Bikini Elf

Manos Del Uruguay hats for my brothers-in-law. Jeffrey’s is navy, Jason’s is blue-gray and Jonathan’s is green. I’m glad they chose different colors of yarn. It was nice to get to use a variety of the beautiful Manos colors. I’ll definitely use this yarn again. Colors: Navy (11), Pewter (64) and Green (13) . These are based on a design by Sean Riley.

The hats have been delivered and the brothers look great in them! They really appreciate my work so it is a pleasure to knit for them. Thanks for that, guys! If you need anything else, just let me know!

Jason’s Dark Skies: This was knitted with leftovers from Jeremy’s hat, plus a tiny bit more. I had a bit of fun tinking back periodically on this one. (for those non-knitters, that’s un-knitting, one stitch at a time) I’ve now come up with a phrase for when I start knitting the wrong way. It’s called a U-turn. When I started, I thought I’d have enough yarn for sure. But as I got closer to the top and the ball dwindled, I started to lose hope. Like when you see the sky turn black just before a storm. No, I’m just kidding. This hat was sort of the trouble-maker of the bunch, so it gets the ominous, dramatic title Dark Skies.

Jeffrey’s Winter Warrior: It took a while to get hold of Jeffrey. He’s just a busy man, generally. But I have to pick on him a little because that’s what we do! His hat gets the name Winter Warrior because we finally pinned him down while he was playing World of Warcraft. He managed to say he wanted dark blue, but I never found out how long he wanted it. I figured I’d make the slightly longer version–I don’t want his hat to come off during one of those fierce battles!

Jonathan’s Happy Giant: The knitting went smoothly on this one and it’s in my favorite color. Yay! (hopefully this won’t be the last time that I get to knit in a color other than gray, blue or black for a guy) I couldn’t help thinking about trees and leprechauns and the Jolly Green Giant. Plus it’s going on the head of someone who seems kind of like a giant to me. When I’m with all these guys though, it’s like being in a land of giants. I kind of like it.

Just a note to let my readers know that I’ll be taking a little break from posting. Maybe for a week or so. I may work on the brother-in-law hats a bit, but I want to read more than knit right now. So I’ll be reading Narnia and jotting down design ideas instead.

Those in italic have been finished:

Ireland Mists hat: I have some light blue yarn to make this hat for my nephew. Sorry, no link as the page is dead. *This has been replaced by the ribbed hat*

Durrow: Ordered Peruvian Collection Sierra Aran to make this for Jeremy last night. The color is at the bottom, second from the right. It’s Dark Indigo.

Aran Weight Lace Cropped Cardigan: See the photo at the top of the Peruvian Collection yarn page. I also bought a small amount of yarn to make this for myself. Originally, I was going to use the Fiddlehead Green at the bottom of the color palette, but went with Oak (at the top) because it will match more stuff. That happens a lot. I like green, but a green cardigan will only go with so much. It’s such a pretty color, though. Maybe next time. Note to self: Change the name of this cardigan to something shorter! Five words is way too many.

Cabled hats for my brothers-in-law.

Tank top from Rowan’s Summer Tweed Collection by Kim Hargreaves. I have yarn shipping in a discontinued color called Cotton Bud. I’ll probably make Elderflower, but maybe Amber or Ginger.

Sockapaloooza free-form texture socks.

A Key Piece: Scarf for my sister, Lindie.

My first pair of gloves. I made these using the tutorial from Winter 2003 Interweave Knits. Sassy Stripes yarn in the colorway Polo. Started December 10, finished December 29.