Knitty gifts unwrapped

The cat's out the Christmas bag. That gift and more are no longer secret and I get to share them with you! First up, though, is the Inara scarf, my first lace project for loom-knitting. The pattern is by Isela Phelps.

Here is the process from on-the-loom to look-at-me-I'm-lacey!

I started slow but once the pattern was in my brain, the scarf grew fast.


It's off the loom and it looks a little uneven.


The transformation from scrunchy-skinny to stretchy awesome!


Steam and wait.


All done! I'm glad I took the time to block this baby. The lace really pops now!

Here are the other gifts I made for family:

I translated a needle-knit pattern to the loom with the help of Isela Phelps and Lisa Clarke. The perty result was a gift for my mom-in-law.


I sprinkled some vertical colorwork into a trusty double-knit scarflet pattern. This gifty was for Plat's grandma.


And here's the kitty! This was another tried-and-true pattern, in which I striped some colors. The Wool-Ease yarn makes this very warm and cozy. I want to make one for me for those snow-blowing days.

I got some knitty-related gifts, too. My sister's boyfriend got me a Knit Picks gift certificate and More Knitting Wheel Fashions pattern book. And I'm getting Loom Knitting Socks book with an Amazon gift certificate. Cheers to a New Year full of crafty fun!

Merry Mitzmas!!

From Mr. Mitzy Claws and his crafty hoomin elf!

Threadknits

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Be it a celebrity hair-do or a chicken cordon bleu – we are inspired by other people's pieces of art. And art, quite literally, is probably the most inspiring.

Every week, Threadless releases t-shirts designed by new and established artists. When a design makes it big, imitation follows. Sometimes it's the bad kind. Evil people make exact copies and fail to give credit. But give fans a proper and creative way to express their love for a piece of art and something wonderful happens.

Threadcakes entry by Erin Adair

Give them a spatula and they bake a cake. Threadcakes just finished its second successful contest. Bakers of all levels created towering cakes based on t-shirt designs.

Now give them knitting needles and we have ...

The purple woolly mammoth may have started this all. When I saw the tee design by Edward Pincombe, I saw more than a furry animal. I saw a crazy knit hat. I always have been impressed by the crochet hats by "Chelly" that sometimes emulate Threadless designs. I wanted to give it a shot so I first got Edward's permission and then went to work.

And the hat version of Edward's "Woolly Woolly" tee design was born.

Charlie Festa over at Threadless HQ came across a photo of the hat on my flickr. We exchanged a few brainstormy e-mails and before I knew it, this fuzzy purple hat helped inspire a contest. The ball of yarn was passed to Chris Cardinal (the mastermind behind the Threadcakes Web site) and the entries are now rolling in.

Octadecapus by Rachel "Chelly" Thompson

Where is my entry, you might ask? As much as I wanted to be the first knitter on the contest block, Christmas is keeping me busy. But I've started stashing some yarn for at least a couple projects.

First will be Woolly Woolly 2.0. As any artist knows, we often see our shortcomings more than our successes. I think I can do a better Woolly and I'm going to try. This mammoth is going to have a trunk!

Some of the new yarn for Woolly

My next idea is super secret for now and it's an ambitious one, too. But here's a peek at the yarn so far.

Head over to Threadknits site to check out all the rules and creative entries so far. If you're a knitter or crocheter, head over to Threadless and get inspired. If you don't know how to work that yarn yet — well, learn! The deadline has been extended to March 1 so you have plenty of time.

On the 10th day of Christmas ...

My crafty hands have made ...

10 raggedy elephants!

Magically loom-knit from these balls of yarn ...

Except for the black, which I decided not to use.

I made these critters using a mystery loom-a-long pattern by guppygirl. The loom-a-long lasted a month but once you know the pattern, each one only takes a day!

Christmas spirit

I've been all tied up, with a pretty holiday bow on top. Now that many of my projects share a deadline day with Santa, I've been knitting away almost everyday. But I'm setting my loom to the side to share the spirit of the holidays this evening.

Today's snow blizzard topped off Christmas in our home ...

More snow and tree photos at my flickr set.

And here are some pretty ornaments for your home ...

Holly Present


White Christmas Trees


Shiny Star

Home Sweet Birds

Several items have been discounted in my Etsy shop for the holidays and some t-pillows could fill your need for last-minute gifts. Order soon to ensure arrival by Christmas Day!