One sock, one slipper

Well, I'm not sure I'm doing so good with my Christmas knitting. I now have one sock, one slipper and a hot-water bottle cover. I wonder how useful one sock or one slipper could be to someone with two feet....

On the plus side, the slipper looks fantastic, even if I do say so myself! It's from Knit: Handmade Style and it't the Snowflake Slippers. The pattern only accommodates a woman or a child's size, so since I am making them for my brother, I used aran weight yarn on 5mm needles and it seems to have worked out perfectly. The other change I made (which was actually an accident) was that I knitted the top of the slipper in stockinette stitch instead of garter, I just didn't read the pattern properly, but I think it makes the slippers look more manly! I will post some pictures soon, I'm at work at the moment. The slipper knitted up really quickly, I started it on Tuesday night and finished it last night (minus the sewing up), so at least I know I will be able to have the pair finished in plenty of time for Christmas. I wonder if I could get away with knitting these for everyone this year? Probably not!

Christmas Knitting Progress

I don't seem to be doing too well with knitting all my Christmas presents. There are only 29 days left and so far I haven't finished a single gift. I've nearly finished the hot-water bottle cover that I'm knitting from Knit: Handmade Style , I just need to sew it up, which I have just started this morning, but got bored very quickly, which is why I am writing this post - sometimes I think that I have procrastination down to a fine art!

Sorry the picture isn't very good, I was being lazy with lighting, but you get the idea (that's the hot-water bottle cover, in case you weren't sure!). As you can probably see, I am only following the pattern for the actual structure, the colour combination and design is just what I felt like doing at the time. I just hope my friend is fond of green!

I am about 25% into my mum's present, but can't talk about that because she does read my blog from time to time. I will have to take it off my Ravelry project list once her invite comes through, I have been checking the waiting list regularly to make sure I get it off before she's on! I have mad a fairly large mistake with her present, but I am hoping to get away with it as I have neither the time nor the inclination to rip it out, it might just be a bit wonky, I will have to wait and see.

I still need to knit presents for my brother, husband, mum's partner and possibly my dad, but since I don't tend to see him often, that one isn't really urgent, but I figure if I am making him something, I probably should knit my step-mother something too, grr, how these lists grow. I guess I should be thankful that I have such a small family! How I long to be more organised, then I would have made a start on my Christmas knitting in August and would now be sitting knitting my own Debbie Bliss Bolero so I would have that for myself in time for Christmas.

Swap Bot Secret Knitting Pal

So, I have set up a blog for my swap on Swap Bot for the Secret Knitting Pal so everyone who is involved can post entries and pictures relating to the blog. Within an hour or so of setting it up, three people have posted messages, I was very excited!

If you want to have a look at it, click here.

Packages have to be sent out by 3rd December, I can't wait to see what I get...

Christmas Knitting

I think I am going to have to start knitting at lunch time, there's only about 38 days left until Christmas and I'm meant to be knitting gifts for everyone, but so far I'm only halfway through one gift and haven't even started any others, ohh err, I hope I can get some things done, otherwise everyone will be getting IOUs for Christmas!

I'm already addicted to Ravelry since getting my invite yesterday. I think I will be spending a large portion of the weekend inputting my stash! I think that could take me a while...

And I'm in!

Hey there,

frecklegirl has invited you to Ravelry!

"Here is your invitation! Thanks for your interest in our site.Let me know if you have any questions or problems!

Jess"

Yay! Will let you know what's it's like (if you're not on there already!)

It was snowing this morning, really need to knit me a new hat!

So near....

• You signed up on October 20, 2007
• You are #46481 on the list.
• 632 people are ahead of you in line.
• 10298 people are behind you in line.
• 79% of the list has been invited so far

Not long now I hope! I reckon a couple of days.

In further news, I have set up my own secret knitting pal swap on Swap Bot, one of the participants has asked me to set up a blog for the swap so all the other participants can post their photos and stories on there. I'm thinking about it, but I don't want to step on anyones' toes because I know there is another secret knitting pal on Blogspot, so we will have to wait and see.

I knitting progress news, I have very little to say, I haven't really done a lot of knitting in the past week, I have been knitting the hubby a pair of socks, but I'm not too far with that, I'll post pictures soon.

Almost there...

• You signed up on October 20, 2007
• You are #46481 on the list.
• 5637 people are ahead of you in line.
• 6710 people are behind you in line.
• 76% of the list has been invited so far

Come on!

Swap Bot Goodies!

My first package of goodies through Swap Bot arrived today, it was very exciting! I got such a beautiful package, my partner had really gone all out to go through my profile to find things I would love. She sent me two really cute place mats with pockets with a pair of chopsticks in them. I love the fabric, it's a blue and brown retro print - just gorgeous! She also sent me a skein of Knit Picks 'Shimmer' yarn - 70% Baby Alpaca, 30% silk. It's really beautiful and soft, I feel a pair of cabled socks coming along there!

I also got a cute notebook and set of 8 funky pens, some chai spiced tea (just finished a cup, very yummy, especially in this cold weather!) and some cute stickers. I really feel like I've been spoiled! I'm loving Swap Bot! My husband keeps asking me what the point of it is, I don't think he understands why I would want to send gifts to complete strangers, but I think that's the whole fun of it. It's such a nice feeling to read about someone you've never met and then to put together a gift for them, I just think it's so charming!

I have actually set up my own swap now on Swap Bot, it's a Secret Knitting Pal swap, of course, although it won't be very secret as you need to know who sends you your gift so you can rate them, but it's still fun! I'm signed up to a few swaps now. My postcards from the Autumn Postcard Swap are trickling in, I've received two out of five so far, they're really cute, we write an autumn memory on the back of an autumnal themed card.

I'm also signed up to a Secret Sister Swap, where you send your partner a gift every month for three months, there's no particular theme, so you just buy gifts based on your partner's profile. I'm doing a Secret Santa Swap and also a Christmas Card swap, it's all very exciting! (I'm sure I'm repeating myself!).

I had a really nice weekend, my best friend was over from the UK, it was so nice to spend some time with her, although we did have a couple of boozy nights! She actually dragged me to work last night, who goes to a club on a Sunday night???! It's just a good thing that I had a day off work today! I was really sad to say goodbye to my friend, she's like a sister to me. She did make me laugh though because she is knitting a cushion, but she's very much a beginner knitter and had made a mistake ages ago and had to wait until she saw me to fix it before she could carry on! She was very pleased when I sorted it out for her so she could get back to it! We did spend a lot of time sitting around the apartment, knitting and drinking tea, perfect activities for a chilly Genevois weekend!

I'm pretty sure that I'm rambling quite a lot, I am still feeling a little delicate after last night, but I really need to crack on and clean the apartment as it's currently looking like a tornado ripped through it over the weekend, put me and my friend together for a few days and you'd be amazed by the amount of mess that we can create!