Christmas is coming - knit faster!

I know I'm not the only one who cannot resist the compulsion to knit gifts for Christmas.  It's so satisfying to think of the ones we love wrapped up in the woollies we've made.

I also know I'm not alone in making this decision way too late in the year, often as December is well underway, thereby putting myself under yet more pressure.  There's cards to write and post, presents to buy and wrap, food to procure and prepare and a myriad of other tasks demanding attention in order that Christmas will be all ready come 25th December!

Still doesn't stop me from thinking I can knit more than I can...

The answer to the shrinking knitting time available to me was to tackle small projects.

I made my Mum a Neck Warmer to tuck inside her sweater.  I made it for her birthday on Boxing Day (which I still count as Christmas knitting).  To be finished in time I even had to knit anytime I was waiting in the car.  Here I'm parked up waiting to collect my husband from the airport.

I kept seeing this slogan on Facebook and Instagram "Christmas is coming - knit faster!"

This is the second neck warmer  I've made for my Mum as she really found the first one so cosy.  I used Rico Design Baby Classic DK so it won't irritate her neck and it can be easily washed.

Hats were my favoured project for Christmas gift knitting this year.  I managed to knit three hats as gifts, including one for my Secret Santa.

I got my sister-in-law, Fiona, in our family Secret Santa draw.  I decided to make my gift and chose to make her a Baa-ble Hat.  The pattern, designed by Donna Smith, was the official pattern for Shetland Wool Week in 2015 and this event is held every year in Shetland to celebrate Shetland wool and its associated crafts.  To date, over six and a half thousand Baa-ble Hats have been knitted!

I used one of the recommended yarns, Jamieson and Smith Shetland Aran in the wonderfully named colours Snaa White, Peat and Silver Grey.  The sheep are knitted in Drops Alpaca Boucle which gives them fleecy wee bodies.  Wool is stranded across the back of the colour work sections making this one of the cosiest hats I've ever knitted!

I made my husband, Geoff a hat last year for his birthday.  Gorgeous Birlinn yarn the Hebridean Isle of Berneray.  Here's the last recorded siting of it before it got lost!

So I made him a new hat for Christmas.  This time I used New Lanark Aran in Limestone and liked the texture created by the Bankhead pattern from Knit Natural.

I also made a hat for my daughter, Eilidh, last birthday.  Soft Na Dannsairean Aran from Ripplescrafts in the North West Highlands of Scotland and the popular Acai pattern by Clare Devine. It's not lost but has got a bit stretched...

... so I made her a new one for Christmas.  It's squishy and soft in Rowan Wool/Cotton and I repeated the Bankhead pattern .  Eilidh wasn't sure about the fake fur pompom though - so it had to go!

Finally, here are the hats on happy heads!