Birthday gifts

You didn't think I'd let all these birthdays go by in my family without knitting a couple of gifts, did you?

I have to confess that I didn't make my mom anything at all. Mainly because I knit her a Clapotis for Mother's Day and I wasn't sure if she would like socks. But she said she'd love a pair of socks (bright purple ones!), so I'll make her some in the near future. Rob and I took her out for a sushi lunch, which was good for all involved.

For Mina, I made a duplicate of my Rebecca wrap cardi, but in purple.

For the record, I am going to say that this is the last sweater or sweater-like thing I'm making as a surprise for anyone. The stress of worrying if it'll fit is too much! I knit it out of Jo Sharp Comfort Mohair in Velvet. We're about the same size but Mina mentioned recently that she had wider shoulders than me, so I made the sleeves a bit bigger. Even though it was stressful, the knit went by relatively quickly and it was the ideal pattern to knit for someone whose size you're unsure of.

Along with an Anthropologie gift certificate, I knit Yumi these socks out of Koigu, from Alison's free pattern.

This was my first time using short row shaping for the heel AND using the yarnover method for short rows. Fun, fun, fun!! I chickened out though and didn't do short row shaping for the toes because of the kitchnering involved. And luckily, Yumi and I have the same size feet so the sizing went very smootly indeed.

I'm going to try to knit my dad a pair of socks, but I don't think I'll have them done by his birthday (Friday) because we're leaving on Wednesday for Seattle and Portland. They'll probably be my trip project.