Knit My Dog

This has been a busy week leading up to Christmas. We've been celebrating Hanukkah, and had a dinner last night on the final night. The potato latkes came out great. There have also been Solstice parties, holiday pot-lucks, office luncheons, shopping, grading papers, and a whole host of other things to keep me away from the blog, and to keep me from cleaning my house, doing laundry, and sleeping.

But now, it's all over except Christmas dinner at my brother's house. We are in the middle of two whole days of no responsibilities. Howie even took a nap on the sofa this afternoon!

So far, I have gotten many knitting related Hanukkah gifts. The best being this:

A hank of hand painted sock yarn from Pippi! Howie communicated with her by email, set up the whole thing, got her to dye the yarn for me, and even bugged her to get it done in time to give it to me for Hanukkah. She totally came through!!! And included some treats: a card from the yarn museum and some great stickers. I love the yarn!

Look, here it is along with some yarn I purchased from her a couple of months ago:

Don't you just love the colors????? They're almost too beautiful to knit with. But I will be making socks as soon as the current pair is off the needles. Now I just need to figure out which one to use first.

Howie also game me this calendar. He's doing real well with the knit-related-presents.

And this is what my coworker bought me for my secret santa present:

Do you think she knows me well?

In other news, I have been working on Ribby...and she's done! Oh yeah, about two weeks of knitting and two months of finishing. Not bad, considering how crazy my life has been. I love the sweater and everything about it. The fit is great, I didn't have a heart attack putting the zipper in and it actually works, and I love the colors. I know it will be a favorite. Howie took the photos in this little series, can you tell he likes to get artistic in his photo-taking?

I used Cascade 220 - black and some grey color (I always loose the bands, and NEVER write anything down). I made it longer than the pattern, and didn't rib the sleeves completely. I had heard that they can be tight, so after the increases, I knit in stockinette, and it's mostly under the arm so it's hidden.
I was really happy with this knit and with the finished product. I'm already thinking about the color of the next one I want to knit!

I wonder what I'll get in my Christmas stocking!