Knitting Iris

Wrapping Paper

More scandinavian wrapping paper.  Click on them for detail.

What knitter could resist this paper from IKEA?  Even if you don't pull off handknitted gifts for Christmas, you could at least pretend, or fool them with the wrapping paper.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

My mom turns 74 today.  (My dad turned 74 twenty one days ago.)  She was born in on a farm in Norway in 1931, the 5th of 8 children, also the 5th girl, before a boy, another girl and a 2nd boy.  With her birthday falling right before Christmas, I bet it didn't get much notice while she was growing up.  Now, I try to make a point of making sure she has something special for her birthday.  This year, I knitted her a cover for her hot water bottle, which she uses frequently.  I sneakily took measurements of her actual  red bottle while I was staying at their house in Seattle last month. 

When I got home, I went on the search for the perfect yarn.  There were several requirements: 1) blue: her one and only forever favorite color.  2) soft.  3) not so bulky that the warmth wouldn't transfer through the fibers.  4) an animal fiber so that it will hold it's warmth even in the morning when the water inside has cooled down.  My LYS had a perfect yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca D.K. in a pretty blue shade.  Wooden buttons would have been better as they wouldn't feel cold when the water cools either, but I used some plastic ones from stash.

After reading up on H2O bottle patterns, I swatched and looked for a pattern to knit up the front.  After starting and messing up a pretty complicated cable pattern, I settled for this really simple one.  You only had to cross cables every 11th row.

For the pictures, I slipped it onto one of the two identical hot water bottles I have but almost never use (they were purchased as a stand in for an electric heating pad to have on hand during labor, as we didn't have any electric power at our house when R was born.  I think my mom bought them for us).  This H2O bottle is a tiny bit bigger than hers.

When I was young and sailing with my family each summer on the coast of British Columbia, Canada,  some evenings were quite cold.  There was no heater on the boat, but my mom would sometimes light the little cookstove oven and put our socks in for just a few minutes to warm them up before we popped them on our feet and crawled into our sleeping bags.  I remember at least one time when she left my cabled red knee socks in just a little too long.  We would smell the burning synthetic and they came out a bit crispy around the top edges!

The boys and I made a card to insert in the cover when we sent it to her.  We each thought of and drew pictures of other things that were warm and glued them on one side.  R and I wrote the words, and they decorated the back with birthday greetings.

We wrapped it, along with some pictures from our trip to Mexico that I printed and framed, in some Norwegian wrapping paper I got at Yulefest in Seattle.  I love this stuff.  It reminds me of getting presents at Christmas from my grandma (bestemor) in Norway.  The paper was always so different and pretty.

Oh, and here's my family celebrating this day in 1970.  She turned 39 years and I turned 15 months old that very day:

Truth is, I wanted to "give" this blog to her as a birthday present, but her computer isn't really up to snuff.  She wouldn't even be able see it.  Yes. Really.  She doesn't even know about my blog. Very few do.  So....the hot water bottle cover will have to suffice for now.

Christmas in Dreamland

Anybody remember a couple of years ago when this was the Anthropologie holiday window display?  When I took these pictures it was purely for my own amusement.  Who would have thought I'd be blogging about it a couple of years later?  The giant cross stitched backdrop is attached to the pile of red balls of yarn which in turn is also attached to the cross stitched flames in the fireplace.  The slipcover and pillow on the chair are patchworked from knitted pieces as are the stockingsand wrapped presents on the mantle.  The candleholders are spools of yarn.  The tree on the left is draped with little skeins of yarn.  Somebody had a lot of fun dreaming all this up.

Holiday Knick Knackery, Part 2

The two storey forest, and one of this year's cheesy new additions; I think it's flocked ceramic.  This all started with 5 of my grandmother's green bottle brush trees on the mantle.  Then C's mom gave me one of her green ones, too.  Then came unpainted ones from craft stores, then we started painting some of them.  Next, the little wooden trees from the train sets were swiped.  Then, painted pine cones.  Then, the new off-white and tiny, white bottle brush trees.  At this rate, it won't be long before this forest will run the full 5 stories of the corner shelf.

It was fun watching the boys "plant" the forest together themselves this year, finding some of the ones they'd painted last year. 

I've seen some other really great ones out there recently.  I've seen a few others in holiday magazines.  I'd love to make them all this year, but I think I'd better save some of those ideas for next year.

Mid-Winter Snack

A couple of bears in their cave having a mid-winter snack before going back into hibernation.

