Hats, socks, sleeves, and swimmers!

I've been a busy little bee this week.

Saturday, I spent about 13 hours on this pool deck with these swimmers ...

The girls did a FABULOUS job at their New England Junior and Senior championship meet. We entered one senior team and 2 junior teams, and won 2 gold medals and a silver. Can't get much better than that!! We also won lots of medals in solo, duet, trio, and team competition. In a week and a half, we will be heading to Tonawanda, NY (near Buffalo) for the East Zone Junior champs, so a busy 2 weeks are ahead!

While I was coaching, I sent my wonderful husband to mail out my red scarves. Here they are, all tagged and ready to go.


But, although busy, I still had some time for knitting. I finished a hat to match my winter set. I finished it while watching the news on Saturday night, after coming home from our meet. I was pretty tired, but still running on adrenaline. So, I completed the hat, but I wasn't sure that the brim was the right size. I thought I'd wear it for a few minutes to see if it felt too tight. Well, I fell asleep on the couch wearing the hat. I guess it was fine! Here is a photo of me -- the next day! -- modeling it.


I made the matching scarf and gloves last year. Here are all the items together...


On Sunday, I worked on the Baby Delia sweater. As always, I'm knitting both sleeves together. I've done 12 of the 18 increases, so I'm nearing the end. I guarantee that they are the same size. Unfortunately, one is curling up more than the other in this photo.


And finally, I gave my dad his Whitby socks, edited to include longer toes. He is very happy with the fit. However, he won't wear them out of the house! He thinks that they would fit under his shoes just fine, but he'd rather "save" them for at home. Whatever -- his choice!

Olympic entries

I've picked a few projects for the Knitting Olympics. I guess I have to commit to a complete list soon. Here is what I'm thinking about...

Opptuna: This is a baby/child sweater from Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's Noro Knits 2 book.


I'm going to make it out of some bits of Kureyon that I have leftover from my Klaralund sweater from the same book. It's the yarn on the left in this photo.


This should make a nice warm sweater for a baby in need.

I also plan to use some of this yarn to make a child's sweater.

I'm thinking of the child's placket neck sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I have 4 balls of the Cotton Tots in pink, shown on the bottom. That's 800 yards. The pattern's largest size, 8-10 years, calls for 7 skeins of Koigu Kersti, for a total of 798 yards.

However, the Kersti gauge is 21 sts/in, and my yarn calls for 20 sts/in. I can't quite figure out if that means I will have leftovers, or not enough. I think it means that I might run out. So, I think I'll go for a size 6-8 instead, as I know I'll have enough yarn for that one!!

I feel like 2 kids' sweaters doesn't sound like too much. But I guess 2 sweaters in 2 weeks is still quite a good challenge!

I might have to alternate back and forth between projects, since the winter weather combined with knitting in cotton seems to dry out my hands quite a bit. Any ideas on a good moisturizer? I've tried Eucerin, Aquaphor, body butter from Sephora, Vaseline Intensive Care lotion, and straight vaseline petroleum jelly. All of them work for a few minutes, but don't help in the long run. My right thumb (where I pinch the yarn to throw my stitches) is the worst. My skin has gotten dry and started to peel off just under the nail, as I was knitting a cotton baby sweater yesterday. Any ideas??

And the winner is ...

... the Ladybug hat. You voted for it, but I'm not going to make it. I decided that I will instead enter the Knitting Olympics with my "stash it up for charity" project. I have a lot of yarn in my stash that has been earmarked for this reason, and I've been wanting to use it up. The olympics are just the right venue to chalenge myself!!

Next week, or maybe Sunday, I'll post some photos of what I plan to work on and with. Hint: there is Noro involved, and it's not a scarf!!

Olympic Agony

I've done it. I've joined not one, not two, but three Olympic Knitalongs.

I joined the "official" Knitting Olympics hosted by the Yarn Harlot.

Then I got sucked into the Team MIT group effort to whip up a blanket for Afghans for Afghans.

Then, I figured that if I was being such a joiner, I might as well just add my name to the roster for Team Boston.

