Tis the season to finish all the WIPs!

Hi everyone and a very Merry Christmas for those of you who celebrate!  Well of course technically its Boxing Day today - which is a very British tradition, and I think probably only invented so that we could take an extra day to eat up all the leftovers!!  Of course our family are no exception, and even though we are spending Christmas here in Abu Dhabi we still had turkey with all the trimmings (well courtesy of the chef at the Golf Club - since all I had to do was turn up and put the box full of pre cooked goodies in my car!!)

We tried to be a little more 'low key' this year since we are moving house in the New Year and there were several reasons to play it cool:

1.  We need to keep some money by for moving expenses
2.  Certainly do not need any more 'stuff' to pack - we have quite enough 'stuff' already!

On the same theme, I have been extremely proud of myself in terms of finishing up WIPs and using up some stash!  I will still have a craft room/office in the new place but not as much storage space - mind you I will have a spectacular view - which might be a little distracting when it comes to office work - crafting not so much......

So firstly.... (from left to right)

Ganseys

These were originally for me but I decided to make them smaller and give them to Flo - honestly the pattern made my eyes hurt since the needles were more like toothpicks!  Yarn was Dubai Knits squishy in a fab turquoise.  Its a lovely yarn but can be a bit splitty when your DPNS are wooden and getting in need of some filing.......  Anyway again they were gratefully received - Flo loves hand knit socks.  These were toe up, although I did a much stretchier bind off on one than the other!

Mini Harry Potter Socks

These are made from leftover yarn from my own Harry Potter socks - started for Fred about 2 years ago and then abandoned because I ran out of yarn - duh!  So I have been thinking about adding the toe in a different yarn (yes thinking about it for 2 years!) so I actually did it (took me about an hour ...... why oh why did I procrastinate so much!).  Socks turned out really cute, but of course now they are a bit small for Fred - he's still cool with them though!

Pink Wurm

Well this was not really a WIP but it was a stash bust.  I had forgotten to cancel my Plucky Knitter club and the yarn was going to my old work address!  This was the last one I think  - Lollipop Guild - and I adore the colour.  I made it for my ex-boss who moved from Dubai to Milan. I love the Wurm pattern - it comes out so well and the band looks so professional, even though its so easy!

Tigger Socks

These are orange stripy socks made from Lornas Laces sock yarn I bought with the idea of designing a shawl for Halloween - hmmm well that was a disaster - completely the wrong dye pattern for a shawl - it looked hideous, so I frogged that and made Fred some socks which actually fit this time,  Did top down, and I really prefer toe up......although with all the praise for the 'afterthought heel' I am hearing, I might do that next time!  Anyway Fred is very happy with these since they fit and are in his two favourite colours - and it was a stash bust to boot!

So what else......... well my Arrowtown shawl is nearly finished and I will show you that next time.  I love it but its taken a while as its all garter stitch and I wanted a really big cosy shawl and I think this really fits the bill!

I have also started an Adrift from Carol Feller - this is as part of a KAL with the Playful Day podcast group on Ravelry. I am also stash busting this one with Malabrigo lace in a lovely lilac colour which was a present from a former Amira - Lindsey - who has since moved from the UAE back to the US.  Cast on was on Christmas Eve and I did about 2" yesterday whilst watching 'The Great Escape' which as all British people know, is very much a Christmas film!!

Well thats all for now - seems my mojo is back!

Louise x