Yarn-along: Knit-gifting and Christmas books galore!
~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny at small things
Yarn-along: December 12, 2012
Good morning! It’s the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe … a big patron round here and a reason to celebrate!
We’re heading into Christmas rapidly (a bit TOO rapidly, but I’ll survive) … so this yarn-along post is all about Christmas knit-gifting and crafts/cooking books we’re enjoying.
As you can see by the large pile of books … we’ve started our crafting/baking for the Holidays.
- The Gooseberry Patch book is a compilation of over 400 recipes and 200 crafty ideas from those wonderful folks at Gooseberry. This is a great book for jump-starting the holiday handcrafts and getting in the mood for baking!
- Christmas Crafting in No Time by Clare Young has a very clean, sophisticated European feel to the crafts and recipes contained inside … I only wish this book was spiral bound so it would stay open and not break the paperback-spine.
- Stitch it for Christmas has fast (and some not-so-fast) stitching (quilting, applique, embroidery) projects for decorating and gift-giving, all with a whimsical, country feel that I love.
- For crafts to make and bake with kids around … you can’t go too wrong with the Fun Christmas Crafts to make and bake by Annie Rigg and Catherine Woram … this hard-cover book lays flat, has great recipes and crafts and is lots of fun. We’re using this one quite a bit.
- Another book by Annie Rigg, Christmas Cooking with Kids, has great recipes but, more imporantly, wonderful ideas for baking and crafting with young children to minimize the mess but maximize the fun!
close-up of self-finishing armhole edge on vest
We’re also finishing up our read of The Hobbit … and just in time as we’re heading to see the movie on Friday (shhhhh … it’s a surprise for the kids). I really like this edition, annotated by Douglas Anderson, with lots of background information and wonderful sketches and illustrations from foreign-editions of the book, as well as some sketched by Tolkien himself. Very cool.
On the knitting front, I’m just about done with the back of dh’s vest for Christmas. It’s in a lovely camel-colored Summit Hill (100% washable worsted-weight wool). I was going to make it more cable-y, but opted for a simple design with just a touch of twisted cables at the edges and self-finishing i-cord to avoid ribbing on the edges. I think he’ll like this easy-care, comfortable vest for school.
I also finished the two Colourscape projects I was working on last week … the Frosty Fun cowl and the Prism Magic scarf. These knit up quickly on #11s with this lovely chunky, 100% wool yarn from Rowan. Perfect for knit-gifting!
So, what’s on your needles and reading table … wanna come play …