Has it been a year already?

I've been blogging here for a year now, and I must say, I'm quite enjoying it.  I didn't tell anyone for the first while that I was keeping a blog, as I wanted to see if I could keep it up first, and so it was a simple thing to write about all the things I was making for Christmas.  This year, that won't be so simple, as many of the people I am making things for have been known to read the blog now and again.  I shall nonetheless write about what I'm making, but it will have to be subtle bits rather than full details, and the full reveals will have to wait until after Christmas.

(Oh, and by the way, I've been eating those gingerbread cookies from the last post, and can tell you that candied fennel seed goes very well with gingerbread.  Mmmm.  I may have to bake the Christmas edition of these as well this year.)

So, for one of my friend's Christmas presents, I am making Letter Have It by Georgia A. Coleman.  The name gives nothing away, and since the friend in question is not on Ravelry, the link is just for those who are and want to know.  Anyhow, I somehow managed to muddle up the front piece twice.  This is not because the instructions are difficult, but rather because I can't seem to read them correctly.  The first time, I used garter stitch like the other pieces called for, and was nearly done when I realized it was supposed to be in stockinette.  I finished anyway, thinking it would be fine once felted, but then realized that the colourwork would look odd and feathered with the blue purled bits where they were, and that the texture would be slightly different even after felting.  So, I decided it was worth doing over, after all, it hadn't taken so very long anyhow (despite it involving my first attempts at intarsia in knitting). 

The next time, I wound up knitting 12 more rows than needed before starting the chart (though the intarsia did go better this time, so the top part was just fine).  I did think the shape was a bit odd, plus it was a bit strange that I had run out of yarn and had to splice some in (after all, it was the same piece of yarn that had been enough last time).  I figured it out, sighed, put it down and went to sleep for a few hours.  I picked it up around 4:30 in the morning (having just spent a sleepless hour after being up with my youngest who is getting molars in) and started picking it out from the cast-on edge to remove the extra rows (no way was I working that chart a third time).  I put it back down once it started to be annoying, and finished it this morning (after sleeping for a couple more hours).  Now to knit the back, following the incredibly simple instructions after having read them several times to be sure, though I may just let the new yarn I bought yesterday distract me instead... 

I think I finally managed to split the two balls of Noro Kureyon into six (nearly) equal parts Spry (and that's a Knitty link, so anyone can take a look, as it's for me).