The happ-happiest season of all.

I am usually not much of a giver of knitted gifts, but this year, for some reason, I've changed my mind and I am going to be knitting lots. Tonight I finally, finally finished a scarf for my dad's birthday (a week from today). The pattern is Henry, by Mareike Sattler, from the Fall '07 Knitty.



Here it is, blocking. The final result is nice, but Sweet Christmas, it is one time-consuming sonofabitch. I did the math, and it's something over 50,000 stitches. For a scarf. Really not worth it, even for a fast knitter like myself. The yarn is KnitPicks Gloss, a very reasonably-priced merino-silk blend that I highly recommend. I may be making myself a sweater out of it after the holidays.

I also started a second gift project yesterday, another Knitty pattern: Dashing armwarmers/fingerless gloves, by Cheryl Niamath. These knit up fast, and are super cute. I'm using Berroco Pure Merino (Aran weight), which is soft and very warm and a bit splitty but also machine washable -- I do like to avoid giving people non-machine washable gifts.



I'm doing small projects (hats, scarves, mitts) for all my immediate/nuclear family members. And I'm really glad I just wrote that because I just realized I don't have anything planned for my sister's fiance. Oh well, I guess I'll have to make another trip to the yarn store! Boo hoo.