So first! Here is the Sunny Baby Blanket (ravelry link) that I made for a friend who was due near the beginning of December but had her baby much closer to the middle of December:
The pattern was easy and quick, which was just what I needed. The yarn is KnitPicks Swish Worsted in Caribbean, a color that I believe is discontinued. I got it from another raveler in a very sweet deal. I'd heard negative things about Swish, so I'd never used it before, but this is a baby born in December in the Northeast, and I wanted wool rather than the Crayon (cotton) or Shine (cotton/modal) that is my normal go-to for baby blankets. I did not love the number of bad joins and knots in every single ball of the stuff, but it spit-felted well enough and it was a good enough deal that I can't complain too much.
I machine washed and tumbled dry in the way I expect the recipient to care for it, and was very surprised at how nicely it came out of the dryer. It was stringy-feeling and limp and thin-looking after it went through the wash, but the dryer fixed it up nicely and the pattern pops a lot more now than it did before washing.
The problem with giving away all these baby blankets is that it's hard to know how well the yarns I use actually hold up. I hope they look good for a long time, but I'm not sure I'd hear about it if they didn't.
A project I'm determined to finish this weekend is my Night Owl Mittens:
which are actually a lot further along than this picture would have you know. Both mitten bodies are done and I conquered one thumb today. If my luck holds, I may have a FO shot tomorrow, although they probably won't be blocked yet.
These are going to be a gift for a coworker who has handed-us-down a TON of baby stuff so far, with promises of more to come. We're very grateful for this, and because I'm a rather socially awkward knitter, I'm choosing the "say it with mittens!" response. This is very similar to the "say it with socks!" response, but with fewer sizing problems. (I hope.)
The pattern calls for one ball each of MC and CC palette. I made a pair a couple years ago with Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift Something Something, and needed two balls of each color, so I got two balls of each palette color, and unless something truly crazy happens with the second thumb, I definitely could've gotten away with only one ball of each, despite lengthening the ribbed cuff. Whoops. Anyone want to trade a couple balls of palette for a couple of different balls of palette? The colors are black and whirlpool.
Also, the first pair I made were too small for me but fit my mom perfectly, so once I'm done with these, I'm casting on ANOTHER pair in a nice dark red and oatmealy sort of heather. Because despite having knit for years and years, I don't have a decent pair of actual mittens.
These mittens have helped me confirm that I love colorwork and hate thumbs.
There's lots of other stuff on the needles or ready to be finished, but I don't have good pictures, so maybe there will be more tomorrow. Hope your new year is safe and warm!