Back to Basics

I think I have the pre-Christmas knitting blahs. Blogland is quiet these days because no one is really able to blog about their Xmas knitting it seems, but I think I have the opposite problem---I'm not really even DOING any Xmas knitting. NOR am I even doing any knitting for myself.

I have been going way back to basics with some majorly simple knits...

The moss stitch scarf for the BF:



In the always exciting "basic grey" colourway. I'm planning to knit him a matching pair of mitts as well. We've put a serious limit on our Christmas spending this year, so I'm hoping that a bit of knitwear will help pad it out (if I make it by that deadline!).

My colour choices right now are seriously drab and "back to basics" as well, but the reality is that that's what I will wear. As drawn to and wowed by all the pretty colours in the yarn store as I am, apart from the odd accessory here an there those never wind up being go-to items for me.

The one thing I AM knitting for myself right now is a scarf as well. Also seriously basic in seed stitch.


Yup, I've knit like 5 inches on it. It's sport weight on small needles. This thing may take a million years (basic though it is) and drive me mental in the process.

The yarn is freakin' gorgeous baby alpaca from Bonne mines farm just outside Quebec. It's actually the natural colour of the Alpaca itself and was a gift from my sister, so I really wanted to make something simple that would show it off just as it is. I scoured Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting patterns looking for just that "right" stitch pattern. Tried several and tore them all out. My main criteria being NO right-side/wrong-side and hence nothing that would curl at the edges. In the end I went back to seed stitch. If anyone has any other suggestions with those same criteria in mind I'd love to hear them...

On Friday after my monthly massage (yes this is not as "luxurious" as it sounds---I'm sure I've mentionned before that it's my monthly "long-standing-yoga-injury" pummeling...) my RMT said the dreaded words to me that no knitter ever wants to hear: "So, can I commission you to knit something for me?" DREAD as thoughts of intricate-intarsia-sweaters-in-time-for-Christmas spring to mind...but in the end she just wanted a pair of chocolate brown mitts to match her new coat. PHEWPH!

So I am only to happy to gift them to her.



The pattern is from Free Vintage Knitting, and they are about as basic as you get. Hopefully she likes them, and that's all she really had in mind, she didn't really give me any details beyond that...

And that's IT. That's all I'm knitting right now. I even spent a lot of time trolling Ravelry yesterday looking for some new sweater ideas, but there's nothing I couldn't wait to cast on for. What's wrong with me? I can't even remember the last time I bought new yarn....and that's monumental.

Soooo, I'm hoping that a possible Xmas infusion of knitting books or magazines will light a fire under me once again. Or maybe I need to start perusing old Phildar catalogues and actually remembering all those things I thought I couldn't live without in the past...