So, what am I going to knit??? I have no idea, but lots of options. But first, a recap of the rules, from the YH's site:
1. The project must be a challenge for you to complete in 16 days.
2. There are no rules about what a challenge would be. Like the real Olympics, there are many areas to compete in. If you are a new knitter, then a garter stitch baby sweater might do...If you are experienced, well. I've already considered Torino. Use your own conscience.
3. While this is intended to be somewhat difficult (like the Olympics) it is not intended to ruin your life. Don't set yourself up for failure. (Olympic athletes may cry, but they do not whine pitifully, sob and threaten members of their family with pointed sticks because they haven't slept in five days. ) This is intended to (like the Olympics) require some measure of sacrifice, and be difficult, but it should be possible to attain.
4. No casting on before the flame is lit.
5. Finish before the flame goes out.
6. You may swatch before the games. (I consider this "training.")

What would challenge me? Some days, finishing anything is a challenge! (Case in point, the bitty baby booties I posted about earlier this week, started back in September...) But, here are some top contenders ...


JACKE ROUGE

This is my take on the Jacke Apricot in Rebecca 27.

On the surface, this one seems to break rule #4 (no casting on before the flame is lit.), since I already knit the back. However, there are some flaws. I don't like the armhole depth. I'm resizing and re-gauging on the fly. As a result of that, the ribbing won't not match at the side seams. I also think I'd like the fabric better at a tighter gauge.

I might just call the back a swatch and restart the whole darn thing. It would definitely be a challenge for me to rewrite the pattern for a different finished size and a different gauge, and to complete the whole thing in 16 days.


DALE of NORWAY LADYBUG HAT

Ever since I started knitting and shopping at *good* yarn stores, I've loved Dale's baby patterns. I especially love the ladybugs.

I would like to tackle a stranded color project, since the sum total of my two-color knitting experience consists of a 1" band on a baby hat and 1" of a now UFO-ed mitten cuff.

But, I know that a baby sweater knit at 8 sts/in, while learning two-color knitting techniques, will NOT be do-able in 16 days given other time constraints (job #1, job #2, husband, etc.). So, I'm thinking of making the hat now and tackling a sweater later.


STASH IT FOR CHARITY
I have a good amount of stash yarn that has been waiting to be knit into items for charity. I would LOVE to get some knitted up and sent out during winter, while someone might still need a hat or mittens. I could try to knit a certain number of items for charities, including the Dulaan Project and local shelters, schools, etc.

Help me decide -- vote in the poll or leave me a comment!

Delia sweater back, and praise for hubby

DELIA SWEATER

I finished the back of Baby Delia's sweater on the commute to work this morning. Here it is ... with a Bic pen for scale and my spider plant getting in on the action. Click to enlarge.


Look closely, just above where the armholes start. Can you see that there are a couple rows where the fabric is biasing? I came to a spot in the skein where the yarn was tightly twisted. I've never had a problem with any of my other skeins of Cotton Fleece. I'm guessing that this is probably as a result of my repeated frogging of the sweater. Somewhere along the way, the yarn must have taken on some extra twist. Oh well. I always knit the BACK of the sweater first, since I often seem to encounter glitches as I start a project. By the time I get to the front, things are moving along more smoothly.


FABULOUS HUSBAND

I have the best husband a knitter could want. Why do I say this?

1. He is perfectly willing to serve as a human swift. Even for 560 yarn skeins of sock/lace/fingering weight yarn. In fact, he once said "why do you want to buy a swift when I can help you whenever you need to wind yarn?"


2. He is taking me to WEBS for my birthday. His parents live 25 minutes from WEBS.


3. His mother is a knitter. She taught me how to knit. She has a stash. With the good stuff (cashmere, Colinette, alpaca, etc.) See?
   
   


4. He wears my handknits. And his mother's handknits. Willingly.


5. He knows vocabulary words like "gague", "skein", "swatch", "block" and "swift".


6. He doesn't mind *too much* that my yarn has taken over a good part of the living room and bedroom.


7. When I told him about the Knitting Olympics he told me that I should enter because it would make me happy.


8. When we share the driving on our commute to work, he drives in the morning, when it is light out, so I can knit on my shift as a passenger.


9. He has repaired vacuum cleaners ... more than once ... that have broken as a result of sucking up an errant strand of yarn.

Because I am clearly insane ...

