Craftvent 2017 - Days 23 & 24

The Day 23 drawer revealed some tea - I do love cinnamon tea - and another package of Soak - always useful.

The Day 24 drawer revealed some hand lotion.  Taking care of our hands is essential as any rough spots will snag your lovely fibers.

And thus concludes another Craftvent Advent Calendar.  Not sure I'll do it again next year.

Craftvent 2017 - Days 20, 21 & 22

The Day 20 drawer revealed a tape measure.  Another notion I never mind have multiples of.  They are great for kitting out new knitters.

The Day 21 drawer revealed the final yarn - Baah! La Jolla in Maldives.  The color is quite a contrast to the other colors in the calendar and I'm not quite sure about it in the finished shawl.

The plan was to start and end the knit on border with the Anzula Nebula, but I ran a little short and had to bind off with some red.  I'm thinking of looking through my stash and seeing if I have something that will go better with the rest of the shawl.

The Day 22 drawer did not have a card, but it did have a cute little wooden button.

Craftvent 2017 - Days 18 & 19

The Day 18 drawer revealed some hot chocolate and some soak.  I love hot chocolate and keep a tin of Godiva hot chocolate powder in the fridge.  I add Godiva Chocolate Liquor to mine.  I was a little disappointed to see that the Ghiradelli hot chocolate has artificial flavor.  In fact, when I read the entire list of ingredients I was a bit put off.  I think I'll stick with my Godiva hot chocolate powder.

The Day 19 drawer revealed skein 7 - Anzula Nebula in Charcoal.  I will confess that I opened up the rest of the drawers on Sunday and finished up the shawl last night.  Here it is through Section 8.

The pattern is okay, but I'm a little disappointed in the yarn colors.  I can see doing the pattern again in other yarn.

Craftvent 2017 - Day 17

The Day 17 drawer revealed color 6 - Malabrigo Sock in the color Lotus.  It was a good thing as I basically ran out of color 5 as I was finishing up the last row of Section 6.  In order to finish the last few stitches I had to join the next skein as my tail was just too short to hold on to and knit with at the same time.

I faired better with Section 7, finishing up with 3.9 of the 12.3 grams remaining, the most leftovers I've had yet.

Craftvent 2017 - Day 16

The Day 15 drawer revealed a set of bent tip needles for weaving in your ends.  I have some of these already in my notions bag, but I have the green case, which has larger needles, so this was a good score.  I know some folks have expressed a desire for more yarn and less notions, but I like having extras for setting up new knitters because I love spreading the craft.

I also finished Section 4 last night.

Craftvent 2017 - Days 14 & 15

The Day 14 drawer revealed a nice wooden crochet hook for picking up dropped stitches.  Always a useful tool, I have a couple this size in my toolkit.

The Day 15 drawer revealed more gray yarn.  This time it is Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock.  I will confess that I liked the colors better last year.

Craftvent 2017 - Day 13

The Day 13 drawer revealed another mini skein of yarn.  This time Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock.  Fortunately I have finished Section 3 of the pattern.  I wasn't sure I was going to have enough of the Dream in Color Smooshy to finish, but I did, barely.

Craftvent 2017 - Day 12

The Day 12 drawer revealed a cute little notions pouch.  I don't think it will hold all the notions that I've received in the Craftvent calendar, but it is a nice little pouch.

I've also finally completed Sections 1 and 2 of the pattern, and am all set up to work Section 3 and 4.

Craftvent 2017 - Days 8-11

I've also been very neglectful of my Jimmy Beans Craftvent calendar.  I've been opening the drawers, but not much else.  The Day 8 drawer revealed the next color of yarn.  This is Dream in Color Smooshy and is for section 2 of the pattern, but I haven't finished section 1 yet, although I did work on it some yesterday after finishing my Adventurous Wrap.

The Day 9 drawer revealed two sets of stitch stoppers.  I've never used these before, but will have to try them out.

The Day 10 drawer revealed Washi tape, for marking your place on your printed out pattern.  I so rarely print patterns anymore now that I mostly work in knitCompanion.

The Day 11 drawer revealed the next mini-skein of yarn.  Manos del Uruguay Alegria.  I guess I need to get knitting on this pattern.

Craftvent 2017 - Day 6 & Day 7

The Day 6 drawer revealed an adorable row counter.  I bought the larger version of this row counter (it comes in red) when I first started knitting 17 years ago.  I was knitting on straight needles using inexpensive craft store yarn and I put the counter on one of my needles.  I prefer the Clover row counters these days, and have a lot of them.

The Day 7 drawer revealed a cute set of collapsible scissors.  One can never have too many sets of scissors, and this seems a very practical set.  Compact and functional.

Craftvent 2017 Days 4 & 5

Yesterday I didn't feel up to blogging.  I've been nursing a head cold and spent most of yesterday dong some mindless computer work at home.  I didn't even pick up my knitting until later in the afternoon.  The Day 4 drawer revealed a needle sizer - always a useful tool.  This one is from Addi.  I love Addi needles, and use them almost exclusively.  I have several click interchangeable sets, which work great, as long as you make sure you get a secure lock between the needle and the cable.

The Day 5 drawer revealed a set of stitch markers.  I don't often use stitch markers, but there are times that they are absolutely invaluable - such as when you're casting on lots and lots of stitches and don't want to lose count.  I've been putting these back into the drawers for safe keeping.  I may need another notions bag to put them all in.

Craftvent 2017 - Day 3

The Day 3 drawer revealed a 29.7 g ball of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in gray.  I had spent some time yesterday setting up the pattern so I could pull it into knitCompanion (typing the instructions into a spreadsheet and getting the stitch count figured out).  I only did the first two sections, which both use this color.  According to the printout color 2 doesn't appear until Day 8, so I have some time to get that part set up.

Here is my knitting progress so far.  I like the needles that came with the calendar.

Craftvent 2017 - Day 2

The Day 2 drawer of the Jimmy Beans Craftvent 2017 Calendar revealed a set of Knitter's Pride interchangeable needles with a 40" cable.  I've never used these needles before, and typically don't use wooden needles (I like my Addi Turbos), but I'm going to give this a try with this project, in the spirit of the Advent-ure.  Tomorrow I should have yarn so I can actually start knitting.  The pattern came as a printout, which spoils the surprise a little.  Last year they revealed the pattern as part of the Advent calendar.  They also provided it electronically, which I prefer.  I spent some time this morning creating a spreadsheet with the instructions and the stitch count for the color 1 sections so I can pull it into knitCompanion.

Craftvent 2017 - Day 1

I bought another jimmy beans Craftvent Calendar this year.  I had fun with the one from last year.

The Day 1 drawer revealed a project bag, and a link to a private facebook group.