No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. ~ Aesop

The holidays are approaching. For many this means extra spending on gifts, personalized Christmas cards and stressful crafting. I like giving small handmade gifts with a personal note and a nice piece of chocolate. If you recall, in the summer I had planned to give patchwork dish towels. I have a pretty good stock pile of these towels so I’ll probably give some to my family this year, but I haven’t really decided on what to make for my coworker gifts.

As the British Hubby and I are getting close to hat/scarf/shawl saturation, I like to make items for the gift bin so I always have a supply. I pulled out a wip from Malabrigo March 2015, Malabrigo Elevation. The yarn is of course Malabrigo Rios in Natural. The pattern is High Elevation by Cassie Munksgard. I’m on the second repeat so I think there’s a chance I can get this completed in time for the holidays.

Knitting items on a deadline isn’t my favorite. It makes me feel like knitting is a job instead of my fun hobby (I already have one job). I did manage to finish Milo III for the baby shower last Thursday. Here’s the first completed wip for November! This is in Malabrigo Rios color Purpuras.

Update on other wips:

• Frank in Pairs: Eight stripes are completed. It’s measuring in at 27 inches.
• Dewberry Dancer: Now that Milo III is completed, this one is back in rotation. I expect to see more progress on this one soon.

I received several good suggestions for November’s movie theme. Drum roll please! Presenting: Decoder Ring Knitting Movies! Our first movie is The Parallex View. It has a very young looking Warren Batty. The gripping opening scene takes place on the Space Needle. I actually stopped knitting. The scene was intense, but I also thought I spotted a female reporter sporting a knitted vest. This 1974 movie contains a parade, shooting, bar fight, 70’s car chase (including a Duke’s of Hazard style jump), boat explosion, false identities and a very unusual death by drowning in a damn overflow. Numerous times during this movie, I completely stopped knitting the Milo III. I’m almost certain I saw coded messages in Warren’s hair (perhaps, buy more yarn). If you haven’t seen this 70’s flick, check it out.

Gracie’s newest sleep spot. It’s where Burt normally sleeps!

One wip down and seven more to go!