... I'm seriously considering joining the 2006 Knitting Olympics. I've been trying hard to avoid doing so. I don't have time. I don't know if I have an appropriate project in the stash. I don't have time. I need to be cleaning my apartment and chilling with the hubby and going to the gym. I don't have time. I won't even be around to watch the opening ceremony or the first two days!!! I'll be on a pool deck in Buffalo for 15 hours a day. No time to knit there!

But, it's like an itch that needs scratching. Can't ignore it. Especially when some of my SnB buddies are doing it. And when some fun Boston area knitters started up Team Boston. Please, I wanna be one of the cool kids, part of the gang ...

What am I thinking of doing? Breaking all reasonable promises to myself and knitting one of these. Maybe the ladybug at the bottom, one of my all time favorites. Or maybe just the ladybug hat!!!

Tune in later for more details.

4 FO's and a new commitment!

I have 4 finished objects to tell you about ...

2 baby booties and 2 socks. I guess that doesn't *really* count as 4 separate FO's, huh?

The baby booties were almost done. One just needed to be sewn up.

I promise that they are the same size, they just don't look that way from the photo. Here is one on its own.



I also replaced the toes on Dad's Whitby's. Here they are blocking on my homemade ghetto sock blockers. (Chris, does that qualify me as a ghetto knitter even if the yarn is rather non-ghetto?)

The tops are turned down so they won't catch on the wires. Since I already blocked the rest of the socks, I just dunked the toes of these ones to remove the puckering, etc. from using reknit yarn. They seem to be coming out perfectly smooth. Hopefully, I'll be able to deliver them later this week.

And now for the new commitment ... I also signed up for Sockapaloooza! Conveniently for me, the matches will be announced on my birthday -- Feb 1st, for those who wish to shower me with birthday love. What's my birthday gift from the hubbo? A trip to WEBS on Feb 4th. So, I will likely spend some significant time poring over patterns on Friday night and contemplating which yarns my Socka-pal will like best. Since the socks are not due until May, I will have no problem fitting them into the WIP line-up.

too many WIPs

I discovered that I am not a big fan of multitasking my knitting. I do enjoy having a few projects on the go at any one time, mostly so that I have appropriate knitting for any occasion -- one mindless project and one more interesting project, or projects at different stages, etc.

But, I get stressed out when my WIP list grows beyond maybe 3 or 4 things, max. So, in an effort to organize and prioritize, I present to you my WIP list...

• Baby Delia sweater
  I bought some fuschia and white Cotton Fleece to make a sweater for my hairdresser's baby for the holidays. I was thinking of making a 2-color version of this sweater from "Adorable Knits for Tots".
  
  I started it, and even got through the first couple of rows of intarsia. Then, I decided that I would just never finish it!! The intarsia would drive me batty, and it's not worth it for a baby sweater. So, I'm going to do a simple pink roll neck sweater with a single white intarsia heart on the chest. I'm hoping to do this by the end of the monthearly next month. I'm now on the 4th incarnation of the back.
  #1 was the intarsia version.
  #2 the gauge was too tight.
  #3 I counted my cast-on wrong, and didn't notice until I got to the armholes. Doh!
  #4 seems to be ok so far... hopefully, things will start to move now!
  


• Dad's Whitby's
  I finished these socks earlier this month and gave them to Dear Old Dad a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling well that day, so there was no on-the-spot try-on. Turns out, the socks were a wee bit too short. I took them back to lengthen the toes. I worked on this while watching Crossing Jordan last night. Picked out the woven-in ends on both, reknit one, and got the other restarted, up to the decreases. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to finish.
  


• Anne socks
  I started a garter rib sock using my Schaeffer Anne yarn...
  
  The yarn is pooling in a delightful stripey way. I hope it stays that way through both socks! This will mainly be a low-priority project, but good for when I need something small and mindless. I'm not using my usual 2-at-once magic loop technique, mainly because I don't want to chop my giant yarn ball into 2 parts.


• Purple Alpaca scarf.
  I started this back in October too. It's about half way done. I like it. It's soft. I wear scarves all the time. The lace keeps the knitting interesting, but not too challenging. So why haven't I worked on it more? No idea. I should get cracking on this one so that I can finish it before the winter is done!! I also have yarn to make a matching hat.


