1. November Dishcloth KAL – Turkey,
2. Mid-November 2006 KAL – Poinsettia,
3. December KAL Cloth – Galloping Holli (rocking horse),
4. Mid-December 2006 KAL – Snowy Drops lace,
5. December 2005 KAL dishcloth – tree shaped cloth,
6. Peppercorn Ombre Dozen
These bring my total for the Dishcloth Knit Along to an even 40! Not bad for 3.5 month’s work. 
I am a bad person.
Why? Because on the Wednesday before Christmas (the absolute last date that a package could be mailed that might conceivably reach Florida in time) my gift to my grandmother looked like this:
The single, solitary sock did arrive on schedule, but the accompanying note was initally overlooked leading to her spending several minutes searching the wrapping, box, etc. for the sock’s mate. When I heard about this I felt so horrible that I vowed not to start any other projects until the pair was completed. Which it was today:
So I was able to squeak another one in for SAM2! They also qualify for the Fixation Sock KAL – should Blogger ever let me upgrade to Beta so I can blog there about them (::grumble::), that is.
Pattern: Lace Wing Fixation Socks
Yarn: Elann Esprit in peach, less than 1.5 balls
The sock will be sent off to Grandma Monday Tuesday Wednesday. (!)
I’m not sure if it’s just for the holidays or what but HGTV has been airing Knitty Gritty weekdays at 11am ET all month long. This is great news for those of us who don’t get the DIY Network!
…and some of the gifts are finally starting to look finished. I present Twelve Dishcloths Blocking:
Since I know this colorway (P&C Peppercorn Ombre) fades like the dickens, I’m trying the vinegar bath method. They soaked in a half vinegar/half water mix for a half hour, were rinsed, then blocked. The vinegar smell is still very much in evidence, though, and I don’t know I’m going to fix that short of plunking down $2.75 at the laundromat.
The patterns used: Garterlac (of course), Chinese Waves, Bee Stitch, DW, Basic Modular, Eyelets on the Diagonal, and Ballband.
The plan had been to do six patterns, two dishcloths of each, but I started panicking when it looked like the cone wouldn’t last and switched to ballband (with ecru as MC) for the last two. Naturally, I still ended up with quite a bit left. My big discovery was the Eyelets pattern. It’s wonderful, especially – dare I say it – for the uglier ombres. The diagonals break up pooling nicely. When I started this quest I hated this Peppercorn colorway, but I grew fonder of it toward the end – due in no little way to the Eyelets cloth.
But it’s not all dishcloths! My Absorba bathmat now has a little brother:
Knitted with size 13 needles instead of size 15 but otherwise identical to the first Absorba.
I was pretty excited earlier this year I noticed that Netflix has the first Art of Knitting DVD available for rental. After all, most people probably only need to watch crafty DVDs once or twice. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only needlework DVD Netflix owns.
But then Hacking Netflix wrote yesterday about SmartFlix, an a la carte Netflix-like service that specializes in how-to DVDs. They have DVDs on everything from woodworking to movie making that you can rent starting at $9.99 a week. And yes, there are many, many arts and crafts ones to choose from. Pretty neat! I’ll have to try them some day.
