1st Annual Facebook Handmade Scarf Exchange!

Name: Palindrome Scarf

Pattern:Palindrome: A Reversible Cable Scarf by Kristin Bellehumeur

Craft: Knitting

Made for J.B.

Started November 23 2008

Completed December 27 2008

Size 5" x 65"

Needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yarn: Unknown (my mom had a giant red ball of yarn that I decided to use and just knitted until I ran out of yarn)
How much? 250 grams (473 yards)
Modifications: Cast on 52 sts and cabled every 10 rows (instead of 6 as instructed in the pattern)
See the project on Ravelry

I decided to join the 1st Annual Facebook Handmade Scarf exchange because I thought it was such a cute idea! I had no idea that the turnout would be so great. I thought my two partners would be both North Americans. The above scarf is the scarf I made for someone in North Carolina, USA. The recipient of this scarf is not a knitter so I asked her to pick her top 3 favourite knitted scarf, and from there I picked one so that she will be surprised when she receives the scarf. She also said that red was one of her favourite colours. I hope she will like it!

I also received a handmade scarf from Denmark! The person who made this for me said that she was inspired by a shell that she saw on the beach. I absolutely love the colours because it goes with my all my clothes (since those are the colours I usually wear). Please click on the picture to see it in full view. I will definitely participate next year!

An Unreasonable Goal

At the end of November, I had this brilliant idea that I would knit Christmas gifts for Jim's family. My goal was to complete the following:
1. An afghan for Jim's parents
2. A sweater for the dog
3. 3 scarfs for Jim
This brilliant idea came the very last week of November as exams were approaching. Although I didn't complete everything I had set out to do, I have to say I was a knitting machine this past month and still got all As on my exam! Here were the projects that I was able to complete:

For Jim, I made him a stripe scarf and a matching Koolhaas hat using Cascade wool:

He was so cute, he kept wearing both even though we were indoors on Christmas day.

For Jim's parents, I decided to make them both hats. A Koolhaas hat for his dad, and the isotope hat for his mom.

I also managed to perform a Christmas miracle by completing the Anastasia blanket for his parents. Let me tell you, this was quite a struggle! When I was making the centre, it was all lopsided and flared out like a skirt. I decided to block my blanket (my first time blocking anything) and it definitely saved the day!

I didn't have time to knit Jewel a sweater, but she did receive this one from me after she got a haircut at the end of November.

You can click here to see all the details of these projects on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/minhers

Note to self: Next year start your Christmas knitting earlier (i.e. September) or just buy everyone (and yourself) a big bottle of rum!