AGAIN! Just like last year, I made christmas gifts, but could not show them off here (or anywhere for that matter) as my family and friends would see them. I can’t do a “IF YOU ARE RELATED TO ME, STOP READING” post, as my family would be “SCORE!” and keep reading. Especially my husband. He’s not into surprises.

So I made my first knitted sweater.

Isn’t that nice? Sweaters are hard work! It’s for my husband and is in nice manly colours!

Does it fit?

It fits my hand, kind of.

I used a free pattern from  Knitpicks called Tiny Holiday Sweater Ornament Pattern. I was too lazy to do the cable down the front. In retrospect, I should of done a cable just to show off I can freaking cable. This was also hard to work on as I had to work on it when my husband wasn’t around, which was tricky and annoying. Often I was thinking “OMG I want to work on my sweater!” but can’t because he’s around. Sigh.

How about some mittens?

The pattern for these is Mini Mitten Ornaments on Ravelry – free as of this time. Actually, it’s a pretty good pattern – the mittens are made just like regular mittens, but much smaller.  These guys fit on the tip of a finger. I made a lot of these mittens – they are easy, very cute and fast to make – less than an hour.

For all the items I used leftover sock yarn with 2.25mm circular needles. I usually used the magic circle technique and it worked out well. Really neat is the yarns are variegated, but since on a small scale the item turned out striped.

I also made a toe up sock – however I tried 3 different patterns and were not happy with any of them, including that one. All of them did some crappy heel turnings, YO as toe increases, and no pick up stitches, so the heels had holes everywhere.

My rant: Yes, the item is an ornament. I get it doesn’t have to perfect. However, I  do not want holes in my work! This item is an ornament that will be on a tree for years, maybe even multiple generations! I do not want half-effort patterns, the item is small and quick to make anyways.

I also crocheted a squid, from my own Squidling pattern, but it was very last minute and was gifted before I could take a picture!

I predict next year I will have the same issue and post. Yeah… I’m sure other crochet/knitting bloggers feel the same.