First Finishes of 2012

Horse purse for my niece. Her birthday is Saturday and I have yet to mail this - tomorrow? She took horse riding lessons last summer and enjoyed them and thought she might like this.

Another ribbon tree. Keeping this one, too. I purposely used just ribbon with snowflakes and non-Christmasy colours so I could leave it on the mantle for January and maybe February. This was on my list of things to do in December but didn't get finished.

Hat and scarf for myself. Started the scarf on Christmas Eve. There was no point working on gifts that weren't going to be completed in time so I started something for myself. I crocheted a long chain, single crocheted 1 row then repeated with single crochet rows but only working in the back loop, which gave the scarf a ribbing look. For the hat I used a pattern from my knitting day calendar for 2011.

I used almost 3 skeins. They were all different dye lots and you could tell. The two that were the closest I used in the scarf. I used the third for the hat. While I was knitting the hat I thought of giving these to my sister for her birthday next month. I had shown her the scarf at Christmas and she liked it and is more comfortable in brights than I am. However, when I finished it, I just couldn't part with it. I have only needed the hat so far. The scarf is pretty warm.

I used what I had leftover to make my sister a set of nesting baskets instead. If you compare the yellow you can see some of the colour difference - the inner one has bright yellow, while the outer basket is more of a mustard yellow.

They aren't too big but I think she'll enjoy them. What should I put inside the smallest one, Sarah? fabric? buttons? thread? knitted socks?

Finally finished the vest for my brother. This took a lot longer than I thought but I love it. It turned out really well. I am putting it through the washer and dryer to block since that is how I intended it to be cared for. I want to make sure it doesn't fall apart.

I love the cable pattern. It's a lot of cabling though. I went through my favourites of ravelry and actually deleted some that were all cabled on the front. I need a break. That being said the cardigan I started for my mother has cables. Not as many as this, so I'll finish it and then take a cable break.

What really surprised me was the time needed to do the ribbing at the neck and armholes. Each armhole took about 90 minutes and the neck took me most of Sunday afternoon.

Glad to have some finishes this year - although you will notice that there aren't any quilt finishes. I have a bunch of quilt projects in the works, but that is a post of its own -  maybe later today or tomorrow. I have 3 knitting projects beside me waiting to be cast on. 2 are birthday gifts and 1 for me. Sounds fair, right? I need more hours in a day.