In this post, I’m participating in three WIP Wednesdays; Freshly Pieced, Tami’s Amis and Musings from the Fishbowl.

I am aware that it’s already well into the evening on Wednesday, but I really wanted to check in with my Christmas knitting progress and still blog about some tasty creations in the morning. 🙂

This morning was Wee One #2’s last day of school before Christmas vacation, so I packed up her teacher’s Socks of Kindness, that I blogged about earlier. I also packed up a few of the mini stars and tree cookies I made last weekend for her kids (she has three also), but she wasn’t there today! Bummer!! Hopefully she checks in before the school is officially closed for two weeks (kindergarten is only a few days a week out here). Anyhoo, here’s her little package!

Since my last knitting post a few days ago, I’ve finished a stack of facecloths and one mitten. I posted about the first two facecloths here. They’re all knit from the same pattern, Mock Cable Facecloths, in three colours of Shine Worsted. Clementine is pretty obviously the orange pair, Wisteria is the light purple and Green Apple, of course is the green. I really adore this yarn and will be using it for more facecloths for the fam and for gifts!

I’m on a serious Knit Picks bender lately, this time using Wool of the Andes Worsted in Dune Twist. These mitts are for the kids’ school bus driver. He’s a new addition to our list of gift recipients since we have moved out to the woods! He’s a very nice guy and the kids always say that he’s not a yeller! I’ve never taken the school bus to school personally, but I always heard about mean school bus drivers. Glad to know he isn’t one! Also, wee one #2 tends to move slowly in the snow and he never gives her a hard time about waiting for her so he deserves something special. He’ll get a tin of treats too of course!

I will be baking a whole lotta cakes and cupcakes in the next three weeks to catch up on my self-inflicted cake challenge. Which may prove extra tricky since we’re away for 5 days, but I can do this! I made a little dent tonight with cake #45, Candy Cane Cake. No adult could stomach this. Maybe Andrew. Maybe. Don’t take that as a challenge, I even tried it in milk and the peppermint still knocked me on my butt.

I kicked off my knitting this month with the most traditional knitting there is – a cozy! A hot water bottle cozy, at that! I found a wonderful pattern for a cabled one with a ribbed turtleneck-like trim so it really looks like a wee sweater. I made it from some Red Heart I got for Christmas for my Uncle Peter, the first birthday of the month!

It photographs a little brighter than it is, it’s only slightly darker and the brown is bang on. He’ll likely use it every night, I love giving gifts like that!

I got a random call from my mother just before I hit the bind off row on the cozy telling me she needed a pair of pink mittens for a friend at work. Since my days lately are mostly spent knitting and waiting for wee one #3 to arrive (when is that stork going to show up anyway?!), I had time to knit them up for her and still pretty much stay on schedule. She was happy.

I also just finished a couple of Transformers facecloths, I found the pattern on Ravelry, natch. These are for my dear friend Nichole’s wee one #1, Evan. He’s 5 today, and very much into Transformers. I hope he likes them! My husband machine and wee one #1 have asked me to make some for them since they’ve seen these.

I made wee cards for him and my Uncle Peter, and a larger one for Maeve, the daughter of another good friend, who also turns 5 today!

Last weekend was heaps of fun, loud and busy and congested in my kitchen. This weekend I decided to go the way of the quiet knitting evening, where just three of us gathered, ate and knit. A fantastic way to spend a Saturday night! I was making broccoli soup, and had enough for a whole pot all chopped up on the kitchen counter, when wee one #2 came over to help. She got her apron on, asked for a ponytail and promptly ate so much of that broccoli, I had to cut up some carrots too and make it Carrot-Broccoli soup!

Not that I am complaining about my kids eating veggies, it was just hilarious to be looking at about 1/4 cup less every time I turned from the pie I was also making.

This week’s pie was Red Plum Pie! I boiled the plums first for two reasons – one to help the skins slide off and one to cook them some before they were done up on the stove. I cut ‘Shh’ into the crust to underscore the difference in volume between last week and this week (and possibly next week), funny and yummy!

I’ve been procrastinating on knitting up a Brant toy. Mostly because I am looking for exactly the right pattern. I was going to make him out of Kimberly Chapman’s pattern (the one I made these guys from), but I’d like him to be bigger and I’m not sure the legs are right for this project. So I was thinking I could make him from the Kate from Knitty pattern, but I think it makes him too tubby! So I’ve moved on to Valentine’s Day prep instead.

After dinner I spent most of the evening leading up to bathtime on these little treasures. They knit up really quickly from whatever is on hand and they’re really cute. The pattern came from Martha Stewart, technically it’s to be stuffed with catnip but I’ve filled them with stuffing. I want to make a whole lot more, hang them in the window and make a garland from them!

I’m looking forward to getting the rest of the Valentine gear ready, while we wait for this wee one to decide she’s ready and make her grand entrance. I have to admit, it’s really unsettling not knowing when!

One of the reasons I’m blogging again, as I think I’ve mentioned, is that I want to make something for every occasion and I think blogging about it adds some more pressure to do it. Right now, I’m 8 months pregnant with wee one #3, and basically on lock down. All I’m supposed to be allowed to do is take my oldest to school and back, but I can’t take #2 with me so she stays home with the husband machine. This leaves A LOT of time for knitting, and I’ve been soaking it up!

The first FOs of the year were actually left over Christmas gifts, which I suppose is not at all surprising. 😛 I made my first pair of Jaywalkers for my dear friend Gill, who loves them to the point of not being able to wear them. Sigh, if they don’t get worn at least they’re appreciated.

Gill’s Christmas Jaywalkers

They took about 1 and a half hanks of Lorna’s Laces in Vera (that I picked up from my fave local and online yarn shop, Red Bird Knits). I should have enough left over to make a pair in a toddler size, but I wont get to that till I’ve done some more birthday knitting. She got these last weekend, but her beau only got a sneak peak at his gift because I wasn’t finished yet!

Andrew’s Christmas Pirate Mitts

These, I know he’ll wear. He’s got an issue with wearing hats and mitts and scarves, lest they cramp his style. Ovbs, these will not, they are simply too rad. The pattern is from Hello Yarn and is only minimally fiddly. As soon as you wrap your head around white squares = black stitches, you’ll be just fine.