Gifts and Beignets...

Now I can finally share this with you all!

It took me a while to finish the gifts for my Monday Night crew, Lisa, Melanie, Sidney and Lori, but I finished them and tonight they were finally gifted. I picked colors that were appropriate for each of the ladies. Lisa received hers earlier, at the end of last week, because she was going to Arizona for a visit to her folks place. I didn't get a pic of Lisa's mitts which were a beautiful blue green color. She appreciated them as she herself had made several pairs for others this Holiday season as well. For the other three, here they are...

All pairs were done with Malabrigo Worsted weight yarn. The green was for Sidney, the blue for Lori and the other pair (there is an explanation behind them) was for Melanie who screamed with excitement when she opened them! Sidney, for those of you who know her, is a 'green' person. In every sense of the word. From her love of everything in nature and sheer love of the color. This particular shade of green I choose to go with a shawl I knew she had that was made for her by our lovely friend Kathie. Here is a picture of the shawl that was made for Sidney...

The pattern itself is Kathie's and can be seen here on Ravelry. And next to the shawl, I think the mitts go very well with it...

Sidney also has a shirt this color that she wears often and I knew this would be the perfect shade for her. I was so happy when she opened them and saw her smile. I have a feeling that maybe, just maybe, Sidney knew right away every reason why I chose this shade.

The blue mitts were for Lori. Before she accidentally saw the skein in my purchase bag at Village Wools, I knew this was the color I wanted to get for her. When she happened to see the skein just after I bought it she lifted it out of my bag and said "ooooohhhh.....I LOVE this color!" I knew she did! How did I know? She just recently made the Dream Coat, a Patricia Werner pattern, in a class that she took at Village Wools a few months ago. And blue was one of the colors seen in her coat. This particular shade of blue. I knew it would go with her coat so well. Here are her mitts...

And here is Lori in her coat alongside Patricia Werner, the designer of this incredible coat...

See those wonderful shades of blue? Its a perfect match. I had this in mind when I chose her color of mitts!

I never packaged or wrapped (with the exception of the ones I made for Christmas) the mitts but I have made Mom three pairs of mitts. I made her a pair with Knit Picks City Tweed, an Angora pair, and a pair made with Wooly Wonka merino/cashmere. Mom is happy...

 

For Melanie... a story! Melanie is originally form Louisiana, just outside of Metairie if I remember correctly. She is a Saints fan and celebrates Mardi Gras every year with a party at her house which, if possible, we always attend. I have special colored strings of beads I wear just for her party! Back up a few months...I was house sitting for some friends back in October when they went to New Orleans for a family wedding. As they are fellow knitters they of course went to a few yarn shops in the area. One of them being the famed Quarter Stitch in the French Quarter. Unfortunately, they do not have their own website to link to or I'd send you there to look around via their site. Use your imagination. One of the things my friends brought back for me was a couple skeins of Malabrigo Worsted dyed by Malabrigo specifically for the Quarter Stitch in Mardi Gras colors...

When I knew I was going to make mitts for the ladies I knew that I would make Melanie Mardi Gras mitts and here they are close up...

She screamed with excitement when she opened these! She had just ordered a few skeins of this Malabrigo Worsted for herself and last week told me that maybe, just maybe, she would make a pair of mitts with one of the skeins. I told her I would bring her the pattern today. I lied. (smile)  One of the things I happened to mention in conversation last week was that I had never ever had a beignet before. Melanie thought this was terrible and just had to be fixed! Since Lisa was gone this week in Arizona and stitch group was at Melanie's house, she made jambalaya (Lisa doesn't really tolerate spicey hot foods very well) and would make beignets for dessert!

Folks, if you haven't had a beignet before, you too are missing out. I was glad I finally had them this evening. They.Were. Awesome! After we ate dinner and had dessert we all sat around knitting, Sidney was stitching, until it was time to go for the evening. It was a wonderful evening. 

I love these ladies like family. It had been a rough 2013 for me and to know I had the love and support of each and every one of these ladies meant a tremendous amount to me. I wanted to show each of them just how much it meant. 

I hope you all have a wonderful start to your week! Tomorrow is Tuesday Night Knitting so my week is starting out awesome. And the the Denver Broncos are going to the Superbowl. How much better can it get!?? Have a wonderful evening my friends!