I think I’m more or less on track with my holiday knitting. I’ve got the thing for my Stitch’n’Bitch Sinterklaas exchange done (a quick knit, to be supplemented with some purchased items). I still need to write some doggerel to go with that. Of Ted’s Sapporo sweater (Ravelry link / non-Ravelry link), I have the body done up to the armpits and about 13″ of one sleeve done. I just need to do about 5-6″ more of that sleeve (includes a colorwork section, which will slow things down a little), do the other sleeve, then join the whole thing together and do the yoke. There’s only two tiny 12-stitch seams to sew, but then at the end there’s the dreaded steek for the neck zipper.
It looks like we’ll be going to Oregon for Christmas; if we end up spending some of that time at hte in-laws’ (instead of them coming to our new house for the wohle time) I am tempted to leave it to the last minute, because my mother-in-law has a sewing machine. This yarn is sticky enough that I think it would be perfectly practical to steek without sewing first, and since it’s only for a 16-cm zipper it’s practical to handsew as well, but it would be easier and less risky with a machine.
On the other hand I don’t think my MIL sews often – it might be quicker to hand sew than to dig out the machine and set it up. The sweater at that point is a true red, so finding matching thread shouldn’t be difficult. (Steeking advice from anyone with experience is very welcome.)
I would really like to make a pair of colorwork socks for my MIL, since she so admired the pair I was working on this summer, but two weeks is about the quickest I’ve ever made socks, so I don’t think that will happen in time. (She can’t have last summer’s pair. For one thing, as my first colorwork they’re far too wonky to be a gift, and for another they’re a little hard for me to get on and she wears a slightly bigger shoe. Mom was enthusiastic about my knitting too, but she got a sweater for her birthday last December. (She’s been a bit slow to warm up to my knitting, but I think that sweater and the things she saw working on during her visit did the trick. I can’t blame her, given that she was the recipient of my first swatch-turned-into-a-purse, an early scarf made with a novelty yarn carry-along (which she still does wear), my first very simple lace shawl (ditto), and a pair of early socks that don’t stay up well. As a proper Mom she’s always happy to get things I made with my own little hands, and each of those were things I was honestly proud of at the time, but there is something to be said for handmade gifts that are actually fit for use. Maybe the two of them get the next two pair of socks, after this sweater is done.
ETA: Thanks to a spot of web research and the genius of Eunny Jang, I do feel a little better about steeking without a sewing machine. She’s got three different methods requiring no skills or equipment I lack (unreinforced, hand-sewn, crocheted) and this sweater is sort of the best of all possible steek worlds, as the part to be steeked is in a solid color with no floats and it’s knitted in tight gauge with a traditional Norwegian DK yarn and tight gauge that i sonly too happy to stick together.