Hurray!!!  Here we are, our first January in our beautiful Coastal Condo in Sunset Beach, NC.  I am well stocked with knitting, getting ready to review my knitting goals from 2017 and decide what my knitting goals are for 2018.  Those are for another post.  Today is all about who my treasures went home with for Christmas.

It is the Friday after Christmas, so all of my little treasures should have chosen their new homes and be snuggling up to new masters.  But that didn't happen this year.  Last year six treasures chose new homes.  This year, not so many.  It isn't that I knitted less, but what could it be??????

Remember my Double Fun beauty, knit in Kauni EQ, my very favorite colorway in the whole fiber world?  There was no doubt who this treasure would go to.  I took one look at it, and conjured the exact person it would be perfect for.

This is Carmen Wigman the owner of Reve Salon and SPA in Sylvania, Ohio and the magician who tackles my very thick hair and comes out the winner.  Was I right, or was I right?  Double Fun is perfect for Carmen.  She just got new orange glasses which make the orange in Double Fun POP!  Carmen told me she has a box with everything I've ever knit for her in it.  That way she knows where they all are.  Isn't that sweet?!?!  

Remember Eccentric Chevron?  It is so beautiful it makes me teary.  It is a Prism kit I made into a scarf rather than a shawl.  Partly because I thought the colors would look great as an accent piece for about any piece of clothing and partly because I was tired of knitting it.  Another year I would have struggled through finishing it but during my Year Of Selfish Knitting, I knew exactly when to stop.  

It went home with Evie.  She had the perfect color on when I gave it to her, but then again, I think most any color would be the perfect color.  I love knitting for Evie.  She doesn't knit and thinks everything I knit is miraculous.  I love that!  So the Eccentric Chevron went to Evie and the Ugly Christmas Beer Hat went to Butch.  

I would love a picture of Butch wearing the Ugly Christmas Beer Hat.  If I get one, I will share it.

So, all together five treasures went to new masters: the Lunar necklace went to Thea, the Bulky Bliss scarf went to Linda from social knitting, the Bulky Bliss cowl went to Michelle from social knitting, Double Fun went to Carmen and Eccentric Chevron went to Evie.  Last year the following treasures went home to special friends.

The Beacon scarf went to Carmen

The hysterical Anemone hat went to Linda.

Bandito scarf went to Kathy Trip, the person I love to work with at Ann's By Design.

Knit The Day went to Ann.

Another Bandito went to Erin.

A Bubbles scarf went as a White Elephant at the Ann's By Design Christmas party.  Also, I thought I was going to give the Bulky Bliss scarf to Evie but I ended up finding something even better.  

I knit so many things I loved this year, after all that is what My Year Of Selfish Knitting was all about.  You would think I would have many treasures to give as Christmas gifts.  Let me share just a few. 

Dovetail in two colorways.  Aren't these gorgeous?!?!  This was so much fun to knit and in Kauni EQ.

Close To You in the over-the-top Twisted Fiber Art Evolution colorway Lucky Penny.

Stripe Study Shawl in Twisted Fiber Art Evolution colorway Juicy.  

As you can see, I had plenty to give away.  When push came to shove, I couldn't let them go!  I loved every minute I put into knitting them and I loved every inch of fiber in them.  They all were just too precious to me.  Maybe next year I will be able to part with them.  Just not this year.

"May all of your knitted treasures find new homes with new masters who will love them and take as good care of them as you would."  That is my Christmas wish to all knitters and crocheters. 

I have been proud and a little arrogant about how I knit for Christmas.  I traditionally knit things I love all year then right before Christmas, I bring them all together and my treasures tell me where they want to go.  No rushing to finish Christmas gifts! No all-nighters to complete gifts! NO STRESS! Right?  This year I was thrown off course, not once but twice.  

The Ann's By Design Christmas party was Monday, December 11.  On Tuesday, December 5, I got an email announcing the next afghan square for the Cascade Knitterati Afghan.  IT WAS A RABBIT! Ann loves rabbits!  There are rabbits all over the store.  I decided on Tuesday, December 5 that I was going to knit the rabbit square and frame it for Ann for Christmas. I made a trip to the Stash Studio for yarn.  If I didn't already have appropriate yarn, I decided I wasn't going to do it.  Of course, I had plenty of left-overs that were perfect.   PRESSURE!  STRESS! Back to the bad old days of knitting individual treasures for individual people.  I couldn't help myself.  This was just too perfect.  On Saturday, December 9 at 10:00, I finished the square.  

Sunday, I steamed, put the finishing touches on it and framed it.  Monday this is what I gave to Ann.

Isn't he adorable?!?!?!  Ann loved it.  But this wasn't enough.

We were going to have Christmas with Butch and Evie on Wednesday, December 20.  On Tuesday, December, 12, I decided I was going to knit the Ugly Christmas Beer Hat for Butch.  I guess I hadn't experienced enough stress and pressure with Ann's rabbit.  On Friday, December 15, we flew to Lawrence, Kansas for Christmas with Donn, Andi and Erin.  When I say I was knitting the UCBH day and night, I'm not kidding.  I knit watching TV.  I knit eating breakfast.  I knit on the plane.  I knit in the car.  I knit visiting with Donn, Andi and Erin.  Then on Sunday night I was at the point where you changed from circular to double points.  I decided I didn't want to take the chance on three balls of yarn and five needles on the plane.  Monday night and Tuesday I finished and put on the steaming, finishing touch.  On Wednesday, it was done and perfect.  But once again, PRESSURE AND STRESS!  The outcome was well worth the pain. The juice was definitely worth the squeeze!

I love it and so did Butch.  The pattern is a Ravelry pattern.  The yarn was in the Stash Studio.  I'm still experiencing heavy breathing from the race to the finish.  

