Breaking the Silence...

I had every intention of doing Ten on Tuesday this week.  But then it snowed.  And school was cancelled.  And I stayed home from work.  And I forgot what day it was.  And all day today, I've thought it's Monday.

I have, however, been knitting.  I now have a pile of hand-knit Christmas presents.  Here are the finished items:

This is a scarf that I knit for one of my co-workers last year.  Her birthday is December 30th, so this was a birthday gift.  This year, she has asked for a matching hat.  I decided to make one for her 2013 birthday gift.

 

When I called the yarn shop, to order more of the green yarn (I wasn't worried about dye lots because the hat and the scarf won't really be together), I found out that they no longer have that particular shade of green.  So I ordered the cream color and used up the two little (leftover) balls of green yarn that I had.  So, now the green is the same dye lot as the scarf.  The stitch pattern of the hat matches....

 

 

...these fingerless mitts.  Last year, I had the brilliant idea to knit a pair of these for each of my (then, three) co-workers.  I figured these mitts would go with the scarf I already knit for this particular co-worker.  Well, they didn't get finished.  I had two pairs finished (except for the thumbs), and one mitt from this pair started.  Christmas came & went.  I never finished all of the mitts...until this year, when I decided to finish them so that the co-worker can have a nice hand-knit set (the hat, scarf and mitts).  Here are the other mitts:

 

 

Here's one pair. I'm showing you the mitts turned this way because each side has a different patter.  So, you're not looking at two right hand mitts, you're looking at one right hand mitt and the palm of the left hand mitt.

 

 

And the second pair.  Each person is getting a pair of mitts in their favorite color.  However, since last Christmas, we have added another co-worker.  So now I have an additional pair of fingerless mitts to make.  I have one mitt finished (except for the thumb).  I have yet to cast on for the second mitt.  I plan to give these to everyone at our work Holiday Party next week.  I don't have a picture of the one mitt.

 

This knitting adventure reminded me of the book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie".  Only, my story is called, "If You Knit a Gift for a Co-Worker".  It started as just a hat.  Then three pairs of fingerless mitts were added.  And then another pair of fingerless mitts was added to the list.

 

 

I also made a hat for another friend, who got a little huffy when he found out I was knitting a hat for a co-worker & not for him because he "likes that stuff too".  This hat, I cast on last Thursday.  My Mom was having surgery & I needed something mindless to knit while I waited at the hospital.  I finished this hat yesterday.

 

So, there's my Christmas knitting pile.  I'm pretty pleased with having finished these items and I can't wait to give them to their new owners!

 

Now, I just need to make the time to soak and block all of these items...