• Jacke Rouge
  
  This is my take on the "Jacke in Apricot" from the Rebecca 27 magazine. Everyone knit this already, including Becky and Claudia. It's a fun knit, and not hard, but it hasn't clicked for me yet. First, I am using a sightly lighter yarn than the pattern calls for -- my red cotton ease, stashed from when it was on sale for $1.39/ball at Building 19. And, I want the sweater just a skoosh bigger than the largest pattern size. So, I've been doing a little pattern revision aong the way. And, a lot of knit-frog-knit-frog while knitting tired. The back is now complete, although I'm not convinced that the armholes are deep enough. I think I want to lengthen them by an inch or so. I just have to figure out how to do that and still make the sleeve cap fit!! So, this project is on hold until I have the time to do the math.

So, I need to finish the Whitby's and the Baby Delia sweater first, as they are gifts. In order to do this, I also need to check my gauge -- again! -- and graph an appropriately sized intarsia heart chart for the front.

Then, I'd like to knock off the scarf and a matching-ish hat. I'm thinking of making the Lady Hat. What do you think -- close enough to the scarf to be a set?

Then, I'll feel like my WIPs are back under control and I can start another hat to match my winter scarf and gloves. Nothing fancy, but I'd like to get it done. Perhaps tomorrow I will share the whole contents of my "want to knit it NOW" list :)

Last red scarf pix, I promise

Here is the finished 2-day scarf ... soon to be shipped off to the Red Scarf Project of the Orphan Foundation of America


And here is me modeling it...

(Pardon the pasty white skin ... that's what happens when you take a flash photo under fluorescent lights.)

This was about 4 hours of knitting for me, maybe less.

Project specs...

Yarn: 1 strand Pingouin Dulce in some shade of red, 1 strand Plymouth Encore in a lighter red, 1 strand Patons' Canadiana in "cardinal", a medium red.
Needles: size 15 bamboo (used 2 Crystal Palace DPNS).
Finished dimensions 60" x 4.5".
Gauge: Not sure ... it's a scarf!
Pattern: None. Just a garter stitch scarf with slipped stitches on the edges.

More red scarfiness

I finished the drop stitch scarf from yesterday's post. Here it is, lounging gracefully ...

And here is the requisite "lacy item shown silhouetted against window" shot.


I washed and blocked the scarf last night, and let me tell you -- this mohair blend dries quick! I laid it out a little before 10:00pm, and it was dry the time I left the house this morning!

Project spects:
Yarn: Pingouin Dulce (50% mohair, 50% acrylic), color 008
Needles: Size 9 Addi Turbo
Pattern: None -- just a dropped stitch made with 2 y.o's, with 4(ish) garter ridges in between each row of drops
Gauge: Ahem, it's a scarf!
Finished size: About 5" wide and 54" long

This was so much fun, and so quick, that I started another red scarf.


This one is made with 3 strands held together, on size 15 needles, in a garter stitch with slipped stitch selvedges. Nothing fancy.


The yarn on top is the same Pingouin as the drop stitch scarf. The middle strand is a horrible acrylic worsted weight -- Paton's Canadiana -- that I bought when I just was learning to knit. I suppose it's not *that* terrible, but I swear that it squeaks when I knit with it. I used it as embellishment on a Christmas stocking I made for my husband. The bottom strand is Plymouth Encore, 75% acrylic and 25% wool. It's the leftover yarn from making a pair of toddler mittens.

In less than 3 hours, the scarf is 53" long. I'm aiming for about 60-64", and then I'll use the rest of the yarn for fringe. Easy! And such a good cause. I should be able to finish this tonight. Then, back to my regularly scheduled WIPs.

Red Scarf Project

I promised an update on my now very long WIP list. But, I changed my mind. Instead, I want to show you only one WIP today ... I'll get to the rest of them tomorrow.

I put the rest of my projects on hold to work on this drop stitch scarf.

I saw on Norma's blog that Interweave Knits, Lily Chin, and some other groups are organizing a scarf drive. They're collecting red scarves to be included in care packages for kids who've aged out of foster care and have made it into college. What a great cause -- these kids, who attend college in much lower numbers than the general population of the same age, can certainly benefit from some extra love and attention since they may not be getting it from their families. More info is here.

I'm using stash yarn for this scarf -- a mohair/acrylic blend from Pingouin that my MIL gave me (from her stash!!) when I learned to knit. Here's a close up of the stitch -- perfect for someone who might not live in as cold a climate as Boston!

