Happy New Year!

Happy new year! I hope everyone had a wonderful and warm holiday.

It's strange that it's 10 years after the Y2K mess. I still remember the 2000 glasses passed out for the Times Square New Year countdowns. Since my family gets access to Japanese Television, our New Year Eve ritual has become watching "Kouhaku Uta Gassen" or "Red/White Singing Showdown" instead of watching the great ball coming down in Times Square.

Japan has a very festive culture--everything has lucky versions of everything. Red and White are the lucky colors. They are also used to divide up teams such as sport day in schools. The two colors for the Singing Showdown represent the men (white) and the women (red). The two teams take turns singing songs to compete. The winner is determined by votes from the celebrity judges (athletes, actors/actresses, etc), the studio audience, and now the general public. I think the White team won in 2009.

We didn't exchange gifts until 12/30, which was great since I was still finishing up some presents in my room before wrapping it up in Japanese packing cloth (to place under the Christmas tree). :) But here's a little peak:

I made a Link hat for my sister's boyfriend, who is famous for loving video games and anime: note: Modeling for the hat is my bf, not my sister's.
Pattern: my original
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Forest Heather 1 ball


I made a pair of gloves for Dad, who requested grey gloves for Christmas. I added little cables and detachable flaps on forefinger and thumb for easy maneuvering without taking the glove off.
Pattern: Buttoned Elbow Gloves from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Gloves and Mittens
Yarn: Valley Franklin Natural dyed with black RIT dye


I made a cat chullo for my sister who doodled the basic shape for me during Thanksgiving:
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool and Araucania Wool
Pattern: My own; shaping inspired by doubled chullo in Interweave Holiday Knits



I also made a hat for my mom, but she quickly lost it on a warm day. Oh well.
Yarn: Cascade 220
Pattern: Slouchy Copycat hat with 75 sts for a snuggier fit.


I read that my online stashbusting KAL is restarting on the 15th. I need to tally my knit yardage and figure out if my stash did indeed shrink. It sure doesn't look like it tho.