A Christmas Rehash.

The holidays this year were overly hectic and overly stressful for a variety of reasons. The main one being that my mom (Santa), waited until 3 days before Christmas to do all the shopping, and to even begin doing any of the cleaning, which means I had to do a great majority of the cleaning and part of the Santa shopping and wrapping (on top of my own shopping and cleaning). My family’s main celebration is at my parent’s home on Christmas Eve, we have roughly 30-35 people attend. The resulting everything being done at the last minute meant I really did not get to enjoy the holiday season as much as I normally do. Next year, I resolve to do everything in my power to get my mom not to procrastinate. Christmas time is really my most favorite time of the year and I’m bummed that it was so stressful this year.

Although I was incredibly stressed (made worse by the fact that I once again have a cold—Thanks mom!), I still had a happy holiday. My niece was a joy as always. She really took the noise and strange people all in stride. She remained happy and laughing throughout the night (when she was not napping). I think she really went above and beyond a normal 2 month-old’s behavior. The other baby who was here (my cousin’s kid who is 4-5 months old), was a cranky pants as usual. Every time I see this kid, she is screaming and crying. It is just amazing to see how the baby’s personality is already developing.

This year I only handcrafted one Christmas present. It was my niece’s stocking. It took me more then a month of working on it; I started right after Thanksgiving and finished on December 20. It was a huge amount of work. I think part of the reason it was so much work was because I am not a sewer or embroiderer. I know it will be enjoyed for years and years, and even when I am gone, my niece will think of me on Christmas when she uses it. It truly was a labor of love.

On Christmas Eve, I wore my completed tree jacket. It fits amazingly well and really is just beautiful. It may be my favorite knit ever. I hope that I will find a good picture of myself in the sweater (edit: the above is the best photo I have at the moment. Black is so hard to photograph!). Most of the pictures I took were with my sister’s camera, so I will have to wait on her for the pictures. One of my brother’s replied, when he found out I made the sweater, why I have not at least made him a hat and gloves if I have the skills to make a sweater.

This year I received a few knitting related items. From my aunt in the grab bag (my family does a $50 grab bag for the adults and then everyone usually buys the kids something), I received a subscription to Interweave Knits as part of my present. My boyfriend bought me the book Sensual Knits by Yahaira Ferreira. Santa brought me Classic Knits by Erika Knight, 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant, and The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd. In my head, I have already planned a few sweaters from Ann Budd’s book. The one thing I do not like is that none of the sweaters are top-down, even the raglan is made from the bottom up. I really prefer to work top down, but I think I will at least make one sweater from the book going bottom up. Actually, there is another thing from the book I do not like. In the book, my size is considered a “child size.” Really, I think that is rather insulting. I may be thin, but I am not a child…I also received about $70 worth of gift cards to Joann’s (that is sort of knitting related).

New Stuff

For the last 2 weeks I have been so sick. Sicker then I've been in years. I even had a fever, and I never get fevers. I feel like I'm only working on 80% health right now. I wish I would hurry up and get better! I need to do my christmas shopping. All I've gotten done is 1 present! I know I've got some time before the holidays, but I am already feeling the crunch. This year I am only making one christmas present, a stocking for my niece. Myself and my siblings all have the same type of stocking, a felt and sequin appliqué stocking. I've been "nominated" to make a matching stocking for my niece.



There are 100 pieces to be cut out, sequined, embroidered and appliquéd. I'm on piece 22. I will get this done before christmas!

I've finished my stocking swap, so I can finally post some pictures of the things I sent out.



Pattern: Lengthwise Garter Stitch Scarf
Yarn: Random bits and pieces from the stash in blacks and greys
Needles: US 10
Modifications: I just cast on 300 and knit while randomly changing rows. It came out really long, so next time I think I could do like 250 and it would be alright.


Pattern: Raisin Beret
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in black
Needles: US 3 and US 10
Modifications: I made some mistakes in the top decreases. I think it still looked ok. No pictures of me in it because I made it for a swap.




Pattern: Molly's Headband from Interweave knits
Yarn: Knitpicks Totem
Needles: US 6
Modifications: No modifications, it was easy to do and an easy chart to follow. No pictures of it on, because again it was for a swap.

Pattern: Sugi
Yarn: Knitpicks Shine Sport in Coral
Needles: US 4
Modifications: I changed the legs and just did them as I-cords. I also used a thinner yarn and smaller needles.

I'm still working on my tree jacket, but I'm almost done. I am about 1/2 done with the second sleeve and then it is done baby! I cannot wait to wear it. I think it fits really nicely. It feels like I have not made something for myself in so so so long. Maybe I'm selfish, but I've had enough for awhile of knitting for baby showers and swaps. I think I need to focus a little bit more on me me me!

One last bonus picture, Bud in the first snow of the year. He loves the snow. He likes to sit outside with his head up in the air just letting the snow land on him, until he's covered in white.



I wanted to get a picture of his face, but he was more interested in watching the snow fall then in getting his picture taken!