Flurry of Finishing

Holiday season is upon us and I've been knitting furiously.  Oddly enough, none of it has been for Christmas presents.

I finished the purple hat I started with Black Friday yarn.  Wooohoo! Finished Object!

I finished a secret project using stash yarn that I can't mention here yet.

I finished all the knitting for the Monster, but still have to stuff and sew it up.  Can't count that one.

And I started a Christmas stocking.  I found this pattern in a book I checked out from the library and pretty much immediately cast on using stash yarn. I just happened to have red and white wool left over from the gnome I knit last year, and some green hidden away to make green gnomes.  Once I got knitting, I got picky and decided the green I had was too dark and heathered to go with the bright red and white, so I had to pick up a fresh skein of green. Oops. I've been having a really terrible time lately not buying yarn - but more on that later.  Stocking is coming along nicely.  I have reached the point where I have to do a new technique, having never made socks before.  These were worked from the top down, and now I am supposed to separate my stitches to knit the heel, then come back to finish the foot. I think conceptually I figured it out during my knitting lunch hour. Hoping I can finish the heel flap tonight, but that might be wishful thinking. 

Update: Finished the heel flap, which was very easy, just took a minute or two of thinking to understand what the pattern was saying.  On to the foot!

I guess I should have put a pause on my Yarn Diet for December, because I'm certainly not abiding by it.  I bought more yarn when I was at a craft store last week, more purple (two shades! fun!) and gold and some basic black. Then when I was buying the green for my stocking, I was entranced by some sparkly stuff that I "needed" for a holiday decoration project.

It's 100% acrylic but with a strand of SPARKLE in it. I attempted a Martha Stewart project Sunday night and I'm not sure how happy I am with the outcome.  When I popped the balloons the yarn stuck to them as they shrunk and my "balls" weren't very ball-shaped.  I'm not very confident that they will hold up and continue to be stiff. Also, how the heck are you supposed to get the dang balloon out of the globe? Maybe I just wrapped the yarn around it too many times.  I remember doing something similar back in either Indian Guides or Campfire, but we soaked the yarn in starch instead of glue.  I think that may have worked better. Oh, well.  Live and learn.  And add some sparkly yarn to the stash.