Demon Deacons

I started knitting a scarf as a Christmas gift for my stepdad. He's an alumni of Wake Forest (home of the Demon Deacons) whose team colors inspired this scarf. Stepdad is also color-blind, but I know that gold, black, and silver are in his spectrum! It's knit using Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, and though I have no idea how warm it will be (as this project was conceived while I was still on the extremely novice end of the scale) I am sure that it will hold up at football or basketball games, and hopefully be worn with the sense of school pride that runs so thick with him, he named our first family pet 'Deacon'.



I didn't start the scarf until we were packed into the car- 2 parents, 2 dogs, a trunk full of gifts, and ME- while we barreled down 95 South headed for the coast of North Carolina. The plan was to meet up with stepbrother & girlfriend and stepsister, to do the pseudo traditional family Christmas breakfast buffet and gift exchange. That's where I was supposed to deliver a scarf to stepbrother's girlfriend and a bolero to stepsister. I knew the girlfriend's gift was gonna be late- no doubt. Total wash. I was more than halfway through stepsister's bolero, and ended up staying up until 5am the morning of our gift exchange to finish and weave in the ends. By the end of the trip, I'd been unable to sneak away long enough to get any work done on stepdad's scarf (and honestly- I preferred to spend time with the family rather than hiding from them). Even on the drive back home I couldn't put enough of a dent in the scarf to get it finished in time for the last gift exchange with Mom and Stepdad on Christmas morning.

With consolation gifts aplenty, I let stepdad know that he had another gift on the way that just needed a little... finishing. I had never intended it to take this long, but decided that I should knock out the girlfriend's gift before the next time we were to see each other (February- and accomplished!), and then spent most of March working on a baby blanket for my boyfriend's new nephew. Then came the undeniably fabulous Endpaper Mitts... and finally it was back to the scarf! The last holiday project of 2007!



I'm so glad it's done*, and look forward to giving it to him. I hope he'll get some actual use out of it, as I already know that he'll appreciate the fact that it's a handmade and personally (albeit simply) designed just for him. And next year, perhaps I'll get started a little early on my handmade gifts, 'eh?


*ok ok... so it's not done. i still have to weave the ends in. but for the most part... DONE!