christmas crafting update

Although I've been crafting my little fingers to the bone, I realized I haven't been blogging about it! So here's what I've been up to...

The Lucy in the Sky Cardigan is nearly finished. This was the Christmas gift I had been most worried about finishing, but things really sped up after I got up to the arms. As soon as I make myself graft the armpits, weave in the ends, block, find buttons, then sew them on, this one will be good to go. Except that I knit the bottom half on size 7's, accidentally knit the sleeves on size 8's, then went back to the 7's for the yoke. Ermmm...I sometimes don't pay attention so well. But I can't even see a line between the knitting on 8's and the knitting on 7's, so I'm ok with it.

I finished another Gretel beret (slouchy version), so there's another Christmas gift down! I used 1 ball of Nashua Creative Focus worsted. I don't think I would use this yarn again for cabling. It's not plied and doesn't have much "give," so it was a little stressful on my hands, but the color was so perfect for my sister that I couldn't resist! This time, I did NOT block the brim. It stretched like crazy on my first Gretel. On this hat, I stuffed the whole thing and sprayed just the cables and it worked perfectly!

I finished one of the Cabled Gloves (from Vogue Knitting Fall 2007) quite a while ago, and started right up on the second, but this project has been dormant for several weeks. This is next on the list of Christmas Knitting Priorities, and the second should go much more smoothly than the first.

And here's a situation from Christmas Past...I knit a sweater for my father last year, and he finally admitted that it's too big. (Which I already suspected.) He asked if there was a safe way to shrink it, and the best answer I could come up with was some kind of steeking process to actually re-seam the sides and arms and cut away the excess. Anyone know if this will work? I've never steeked before and my dad was horrified at the notion of cutting the handknit sweater, but as far as I know, if you machine sew the holy heck out of it, it should be fine, right? Yes? No? Someone?? Anyone???

I have been making jewelry like a fiend, so I think I've created enough inventory that I can keep listing new items in the shop, while still having time to knit in the evenings. The trouble is, I keep getting new jewelry ideas...