So here’s the link to the new Coffee Swap blog!
(It isn’t the loveliest button, I know, but dang, if Photoshop is not just the tiniest bit confusing!)
I picked up Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitters Almanac at the library today so I can get going on Zimmermania. I’m going to make hats (Gnomy) for the boys out of the Panache I got from Cecily. Not only was she a brilliant knitter, but I forgot how entertaining she is just to read. I wish I had time ti knit more from the book, but I’m sticking with hats and mittens for now.
The funny thing was, when I got the book home and opened it up, a size 4 Crystal Palace needle rolled out! (Anybody lose one?)
As I noticed the first traces of snow this morning, I began to get into that winter knitters panic, especially serious here in Minnesota. You know, when you realize all the winter wear you need but don’t have time to knit?
Hat for Knittybaby
Hat for Little Man (because apparently he has reached the self conscious stage and will not wear his “wiggly hat” because he thinks kids will laugh at him. His other hat he lost, the other one is for sub zero days only)
Multiple mittens for Little Man along with wristers
Wristers for the Skeptic
Hat for the Skeptic (as one is “too itchy” and the other not tough enough for Minnesota winters)
Mittens for me
The question is, how many of you would actually knit all this because you know you can, and it will be way better than anything you can buy, and who just says the heck with it and orders from LL Bean?
Knittymama 
I’m all ready to sign up.
(I kind of like LL Bean – shhh)
Hats are great for the in between knitting for me. After I finish a big kknit, or in between a serious knit, or just cause the muse takes me.
But for my eldest daughter, store bought hats only! She has lost 3 knit hats in 6 years.
I knit scarves for myself, but not mittens – I like fleece-lined leather mittens. And I don’t really wear hats, so…
I always make mittens for myself, but I try not to get overly ambitious. Try and save my hands from knitting stress.
I usually hit the Lands’ End Outerwear sale for my son since I’m neck deep in Christmas knitting about this time of year. He has one knit hat that fits him from last year, but it’s the Lands’ End stuff for seriously cold days. My daugher is currently wearing his hand-me-downs, baby that she is, but I have plans for a pair of infant mittens in the not-too-distant future.
For myself, I have a pair of mittens and a hat from LE, but I’m keeping my eye on a pattern for convertable mittens for myself that I’ll knit after Christmas.
My husband has a pair of fleece lined leather mittens that he’ll wear until they die and a hat he loves from Ireland, so no knitted outerwear there.
But everyone else I know and love has something to keep them warm that I knit just for them.
Well, since I can drive to LL Bean this isn’t a fair question in some respects 😉 And at the pace I’m knitting these days being this close to the store is probably a good thing. I’ve got the catalogue beside me right now…you know, just in case.