’ll be a while till she can wear it. i didn’t love the wiggly texture of the yarn i used, but the color is pleasingly bold. and it’s cotton, which i think is important for baby gifts – no itchy wool on sensitive baby’s skin!

muffler for my roommate, Anne. i cribbed the design from a scarf i saw at anthropologie, and made up the pattern myself. the design is nice, though i’m not happy with the yarn i used (Lion Brand thick n quick wool ease). it was too stiff. the more i knit the more i realize how concerned i am with the drape of the yarn. i think about drape when it comes to fabric, but i realize that knitting is simply the process of creating fabric, and the drape of the finished product depends on the drape of the materials you start with.

next up? i’m making this hat for my mother (she did request a colorful hat!), another belated christmas that i can’t write about here yet, and then maybe finally something for myself. of course, at the rate at which people i know are getting pregnant, i might just have to be a baby hat and bootie-knitting machine for the rest of time.

*well, come on, it wouldn’t be christmas without at least one gift being delivered in february.