Life, Knitting and the Pursuit of Roller Coasters

For as long as I can remember, Christmas Eve has been spent with my dad’s side of the family and I’ve been on the kids list for gift exchanges. You just don’t graduate to “adult” until you’re married. So, this year, I drew the baby to gift in the exchange.

Max is nearly two, and he’s very into trains.  So, in addition to a toy train, I had to knit something.  And since I’ve been on a personal pattern binge, I didn’t go out looking, I designed something.

FO: Max’s Train Mittens and Track Hat

Pattern: My own. (I have two other patterns for the same age range that use the same mitten base, so I may just publish all three mittens and the hats as a set, but that won’t come til after the new year).

Yarns: White, Brown and Black Dale Baby Ull, The Red/Yellow/Blue is Knit Picks Simply Stripe Crayon colorway, and the smoke is Paton’s Kroy in Linen. I had intended to do the whole thing in Baby Ull, but the grey I ordered was too dark, and the colors I ordered were backordered. Because I used the striped yarn, the white/yellow faire isle name and year didn’t show up, so I added the overstitch outline in black. I’m kind of glad the other yarns were back ordered, as the striped train is more interesting than a solid blue train would have been.

The train continues onto the palm with a box car, and the smoke trail follows it around as well.  And the hat is simply lined with an enlarged version of the track.

My fingers are crossed that they fit. I had assurances from two coworkers with children around Max’s age that they looked like they would fit a 2-ish-year-old and I browsed around for hand and head sizes as much as I could, but those things are so variable at that age, it’s still a bit of a gamble.

I don’t expect much reaction from Max since he’s so little, I expect him to be far more interested in the toy train that is accompanying this gift. We’ll see how well it goes over tonight.

Merry Christmas!

I’m trying to stay focussed on the Christmas knitting, I have a plan and if I can stick to it, I should be able to wrap up all my holiday projects in time (however, it is a really good thing that this is the year that my brother and his wife are coming to do the holiday on New Years instead of Christmas day). So, before the 24th I need to finish two pairs of socks (one is almost done, the second hasn’t even been cast on yet) and a pair of mittens and a hat for a toddler. Before New Years, I need to restart mom’s mittens and hat, and finish 2 slog-full pairs of man socks which are both in progress.

Unfortunately, mentally, I would much rather dive into the pile of baby knits I have planned than slog along on man socks. When I say bombarded, I mean bombarded. I have 5 babies due to friends and coworkers in the next 6 months, and 3 of those have toddler-aged older siblings who I didn’t knit for when they were born and I’d like to include an older sibling gift when I gift the baby stuff.  So that’s a lot of baby and toddler stuff to dive into once the Christmas stuff is wrapped up. 1 of those is due in about a month, 3 are due in March (one of my coworkers is having twins) and the other is due in May. Most of them are Michigan kids, so warm weather wear is good and they should all hit the 6-month sizes in the fall.  I’m definitely having an eyes are bigger than stomach moment with what constitute acceptable levels of knitting though, and granted, these are all theoretical knits since I’m still slogging through Christmas stuff.

So, what am I theoretically knitting in my head while actually working on man socks?

1) A couple of these for the twins. I have the heavyweight Socks that Rock in Jasper and Pond Scum for the girl and Spinel and Pond Scum for the boy. I have the same colors in the lightweight as well to test knit the baby size of the monkey mittens and hat set that I’m working on for mom for Christmas.

2) Toddler winter sets. I’ve alluded to the set I came up with for my cousin’s son for Christmas I think. His mittens and hat will feature trains. When I put his set together I also came up with a car design and a crayon design as well which are both toddler boy appropriate. Since my other two coworkers have boy toddlers and live in Michigan, I’ll likely pass on the test knits for those patterns to their sons for wear next winter.

3) As for the other 3 babies and the other older sibling, I have a million ideas, I just haven’t narrowed them down yet. It’s a lot of boy knitting for one thing, and they are spring babies, and the one that isn’t a spring baby lives in California as does the other older sibling. I’m thinking I’ll pull together a blanket of some sort for the Cali baby and another stuffed toy for his older sibling. Then maybe some fall-appropriate 6-month sized sweaters and socks for the other two newborns.

It’s a good thing they’re little, because there sure are a lot of them! But in the meantime, slog on, Christmas is only 21 days away!