how to make non-embarassing scarves for the men in your life

I made a scarf for my dad for Christmas, just something he could wear to golf or rake leaves or whatever and not look silly.  Something like the Harry Potter scarves (but fringe-less):  wide stripes, no fancy stitches, vaguely preppy.  To me, this is the platonic ideal of scarfness.

Since my dad is a confirmed wool-hater, I used Berillo Comfort DK in maroon and gray.  I used size 8 needles, which seems huge for the weight of yarn but it was just right (the ribbing keeps things tight enough, and you want the scarf to be drapey anyway, not too firm).  All I did was cast on 54 stitches and work four inches of K2P2 ribbing, then work the rest of the scarf in K1P1 ribbing, alternating colors every four inches until the scarf was long enough (about 60 inches), and then work another four inches of K2P2 ribbing in the same color I started with.  

The only tricky bit was how to address the edges. I feel like generally the edges of anything I knit look sloppy, and I had read that the solution is to slip the first stitch of every row.  But when I did this it looked like crap.  Check out the stitches toward the left here:

Super sloppy.  The stitches toward the right are where I didn't slip a stitch, but just worked the entire row in the normal K1P1 pattern, which is what I wound up doing for the entire scarf, after ripping out the two feet of rows where I had slipped the first stitch (boo).  I'm not sure what I did wrong--is the problem that I was ending each row with a purl stitch?  Who knows.  The scarf turned out pretty damn well, which is good when you spend six weeks knitting something. 

How awesome would it be if I had a picture of the finished product, complete with staticky dog hair?  But I finished the scarf on Christmas eve, too late for photos, and then failed to corner my dad for a photo shoot the next day.

Anyway, this project:
1.  Kept my hands busy for six weeks
2.  Cost about $12, which is pretty great for a gift
3.  Will not embarass my father, which is also pretty unusual for a gift
4.  Does not feature any photographs of Joseph, which is extremely unusual in gifts these days
5.  Is probably machine washable

Hooray for me. 

the christmas card

Make that "new year's card." Because I didn't send them out until January 5th. The upside is that now family & friends get to see this photo of Joseph and the dogs on Christmas morning. Note that all the subjects are looking at Scott, the light of their world. Also, Indiana needs to be in the foreground of every picture taken in this house.

Joseph's favorite present was an elephant push toy. The elephant claps cymbals when you push him, so it was very important to push him around obsessively all morning. My favorite present (of Joseph's) is the backpack he's sporting below. Toddlers wearing backpacks: hilarious.

ornaments you can stick in your mouth

...or bang on the floor or whatever. These are key criteria for Christmas ornaments at our house this year, thanks to a busy boy and his fellow mischief makers (the dogs). Using felt, fabric scraps, and seventeen miles of blanket stitch, I've made a passel of very basic ornaments that won't harm or be harmed. Most are just simple shapes I cut out and embroidered.

The flock of felt birdies are all from the template I found at skip to my lou:

I also made a few birds from the purl bee's pattern. They're incredibly tiny and delicate and I love them.

Hilary at Wee Wonderfuls has her stuff together in the safe tree department.

I keep reminding myself that I don't need to make every damn thing I see this year, or I won't have anything to make during the next few years. Nobody in my house right now is old/young enough to care about advent calendars, stockings, festive table runners, etc. so those can wait a year or two; also, garlands can wait until Joseph is old enough to want to help make them. This is my excuse for having a minimally festive house.

how to test whether an ornament is child-safe

Last night we (finally) got around to opening the box of ornaments and assessing which of them are unbreakable enough to get put on our tree this year.  In my infinite wisdom, I decided to "test" one of the balls by dropping it on the garage floor.  I was totally sure it was plastic.  It was not.  I ran into the house to tell Scott how dumb I am (he agreed) and then proceeded back into the garage to dig through the box to find more plastic ornaments.  It turns out that "digging" and "glass" don't mix, and another ornament broke.  At this point I was wondering whether I had had some kind of mini-stroke.  Scott then took over with the ornament unpacking, promptly deciding to jackass around with two more "plastic" ornaments, sending one onto the floor of the living room, breaking it. 

We hadn't even been drinking, more's the pity. 

We came up with some more foolproof ways to test whether an ornament is breakable:

• put it in your pillowcase
• sit on it
• chew it
• hide it in your shoe

More later on ornaments that are actually unbreakable (because they are made of felt, which I know because I made them).

joey six teeth sleeps with the fishes

Joey seven teeth is sitting on my lap. After a three month tooth-making hiatus, Joseph has gotten another tooth, with a few more that seem poised to emerge any day now. This has been predictably hellish.


In other dental news (could this post be less engaging? No.) Joseph LOVES to brush his teeth. I think this is because baby toothpaste is the sweetest thing he's ever had in his mouth, they really load it up with sweeteners. He gets pissed off when you try to brush his teeth for him.

I'm ending the boredom here and now. Next week: posts about holiday crafting, no oral hygiene whatsoever.

giveaway day winner!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

45

Timestamp: 2008-12-06 15:03:22 UTC

The winner is Allie of Strandz. Hooray for her! Thanks to everybody who stopped by. It was fun to poke around and see all your blogs. This little project was also an excellent stash buster and I'm feeling motivated to have another giveaway after the holidays (the "after the holidays" list grows minute by minute).

giveaway day! pinwheel coasters

 
These six coasters, based on the lovely pattern at the long thread are free for the taking as part of Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day.  I'll randomly pick a commenter on Saturday, December 6th (so: comment by the end of the day on Friday) and I'll ship it early next week (only within the US, sorry).  This is, of course, assuming somebody comments and actually wants them, which I'm not quite convinced will happen.

Anyway:  coasters!  I used bits of blue & brown fabric I had in my stash along with some linen.  I was planning to make some little cocktail napkins out of coordinating fabric, but this week is not a week for mitering corners, so alas, no napkins to give away.

Please comment and take them off my hands and give them to your office secret santa or brother in law or child's teacher or something.