As Promised, Loot

As you can see, I really struck gold in the Christmas knitting loot category.
Counter-clockwise from top left:

1. Socks that Rock medium weight from PassionKnitly- not for Christmas but since she picked this up for me at Rheinbeck and I got it at Thanksgiving, it still feels new and part of the holiday season. First STR EVER! Colorway - Spinel
2. Recycled Sari Silk from PrincesSara - 3 skeins total, 509 grams. Still no idea what I'm going to do with this. But if I continue in my stash-busting mode and try to [loosely] use a first-in, first-out method, then the sari-silk will be with me a good long time.
3. Knitpicks Options from MIL
4. Stephanie Pearl McPhee Casts Off from E - Yarn Harlot
5. Stitch-n-Bitch notebook from E
6. At Knit's End from E - by the Yarn Harlot. This has already been put in the bathroom, replacing Secret of Life of a Knitter.
7. Sheep measuring tape from PassionKnitly
8. Frog doo-dad caddy from PassionKnitly
9. Eucalan from PassionKnitly- Needed this for hand-knits and blocking for a long time. And recently I used it for a few commercial sweaters! Smells great.

Obligatory post-Christmas list

Wow, I'm off to a stellar start with my plan to post more often.

As I am a knitter and have a blog, I think I'm required to post a run-down of the holiday knitting gifts and loot.

Given:
1. A feather & fan scarf for my gram done with Brooks Farm Duet, previously written about here and here. I finished it in November which I've decided is an excellent way to mitigate some of the December-knitting stress. I should do this more often.


2. Red Sox red socks for my brother. I knit these with Dark Horse - Fantasy which is *gasp* acrylic. I chose this yarn after a lengthy, and somewhat public hunt for inexpensive, solid red , superwash sock yarn. I failed to find anything adequate in time, so after talking to a helpful person at Knit Happens, I was able to accept this high-quality acrylic because it came so highly recommended and I didn't trust my brother with higher maintenance yarns.

3. Red Sox red socks for PassionKnitly. Knit with Lang - Jawoll superwash sock yarn. That's right, I eventually found what I was looking for at A Tangled Skein.
I'm cheating a little in putting this on the "given" list since I immediately took them back after she opened them. I had a good reason though - they were unfinished! I was totally on track to finish them by Christmas until I ran out of red yarn just after the heel on the 2nd sock. And THEN I had the tragic realization that I left the 2nd skein in Washington! I tried to recover by calling 4 yarn stores in RI, but sadly none of them stock that yarn in solid colors. LYS's seem to have an unhealthy obsession with variegated sock yarn! I'm now finishing up the cuff on said 2nd sock and hope to re-give them to the lovely recipient within the week. No picture for the blog though. Instead I will leave you with this very cute pic of Passionknitly's family's new puppy taken by my hubby. Hi Brandy!


4. His So-Called Scarf for Erich. This wasn't actually a surprise gift, but I wrapped it up and put it under the tree anyway. I think he likes it even though he no longer has frigid bike rides to work and despite the recent heat wave here in DC.

Ok, I've just run out of steam so the loot will come in a later post.