These photos were taken when I was halfway through one skein -- a complete skein will make a scarf just the right length! I've now got about 12 grams left of a 50 gram skein, so I should finish this soon. (Blow-by-blow weight measurements made possible by my mom, who bought me a digital kitchen scale so that I can weigh my yarn!)

I still have another skein of this mohair blend in my stash, plus another near complete ball of red ack-rylic yarn from my early knitting days. And, I think I have a third near-complete ball of Plymouth Encore from making toddler mittens. I'm hoping I can hold them together and make a chunky red scarf with some fun color and texture. That should also be a quick knit -- good, since I need to mail the scarves by January 28!!

If anyone else is interested in making a red scarf, the mailing instructions, etc are all in the press release at the link above. (They will also accept scarves of other colors, but are encouraging red ones, as they will be going into Valentine's Day care packages.)

Back from the black hole

The past week or two have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!! I have had several relatively large projects at work, coupled with the beginning of the busy part of the synchronized swimming season.

That doesn't mean I haven't been knitting! I just haven't been knitting much, or with any particular focus. But, I did manage to finish a few things!

• Whitby socks for my dad
  
  This photo isn't great, but the socks also aren't *really* done. I made the toe shorter than my dad would like it, so I need to rip out the toes and reknit. Probably shouldn't take more than one evening in front of the TV. Better photo then!


• Esther Williams hat.
  
  I downsized the pattern to make a kids' hat to send to Dulaan. I had just a little yarn leftover, so I'm glad I chose to downsize. Of course, since I have a pinhead, the hat still pretty much fit me!!
  

This took a while to finish since it wasn't a priority before the holidays. Then, I had to get help on the crocheted edging from a friend at my Thursday SnB. But, it's done, and I will put it aside to be sent to Mongolia later this year.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a ***long*** list of things I am working on.

ABC-along

Have you heard about the ABC-along, hosted over at How the West was Spun? Here is how it is described --

The rules, such as they are, are simple: Photo posted to your blog in 2-week increments that matches that week's letter of the alphabet: 26 letters, 52 weeks of the year divided by 2 = 26 opportunities to post a photo and tell us a little bit more about yourself. For example, week one - "A" is for..........Abercrombie and Fitch, Appalachia, artichokes, abstract paintings, Asia (either the band or the continent - your choice)... or anything else that has some meaning for you.

Well, here is my "A" -- the ANA YMCA Synchers. They are the "swim" of Aswim in Knits, the synchronized swimming team that I coach.



This is their photo from last year's water show. I'm the one in the pink shirt, in the right front. Our swimmers are great! I coach our "B" and "C" teams, which are girls from 7th grade through high school. All of our swimmers are very talented ... our "A" team placed 9th in their age group at their national meet last summer. Our "B" team, while having fewer medals and other wins, is an up and coming group. Our "C" team, newer to the sport, also show good potential.

Boy, do these swimmers keep me on my toes!! They are all good kids, just with the quirks that come from being a teenager.

They are boy crazy ... space cadets ... intensely focused ... drama queens ... sarcastic ... sweet ... goofy ... serious ... hate their teammates... love their teammates ... hard workers ... hardly working at all ...

They are blonde, brunette, dark haired, and red haired. Tall, short, skinny, heavy, and everywhere in between. Every one of them thinks that they would like to be different ... taller, shorter, thinner, curvier, with different hair or skin. They have highlights in their hair (some even had professional salon highlights at the age of 12!!!), green nailpolish, pink lipstick, and sparkly eyeshadow. They have acne and porcelain skin, braces and beautiful smiles.

They hate their parents one minute, and the next day, they don't want to go to a meet without them. They will sniffle and cry and hug me, and they will ignore me as if I was not there. They will stay late for extra work, and will be the first ones to rush to the hot showers at the end of the practice.

They have inside jokes, silly jokes, funny jokes, and cruel jokes. They talk and laugh and cry and talk and laugh some more. They could talk a cat off of a fish wagon. They email, text message, IM, and blog (some have been bloggers longer than me), and I bet some still pass notes in school the old fashioned way. They use ballpoint pens to write on their hands, legs, sneakers, backpacks, notebooks, and anything else with a blank surface.