Next, I will share with you my last two treasures who went home with friends for Christmas.  

It's that time of the year.  That time when I climb the stairs to the Stash Studio and and gather together all of the magnificent treasures I have knit through out the year and let them decide who they want to go home with for Christmas.  As I looked around my marvelous room, I was overwhelmed by the beauty.  I saw things I absolutely had forgotten about and things I could never forget.  This was a very prolific year.  Last Friday (December 8) was my last Friday working at Ann's By Design until February.  That means it was my last Social Knitting until February.  I have made dear friends in Social Knitting.  The first, of course, was Thea.  We met during the first month I began working at Ann's and have been knitting sisters ever since.  This year two new friends came into my life; Linda and Michelle.  I have known Linda for about 47 years but we lost touch.  Linda is a master sock knitter and one of the most giving people I have ever met.  Michelle is a professor at Adrian College and taught herself to knit in the spring by watching uTube. What she has taught herself is amazing.  It is always a joy to have Michelle in a class. I will do Round 1 tonight because I learned the hard way if you tell where the treasures are going before they get there, the surprise is often ruined.  So three treasures have found a new home and here they are.

I knew when I discovered the Lunar pattern that it would eventually go to Thea.  Then when I used the Madelinetosh Electric Rainbow, it cemented the decision.  Thea loves teal and there it was.  My May 26 post talks about Lunar in detail.  Then of course, I can't imagine 2 people who are more perfect for this coffee cup than Thea and me.  Thea gave me a bottle of wine dressed in one of her adorable wine bottle sweaters.  When Thea and I discovered each other, it was like we shared a knitting brain.  So many thoughts, experiences, beliefs and actions in common.  Merry Christmas, Thea.

These went to Michelle and Linda.  The scarf on the right may look familiar.  Last year I announced it was going home with Evie but by the time we had Christmas in March I had discovered something else even more perfect.  It went home with Linda and it was just perfect with her coat and what she was wearing Friday.  I love the pattern.  This pattern made me love bulky yarn.  The cowl on the left went to Michelle.  It is beautiful but it took me a year to figure out I was never going to perfect the Kitchner Stitch on a K1P1 pattern.  I tried and tried but I couldn't get it perfect and you know how I crave perfection.  

​So 3 treasures have gone home with 3 treasures.  I really don't think there is anything more valuable than a good friend and I have three in social knitting.  I am one lucky person.  

It took me a very long time to get to the place where I could post about this amazing, magical project.  I finished the knitting but I couldn't make myself get Marilynn (my steamer) out to finish.  I started and stopped.  I stopped and started.  I started again.  Pinning this wondrous treasure on to the blocking matt was just too intricate.  Now it's done and I can proceed.

I found this gorgeous shawl in my knitting basket at the Coastal Condo when Dick and I were there in October.  I'd forgotten all about it.  Let me introduce you to Prism's Eccentric Chevron in Lt Autumn.

I fell in love with the picture online and had to have it.  I started it casting on 478 stitches.  Remember that number as it was very important in my learnings from this project.  I decided it would be my official condo knitting, thinking it would be great to have something special waiting for me in Sunset Beach.  About half way through our stay in October, I realized if I continued knitting Double Fun, I would finish it before our trip home.  I can't think of anything more anxiety producing than being stuck in a car with no knitting.  The thought send chills up my spine!  I started poking around and found Eccentric Chevron.  I immediately hopped on board the Chevron train.  One night I was watching TV and knitting (really, the only way I can watch TV), when I discovered something that stopped my heart.

Move your eyes down to the purple just below and 2 stitches to the left of the stitch marker.  Imagine you see a dropped stitch!!!!  EEEEEKKKK!  That is exactly what I saw.  Maybe there is danger in knitting and watching TV.  Now remember, there are 478 stitches in a row.  My only choice seemed to be tinking (unknitting one stitch at a time), particularly with the unusual (or should I say eccentric) chevron pattern.  I took a deep breath and put Eccentric Chevron back in my basket and began thinking through other possible options.  In a burst of genius (I may be over stating just a bit), I decided to to unravel three stitches back to the dropped stitch.  When I got there I spent quite a while reading my knitting.  What exactly had happened?  How did that stitch get dropped?  I discovered I had missed a stitch when I K2T.  I had knit 1 stitch and dropped 1 stitch.  I got out my crochet hook and accomplished a K2T then used the hook to run the stitches back up in pattern.  It was a brave and scary thing I did.

In about 45 minutes, I fixed my problem rather than tinking back and reknitting which might have taken days and much swearing and maybe a brief period of giving up and MUCH frustration.  

LEARNING #1:  It is very important to learn to read your knitting.  You know what a knit stitch and a purl stitch look like but you really need to go a little deeper.  How does K2T look different than SSK?  What does it mean if you have one stitch too few or too many and can you figure out why?  Sometimes I'll take a piece of knitting and read what I see out loud to see if it matches the pattern. I know.  To quote my friend Thea, "I'm just a little wonky." 

Here Eccentric Chevron is finished.  Isn't it Spectacular?!?!?!  I don't know if you notice something different from the original pattern.

The original pattern was a shawl but mine is a scarf.  I think it had something to do with 478 stitches in each row.  I just decided I was done. I rationalized by saying it would be more useable as a scarf than a shawl. 

​LEARNING #2:  When you are knitting the length of the scarf rather than the width, you can stop whenever you want.  Nobody will know it's not the right width.  

LEARNING #3:  Once you put your treasure on nobody will know that wasn't what it was supposed to look like.

A project is never really finished until Lydia models it.  Everything looks great on Lydia.  As I was finishing, I realized who this wanted to go home with for Christmas.  I've learned not to make the announcement too early because sometimes it spoils the surprise if that someone reads Knitting: A Love Story.