On Friday morning I finished up the package of washcloths and soaps for the gift exchange with my team at work. A couple of posts back I mentioned that I had planned to make one more – a white ripple one with a burgundy tie to complete the package. But I ran out of white just a couple of rows before the end. On Wednesday I had a dentist's appointment, and my dentist is right near Cross-stitch Cupboard on Carling and Woodroffe, so I thought I'd pop in there to pick up another ball so I could finish it off. But after my dentist's appointment I went over to Carlingwood Mall, and by the time I remembered that I wanted to pick up the yarn, I was so annoyed at the crowds I just wanted to go home. So I *gasp* opted to forgo the yarn store.

Thursday evening, I planned to wrap up the present, but it looked incomplete. So I went to the bath section of Knitting Pattern Central in search of a face cloth pattern that would complete the package, but use less yarn than the ripple cloth. I came upon this, and thought it would do nicely, if I made it a bit smaller.

This pattern is Circular Facecloth with Lace Edging. The pattern makes two sizes: 12 and 15 in in diameter. I didn't want anything nearly that big (plus I didn't have enough yarn). So I started with 15 stitches instead of the 20 called for in the smaller size, and started on row 21. The cloth is made up of 6 wedges. After the first wedge, I weighed it and got approximately 5g. I weighed the amount of yarn I had left, which came to slightly over 25g. Since I needed 5 more wedges, I figured I would have enough yarn, with just a bit to spare. So I carried on.

And I had enough yarn, but not quite enough time to finish it Thursday evening. I got all the knitting finished, but still needed to graft the beginning to the end to complete the circle. So I did that Friday morning before work (and didn't even need to follow a diagram. I've been grafting so much lately, I've really got the hang of it now), put everything together in a basket, and wrapped the present. Here's the final gift:

And speaking of gifts, I got a package in the mail on Friday from my Secret Pal.

It's this gorgeous skein of handpainted sock yarn from Cherry Blossom Fibers. The colourway is "Central Park" and I love it. It's soft and squishy and the colours are beautiful. I will be casting on a pair of socks with it soon, no doubt. I've not been feeling the sock love lately. I finished one sock a few weeks ago, but don't like it much and likely won't make the second. Then I cast on one for my father, but I'm not loving the yarn. I don't want to start one for myself until I finish that pair – but having this lovely yarn sitting there will either give me the push I need to finish Dad's socks, or make me break my resolve and cast on a second pair.