Christmas Gifts

The Fiber Related Gifts:



--The Knitter's Book of Yarn: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using, and Enjoying Yarn by Clara Parkes
I've only had time to skim through this book, but I love what I see. Very interesting reading for a knit geek like me and lots of great projects too. I want to knit all of them.

--Digital postal scale for weighing yarn or roving
I think this is going to come in handy.

--Line Counter
Originally designed to measure fishing line, but I plan to use it to measure yarn. I haven't tried it yet, so I'm not sure how well it will work. No, I will not share it with John. Wool should smell like sheep, not fish.


The Big Gift:
Last year it was a spinning wheel, but this year it has nothing to do with spinning or knitting. I won't say what is just yet--not until I have a chance to use it and to get good pictures. Here's a hint though--accessories include a milk crate, cargo net and dry bag. Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Pictures soon, I hope.


The Best Gift:
Without a doubt, the best gift was having the kids home for Christmas.


Matt and Robyn

It was very windy the day we went to the beach, which made for some interesting designs in the sand.

Santa Claus is Coming

And it looks like his bag is filled with treats for all good knitters.

Merry Christmas!


A Gift from My Neighbor

Santa Pillow
10" x 13"
Cross-stitch pattern by The Prairie Schooler

Call Me Crazy

I can't stop knitting miniatures.



Minutia Sweater Ornaments
5, 6, 11

Check it out. There are 12 different sweaters to knit.

Make sure you have plenty of ink and paper in the printer. It's a 14-pager.


Cables and Seed Stitch



Stockinette from Handspun



Garter Stitch

Completely frivolous knitting, but it sure is fun!

Snippets

We found the perfect cards to send this year.


Thinking of you and sending the warmest greetings of the season.

Sums up our interests pretty well: birds, beach, shells, knitted scarves...all that's missing is a fish.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finished spinning the 1/2 pound of Fine Brown Shetland roving that I started back in September.



It turned out to be a light worsted weight yarn. There's a lot of it. Probably enough to knit a vest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Putting together jigsaw puzzles was a winter activity in my home growing up. That's why I always get the urge to start one this time of year.



We probably won't finish it before we need the table for Christmas dinner, so I'm glad we're using a puzzle mat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for knitting, I'm trying to finish John's socks and I'm working on a quick garter stitch project.

That Looks Better

Last night we decorated the tree. Our tradition has always been to do this as a family. Getting everyone together on a night that we didn't have other things to do was a challenge this year, but it was worth waiting for. Matt's girlfriend, Barbara, was even able to be here. We shared a nice supper, trimmed the tree, then sat around enjoying our time together. Matt played his guitar and John joined in on the mandolin.

Our tree is decorated with a hodgepodge of ornaments: a felt bag filled with balsam needles sewn together by John's mother, star burst ornaments made from the spiny fruit of a sweet gum tree, a bendy Santa toy that the kids creatively hang every year, ice skates crafted from felt and paperclips, dollar store finds that look like antique ornaments and peppermint candy canes that can be picked off and eaten at any time. The oldest thing on the tree though is the angel on top. It was given to me on my first Christmas forty-six years ago. It is worn and ragged now, but holds memories of Christmases when I was just a little girl and it topped our family tree then.





And though I didn't plan on knitting gifts for Christmas, I ended up making a few. Here is one that is safe to show.



The pattern for this set is in the book Felted Knits. The oven mitt is knitted from Jazz by Artful Yarns (50% alpaca, 50% wool). It's been in my stash for a couple of years. The dark blue yarn is White Buffalo. John has pronounced this oven mitt and trivet "the coolest thing you've ever made". A free pattern for a similar mitt can be found here (for the pdf file and picture, be sure to click the link at the top the pattern).

No Tree Over $35.00...

...no matter what the tag says.



The one advantage to waiting until the week before Christmas to buy a tree is that you can usually find a good deal. This year, because we've been traveling so much, we had no choice but to wait. Our family tradition is to decorate the tree together, so that won't happen until John returns home from his business trip. I suppose it wouldn't be a good idea to leave it undecorated, though I'm tempted to.

Recently at a party we were asked to share a favorite Christmas memory with everyone. We immediately thought of our first Christmas together as a married couple. We were poor college students then and couldn't justify blowing the budget on a tree until we were sure John would be employeed after graduation. The job offer came and we celebrated by shopping for a tree. With only $20 to spend, it was a challenge to find a fir tree (Scotch Pine would not satisfy my Vermont husband) that we could afford in South Texas. We finally found a beautiful tree with only one flaw--the top 1/3 of the tree was broken off! To balance out the missing top, I bought a large plastic doll with golden hair at the dollar store and transformed it into an angel. The only real money we spent on decorating the tree was for the lights. What a sight that tree was! Yet, it will always be our favorite.