Saturday 23 November 2013

Afghans for She and He

I guess it is a function of both aging and cold weather but the afghans are now out and in use in the living room in the evenings when we are watching television.  So there we sit, hubby and I, on either end of the sofa with our feet elevated, wrapped in wool.  Mine is the pinkish one.  I saw the pattern in a Mary Maxim catalogue and copied it.  I found the wool in a local wool shop in Kanata called Yarn Forward, a most scary store for those of us who only have to see wool and our fingers start to twitch.  It is James C. Brett Marble wool and knits up beautifully with gorgeous heathery colour tones.  I chose the pinks and gray/greens and it is machine washable, an important feature with snacking and dogs around.
I put a lot more work and effort into hubby's.  I knit it in squares, each with 40 or 41 stitches depending on the pattern.  I tried to use as many patterns as I could work out with just k and p and manage to knit while watch t.v. at the same time.  I guess that is rather lazy of me and I do feel a little bit guilty about not sitting down and trying to work out really challenging patterns that would give a more varied and beautiful look.  That being said, I used Lion Brand Irish wool for his  and it is a heather brown colour which he likes very much and he has commented on how warming that particular wool is.   I also stitched a small message for him in one of the squares just to personalize it a little. 
Yesterday I dug through my Christmas craft box just to see what I had on hand.  I was very tempted to head straight to Michaels with my 40% off coupon and just browse, but I'm proud of myself for resisting and checking out what I needed first.  Last year, I made some tree ornaments out of felt...mostly owls and birds that I embellished with embroidery.  It was a wonderful project that I enjoyed working on very much and I look forward to doing something similar this year.  The internet has proven to be an awesome resource for ideas and inspiration when it comes to hand made Christmas decorations. 
We are bracing for our first real snowfall of the season...just 2 cm to begin around noon.  I don't mind the white stuff at all, in fact, love the  winter season but there is one thing I dislike intensely and that is having to drive in it.  That is only time I wish I could take taxis or hire a driver to get me about.

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