Finally! I can show you knitting again! This stealth stuff has been for the birds, but my Mom does read the blog from time to time so I just didn’t want to ruin the surprise. We had our Christmas with my parents this weekend since we will be in Maine with HWJF’s family for the real thing this year. The only thing that sucked about doing it this weekend was that Saturday was also my Mom’s birthday! She kinda gets that whole born-in-December-screwed-on-the-presents thing because of that. But I tried to make it worth her while. So without further ado, Mom’s Christmas socks!

Flame Wave Socks

Pattern: Flame Wave Socks by Ann Budd from Interweave’s Best Socks book.
Yarn: Cascade Fixation
Needles: Size 4 and 5!
Knit: 11/17-11/30/2008

These were a pretty easy knit and thanks to the big needles, they went fairly quickly. I even followed the pattern as written and knit them top down. You are shocked, I’m sure. There was definitely a moment that I thought that was going to be a mistake since I didn’t have much left for that kitchener toe, but I made it by the skin of my teeth. There was significantly more yarn in the other ball. Annoying!

This definitely isn’t my favorite yarn to knit with, but with Mom’s allergy to wool it’s one of the better solutions out there. And since it can be knit on such big needles (from a sock perspective anyway) that doesn’t hurt either!

I also knit Mom a birthday present. I really cannot believe I managed to get this one done in time. It was a feverish race to the finish. Since I wanted both Mom and Dad to have at least one hand knit to open each, and since the straight needles were *killing* me, I decided to concentrate on Dad’s Christmas gift instead for a while and figured Mom’s Scarf was a lost cause. As it was, that barely made it to done on time with his socks. More on his gift next time, but here’s what I’ve been working on for Mom’s birthday:

Morning Surf Scarf

Pattern: Morning Surf Scarf from Spin-Off Magazine
Yarn: Oasis Yarn Seduction Silk
Needles: Size 6 straights!
Knit: 10/20-12/11/2008

It’s another Morning Surf scarf, this time in the 100% silk yarn that I bought at Rhinebeck. I would have liked to have spun something for this, but I knew I wasn’t going to have the time, so this had to do. It’s lovely yarn and the pattern works out wonderfully with it. I was dubious about my choice of color combo at first, but after showing it to another group of knitters I was more confident.

And by the way, this pattern, even the second time around? Still Not Boring! I don’t think I would have gotten this done if I couldn’t have said that. Scarf knitting is not my forte.

After blocking, the yarn had even more drape than when I was knitting with it and the sheen didn’t go away. The silk smell definitely came out when it was wet (it *is* worm poo after all!), but went away when it was dry.

The best part of knitting this? When Mom opened it she immediately said with a smile on her face, “It’s my hint!!” which if you look back on the comments on this post you will see. I would have had to been deaf, blind and stupid not to get that one! There’s nothing better than a happy hand knit recipient though.

I also made a couple of purchases for Mom for birthday gifts. Unfortunately, one hasn’t arrived yet, but the other two did and we both couldn’t have been happier. First, this gorgeous necklace came from Creations by Uli:

She does all sorts of jewelry made from chain mail. When I saw this one, I had a very hard time not just ordering it for myself! But I knew Mom would like it too (the love of blue is hereditary!) so I gave it to her. Uli does wonderful work and couldn’t have been more accommodating with my order. Thanks Uli!

I also ordered this from Danielle’s Originals:

It’s a key chain with Sandy painted on it! It’s the likeness to the picture amazing?!? This was a rush order and Danielle also couldn’t have been more easy to work with and more accommodating. She’s definitely got a great talent too.

Next time, Dad’s presents!