Finally... Pictures of Ally's Gifts

On the left is the scarflet I made Ally. On the right is one of the set of 2 of cabled coffee cozies I made to match the hat shown below the scarflet.

The other hat I made her and the cozies (another set of 2) are shown below. I made her 2 of each so that she could keep one in her purse and the other in the car. These spiral rib hats take

one (yes! 1!) skein and actually I had enough to make the matching cozies and STILL had some left. The pattern is 12 rows which I did twice with another 3 rows of pattern. And besides being economical to make they are FAST, FAST, FAST! I can do one in a day! The light blue hat was made from the same yarn I used to make Matt's hat. Those pictures in another post. Here is the other spiral rib hat and matching cozy.

The cozy on the right is a lot like the other except that I was having trouble with the cable and decided to try something new. I just can't seem to embroider even following directions so I gave up and booted up the DVR and watched the embellishment episode I had just taped from "Knit & Crochet Today" which is shown in repeats on PBS. Anyway the hexagons are crocheted then sewn on. Here's how I altered the pattern: I started by knitting 4 rows so there was a garter edge. 4 stitches on each side continue the garter stitch and 12 stitches in the middle are done in stockinette. Once it is long enough to go around a coffee cup, glass, whatever, 4 more rows of garter, bind off, sew on the 3 individually made hexagons and another very nice pattern modification!

Ally loved them all and especially the cabled coffee cozies. I really should make a lot of those to give away since they are easy, useful and cute.

Anyway those were Ally's Christmas surprises. Next post... Matt's and an update.