I had to think of something to give to my grandma, and I didn’t have any buttons that would go with white wool and I thought that buttons may be hard for her to use, so I decided to take the stitch for the wool cowl I made and to create a hole in the middle so it could just pull through. Only after creating it did I actually learn what the word ‘ascot’ meant. Ironic, but true.
For Christmas I decided to go all out for my sister. Because her favorite color is light pink, I decided a pair of gloves and a scarf would be perfect. I started with the scarf and created my own pattern for double pointed knitting. I did the same pattern on the ends and then a checker pattern in the middle. Here is the result:
At the beginning, it was really fun and the pattern was not too hard to follow. Then I got into the checkering. My yarn twisted a lot and I got sick of it. If you decide to do checkering, make sure you have a way to make your pattern varied or you will go crazy. I had about 18 inches of checkering at least in this scarf. Throwing it across the room a few times was tempting, but I did it and it looks wonderful.My husband and I have an older house; therefore, the cold comes in from under the door. In order to fix this, I crochet and knit a draft dodger. By crocheting the edges, I could keep them flatter, but by knitting the middle, I could make it quicker. Here is the result.
I have had a love for fair isle and have worn my gloves even to church. One of my older friends uses a cane and asked me to make a pair that covers her fingers and cushions her fingers for wintertime. I asked her what colors she likes and she said, “Blue!” When they were done, she was excited and wore them every day to work.
Blue Fair Isle Gloves
The gloves themselves are just simple 2×2 ribbing at the top, then when the fingers were as long as I wanted to be, I cast on about 8-10 stitches and went into my pattern, making sure the thumb stitches were ribbed to keep the thumb snug. When I got down to the wrist, I returned to ribbing for about 11-15 rows.
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At the store, I found some fantastic variegated yarn in blue and white as well as brown and green. I knit a basic scarf and decided that tassels would fit perfectly on the ends. The result was two beautiful scarves ready to keep the cold off. 
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This year for Christmas, none of my family has the money to buy normally priced gifts. To solve this problem, I have decided to knit and crochet gifts for my family. For my sister, I knit a simple pink hooded scarf. It came out much better than I thought. I used a simple garter stitch and it came out nicely.
Side shot
Items needed:
– 1 tapestry needle
– 1 skein of yarn (regular weight, such as Caron Simply Soft, Red Heart, or even thicker yarns will work)
– size 10 needles (or any size needles. I added inches measurement to make the pattern easier to manipulate)
Pattern:
1. Cast on 45 stitches. (the work should be 11.5 inches after a few rows)
2. Knit until it is 24.5 inches long.
3. Bind off, until you have 15 stitches left to work with (about 3.25 inches). This is the start of the scarf section.
4. Knit until the ‘scarf’ section is the desired length (I did about 30 inches). Measure the length.
5. Bind off.
6. Go to the other side of the work and catch the first 15 stitches (or the same number as you had in step 3) back onto the needle.
**Note: Make sure that you are catching the same side that you worked for the first scarf section. You should come out with a T shape. If you have a Z shape, you picked up the wrong side.
7. Knit until this side is the same as the measurement you took of the other side.
8. Bind off.
9. Sew up the back of the hood (bottom of the T, or the side farthest away from the scarf edge.) by folding the work in half and sewing up the back. For techniques on how to do this, look at http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips
10. Weave in ends
11. Enjoy!
Note: You may not sell items made from this pattern, but you may make them for free for anyone you would like. If you are going to give the pattern to someone, or post it off- or online, please put a link to my site. I am offering these patterns for free and would like to be able to keep them that way.
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