I love them all dearly, even when they make me want to tear my hair out. This is why I coach.

swim-bling

For the next week or so, there will be significantly decreased knitting output from this knitblogger. Our synchronized swimming competition season is starting up soon, and we are in full production mode with sparkly swimsuits.

We have about 60 swimmers on our team, and each gets a custom made team routine swimsuit -- some more advanced swimmers get 2 or 3, if we also have them competing in solo, duet, and/or trio events. We design the suit, and then our manufacturer custom sews each suit to match that swimmer's body measurements.

As of yesterday, I had 38 swimsuits in my living room, worth almost $3500. Now, I get to buy a couple hundred dollars worth of sequins, rhinestones, and glitter to decorate the suits. These are sewn or glued into place to embellish the swimsuits.

We also make hairpieces to match. These are sparkly things that coordinate with the swimsuits -- they are worn on the head somewhat like a tiara or bun cover.

This site shows a photo of a soloist wearing her competition suit and hairpiece. She is an international elite level swimmer, so her suit is fancier than the ones our swimmers will wear. Our swimmers are talented, but not so talented that their moms will create something so complex!

The photos below show snippets of the "rough drafts" of some suit embellishments. Before sewing or gluing anything, we lay out the embellishments so we can see the effect that will be created, and move things around until we are happy with the design. These are just the layouts of a few pieces of some of the suits. Perhaps I will have some photos of finished suits and headpieces later this month!

As a coach, I "approve" all swimsuit designs, which the swimmers and coaches create together. After we order and receive the suits, I embellish one suit for each routine, and then have the parents create the same embellishements on the rest of the suits in the group. It's a lot of work, but it also ensures some "quality control" in the design and decoration process, which is important since these swimmers will represent our team at up to 4 national meets each year, as well as several zone, regional, and local meets.




The themes of each routine, determined by the music that they perform to, are as follows:
Top row left: "Gypsy"
Top row center: "Festa Italiana"
Top row right: "Superheroes"
Bottom row left: "Nutcracker" (the music is a dramatic version of the ballet, performed by the Trans Siberian Orchestra)
Bottom row center: "Prince of Egypt"
Bottom row right: "Italian Traditional"

Still life with paperwork

Welcome to 2006. Not so very different from 2005, I dare say!

I worked last week, unlike a lot of people, but at least my office celebrated the New Year's holiday yesterday, so I got three day weekend. There was much knitting throughout the weekend. I still need to document a lot of it, so stay tuned for more details.

I do have a photo of one piece of fibery goodness, though. I got Thom, a.k.a. "The Amazing Husband Swift" to help me ball up a yummy skein of Schaefer Anne yarn. I think this is destined to be socks for me. Blues and greens are my favorites. Ahem, you probably already guessed that from the colors of the blog.

Anyways, I started to swatch on size 2 Addis, but quickly went down to size 1's. I'm getting 8 sts/in on size 1's, and the recommended gauge is 7-8 sts/in. I think I might have to go buy a size zero, because I think I might want the fabric a bit denser, to make the socks longer wearing. Maybe. I'll have to think about this.

The yarn came to work with me today, as I *needed* to take a photo in the daylight. The flash made the yarn look waaay brighter than reality. The colors in this photo are perhaps a bit lighter than in reality, but not too bad.



Apparently, this pile of paperwork would suggest that it's time to clean up my desk. Unfortunately, I'll be plugging away at this particular project for the better part of the next couple of days, so the pile is staying here for now! Sassy, this photo is for you ;)

Any suggestions for sock patterns? I was thinking about some Jaywalkers, but I feel like I've already knit them, after seeing so many great ones at Cara's KAL. So, I'm looking for something different. Something that will show off the beautiful colors of the yarn. Ideas?

Quick update ...

I've been busy since Christmas ...

I finished one WIP (Whitby) and nearly finished another one (Esther Williams hat, all done except for the crochet edging, which I need to figure out).

I started two more projects ... a sweater for me and one for my hairdresser's baby ... and swatched for a pair of socks.

I bought yarn for the baby sweater, and two magazines, and got two Christmas gift books in the mail.

I still have 2 WIPs to finish -- the purple lace alpaca scarf from October, and the purple baby booties which I never gave as a gift after all, but are all done except for the finishing on one bootie.

I also owe my FIL a scarf to match his hat and gloves.

Whew. This had better be a productive 2006!

More details to follow on all the above.