Windy

Available as a .pdf file

Top-Down Construction

Materials needed for size S (M, L)
3 (4,4) skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (65% Wool, 35% Silk 50g = 175 m)
Size 4 (3.5 mm) circular needles 24” & 40” lengths
Size 6 dpns (for I-Cord)
Gauge: 6 stitches and 8 rows per inch

$5.50

Christmas Knitting - DONE!

Whew! I finished my Christmas knitting with a day to spare! Let me show you...

I drew Mom's name for the family gift exchange this year. She has been asking me to knit her a vest for quite a while now.

As a result, this is Windy. Windy is a top-down lace vest that I designed for my Mom for Christmas. (In case you're wondering, Windy was my Mom's nickname in high school) :-) This vest is knit from 4 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool, and the pattern will be available very soon - I'm doing the numbers right now for the smaller sizes.

Mom doesn't read my blog, so as long as Dad doesn't show her, the secret will be safe until the family gets together for Christmas Eve tomorrow. :-) I'm going to include a rough-draft copy of the pattern in the box.

For my MIL, I knit "Carol's Clever Little Shawl." This is a pattern that I got at Knitting Camp 2 years ago, and it's really, really easy. It took 3 skeins of the Berrocco Ultra Alpaca that I bought at camp this past summer. My MIL is in her late 70's and she gets cold easily, so I thought that this would be a nice pattern for her - it's warm and it stays on without getting in the way. Now I want to knit one for myself!

My mailman delivered my final Secret Pal 11 box yesterday afternoon! My pal was Ann at Yellow House Treasures . Since my birthday was this past Monday, she said that she included a few extra goodies for the occasion. Inside were some lovely (and delicious!) Christmas cookies

A really cute ornament (dated "2007")

Some dark chocolate and gummies (also yummy - and gone!!)

And a skein of soft, squishy sock yarn - Araucania Ranco. The picture is rather dark -it's more of a pretty burnt orange colorThanks, Ann! It's been a fun exchange! :-)

And, just because he's cute, a picture of Tick, the most pathetic doggy in all of doggiedom.

He would like you to believe that he is never petted or fed...and he would like to try to convince you that he needs both. :-)

Update!!!

Sabrina put her pictures up! :-) Check out her blog here or click on the very first link under "blogs I read" - the one called "Niqui."

I think that the Grady Sizemore dog tag gave me away, or maybe it was the Indians visor, or the Chief Wahoo candy bar...

(and yes, Sabrina, I still have sock yarn - and roving - left in my house...)

That was definitely the most fun - and the most difficult - of all of the Secret Pal swaps! Sabrina and I email each other many, many times a week, and she definitely knows my writing style. I had to word each anonymous email *very* carefully so that I wouldn't give myself away. I definitely had a blast gathering things to throw into her final box!

And thanks, also, to Molly, who helped me with the first package. I sent some of Sabrina's goodies to her and she put her daughter's return address on it and mailed it off to Chicago. :-)

Secret Pal, kinda....

Well, my downstream Secret Pal has received her final box, and she was none other than Sabrina! It's really, really hard to be a secret pal to one of your best friends, but I managed to pull it off (and I also managed to spoil her absolutely rotten - I already knew what she liked!) Please go over to Sabrina's blog and tell her to post the pictures, already! :-)

I know who my own secret pal is, but I'm not going to say anything until I receive my final package. It was supposed to be on its way this week - I'll post pictures and tell you who she is as soon as it gets here.