I made these dishcloths for my cousin on Christmas day!

(As an aside, I think this is my favourite way to wrap dishcloths: just a pretty bit of ribbon and tie in a bow.)

On Boxing Day, Mom and I went up to Michaels to see what was on sale (hint: yarn was!), and to use the gift card I got from my brother and his family (he’s the one with the daughters… clearly, they know where the handmade goods come from ^_-). We also went out to Mary Maxim in Paris, Ontario.

Because I was running dangerously low, I bought some more yarn. Including some in a lovely teal colour that you’ll see more of tomorrow, some wine coloured Bernat Satin Sport (I know, I usually don’t use this, but the pattern I have in mind needs something a bit thinner than my usual), and some dark blue Satin…

… which I used to finish Dad’s present. You may remember this picture:

I made the hexagons for this blanket in about 3 days. It made an excellent subway/work project. That is, until it was time to sew them all together. It took *forever*. I think it will be a very long time before I decide to whip-stitch motifs together again! Watch for future posts about experimenting with joining methods, coming soon. Very soon.

Anyhow, here is the blanket when Dad received it:

(Check out the sweet stockings my mom had made over the years, there on the right)

And here it is finished, and going extremely and accidentally well with that chair that I forgot my parents had:

I’m particularly happy with the borders. I’m never happy with the edges on hexagon motif blankets. Two of the sides are ok, kind of a ripple, but the other two are very boxy-looking. I don’t normally like experimenting with presents (we’re just ignoring the original present idea right now) but this turned out really well, I think!

So, let’s have a show of hands: how many people think I’m going to keep adding border rounds on that blanket every time I visit?

Dad picked us up around 4pm and we loaded up the van and spent some quality time in a festive traffic jam. I was madly working away on Maddie’s gift as we drove. (I wasn’t the one driving. I really really hope that part is obvious!) It started getting dark, so on the dome-light went. It still wasn’t done by the time we got to my parents’ house. I knew Maddie was going to be there when we walked in, and I showed some real forethought by carrying her unfinished gift in a see-through bag. I managed to sneak it by her anyway.

Off to church we went, where I worked on Katie’s scarf (to match her yellow hat) before the service started. Everyone got a good laugh at my expense. :P

After church, it was back to my parents’ house. My regular bedtime is around 8:30pm, but I didn’t have to work the next day (grudgingly, no doubt…) I stayed up late. To 11pm. I got the blanket done, though!

On Christmas morning I told all of my handmade-gift-receivers that if they didn’t want their faces on the blog they should hold their gifts in front of them.

Here’s Maddie:

And here’s Katie:

It was Katie’s idea, I swear. I love my nieces!

(I think shuttlecock is my new favourite word!)