Thursday, November 27, 2008

Because I can't stand to see a shivering bottle of liquor: Mom and Dad's Xmas presents


I'm only buying one present for everyone on my list, anything else they get is going to be handmade. Mom and dad's bought present is alcohol. A bottle of coconut rum for mom and a bottle of whiskey for dad.

I wanted to make bottle cozies, mostly because I wanted to go on a bit of a stash busting expedition, and also because they're just do darn pretty. Knitty had a pattern (http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTwinecozy.html ) but it's knit flat, and I hate sewing seams. I also had no idea how to wrap my head around that i-cord base thing. The knitted embelishments look pretty in the pictures, but blah, I didn't wanna do that. Instead I did what I usually do and cruised some knitting blogs and found this one: http://taras-knits.blogspot.com/2007/11/wine-bottle-cozy.html This person has a couple of really pretty wine bottle cozies, and they're knit in the round. She seems to share my hatred of seams. (Ahaha!) The pattern is really similar to Knitty's, but it's easier to read (At least I find it is)

Mine are knit in that cheap-o Wal-Mart Sean Sheep wool. It mighta been cheap, but I like the colour-ways. The Green is for dad, the purply-pink is for mom. The ties are made out of a length of Lion brand Thick n' Quick with the ends split into 4 pieces and beaded.

I also knit a few teeny-weenie-beanies. These can fit over the top of a bottle, or you can hang them as Xmas ornaments. They're made of white Paton's divine for the brim and pom-pom, and Bernat Softee Chunky for the rest of the hat. Because they;re so small, I knit them flat and sewed the seams. theyr'e pretty easy to make:

cast on 20 stitches with Paton's Divine
knit 3 rows.
change to red softee chunky
work in stockinette stitch for 17 rows.
row 20: p2tog to end
row 21: k2tog to end
thread yarn through stitches, BO.
Sew side seam
Make pom-pom and sew to top.


1 comment:

Brook said...

oh my gosh those hats are so cute!