Holiday Knick Knackery, Part One

The mushroom- guy ornament, made in Germany, was purchased at Yulefest in Seattle a few years back. The four other similar ones with ladybugs on them are from our recent trip to Mexico where there were a few little shops opening for the season selling only holiday decorations.  There are two knitting mushrooms, one I ordered online, the other I found at the local thriftstore, the very day after I had seen the exact one in the Hearthsong catalog and had set my mind on ordering it someday.  The three attached calico softie ones I purchased at a local holiday craft fair 7 or 8 years ago, at the same fair that I sold the wool felt ornament mushrooms and hearts that I made.  The six red and four brown wooden mushrooms up front are painted wooden drawer knobs (idea blatantly swiped from here).  So, there you have it, my own little fairie ring.

Many Moons

Yesterday's Moon.

Today's Moon.

And completely off-topic:  We watched the new Charlie And The Chocolate Factory this evening.  I found myself searching the scenes for all the handknit and hand crocheted items in the Bucket household, in the way that some do in the Harry Potter movies.  Anybody else?  Unfortunately, in the last scenes of the movie, there was a new Ikea duvet cover on the grandparent's bed.  Change for the worse, I'd say, even though I can't seem to stay away from that place myself and I did spot a duvet cover I really liked there last time I went.

Inclinations

Recently Jane "accused" me of being partial to orange and blue-grey colors, particulary in combination.  My reply? Guilty as charged.  How can I help it?  I see it all around me.  Or, do I see it all around me because my eyes naturally drift towards those combinations?  My current knitting even reflects those color preferences. 

Take away all the trappings of Christmas, all the decorations, all the presents, all the music, all the sweets and glitz and glitter and clutter.  Just give me a box of fresh mandarin oranges, or even just one single sweet orange to savor, and it will be Christmas to me.

My brothers and I grew up eating box after box of these even though they were a good bit more expensive then as they were imported from Japan.  Now that they're grown in the states, the price has come down.  I think we're on our 7th or 8th box since mid-November. We don't even buy oranges any other time of year, making these a particulary special treat.

In defense...

...of terrible knitting mothers everywhere.  ;)

...of terrible knitting mothers, like one I know who, together with her DH throws their annual Christmas party for their family, friends, and their friends' children, and who then lets her 5 year old stay up until he collapses on a bed in exhaustion, probably the first time he's ever gone to sleep at home without someone reading to him and tucking him in. 

...of terrible knitting mothers, like one I know who lets their barely 3 year old stay up playing with his friends, brother, and cousin, and parents' friends as long as he'd like, eating cake, cookies, chocolate, truffles, and other sweets while she hangs out chatting (and yes, drinking a few...too many) with friends around the campfire under the light of the winter moon.

... of terrible knitting mothers, like the one I know who then makes a huckleberry milkshake for that barely 3 year old at 12:15 a.m. out of the vanilla ice cream that got left out on the counter to melt while the adults were playing a viscious game of Catch Phrase.

...of terrible knitting mothers, like the one I know who then lets that barely 3 year old, strung out on sugar, stay up even longer playing Santa's sleigh and reindeer with all the chairs, giggling at his singing over and over "Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" at 12:40 a.m. 

... of terrible knitting mothers, like the one I know who then finally picks up her son at 1:00 a.m. and carries him up to bed, without brushing his teeth, with a purple milkshake mustache plastered across his face, listening all the while, while he goes on and on, loving every moment of his sugar induced silliness:  Sugar crazed child: "When will it be wake up time?"  Terrible mom: "After you sleep."  "Maybe I'll stay up all night and hear the jingle bells.  "Maybe. "  "Maybe I'll see the elves come."  "Maybe."  "Maybe I'll peek out my window."  "Maybe."  Maybe I'll see them make a circle around the house.  "Maybe."  Maybe they'll play ring-around-the-rosy.  "Maybe."  Maybe they'll all fall down."  "Maybe."   "Maybe they'll wear helmets."  "Maybe."  "Maybe they'll ride bikes."  "Maybe it's time we closed our eyes."  "Maybe."

...of terrible knitting mothers, like the one I know who lets everything slide every once in awhile, all in the name of fun and games and holidays.

...of terrible knitting mothers like the one I know who spends too much time sometimes at the computer blabbing on and on.

If there's one lesson I've learned as a mother, it is not to judge another parent based only on a glimpse of one brief moment in their complicated lives. 

...and a grouse...

...in a willow tree.  Hmmm.  Doesn't have the same ring to it as partridge and pear tree now, does it?