Christmas Round Up

There are some Christmas traditions that you just don't mess with. Certain music albums, baking items, silly things just have to occur on Christmas... they may be modified if you have, say a 6 week old who takes up a lot of time, but you still do them. This Christmas is no different. Thanks to some challenges early on in our attempts at nursing (resolved for the most part now... whew!)- my boy takes a bottle which means mommy can slip away for an hour or so if the opportunity arises. Thus, I was able to observe the Boxing Day tradition I have had with my Mother in Law for the last few years- and hit up the yarn sales at the local shops. Behold the spoils!

Lana Grossa's "Meilenweit Men" sock yarn from Pudding and Colinette's "Iona" from the Loop. The Loop was a last minute addition and had me very impressed... I'd hit their sale again. We decided to skip Gina Brown's this year, as it's usually MOBBED and we never get there in time for the really good sale stuff. (Nor do I have the patience to wait in the never-ending line up.)

In general this was a very good yarn year for me, as many family members decided to spoil me with yarn. Both the inlaws and husband bought me lovely colorways of Madelintosh Tosh Sock and my brother in law also got me some great sock yarns, a self striping I wanted and some Jitterbug that I've had my eye on for awhile. Rounding out the knitting related gifts I also went home with two books I had put on my list.

Lest you worry about my stash growing again, there have been a few more stitches knit. In fact- enough to get one blanket off the needles. Teddy is ready to be blocked, and then it will receive a crochet (yuck) border to help keep it's shape.

My goal is to get this blanket done prior to 2012 (even if it means at 11:59 on Dec 31st I am crocheting with one hand and feeding a baby with another). Progress does happen, even if it's 2 rows a day, I am trying to fit a little bit of knitting in- just so I don't go crazy. (I love my kid to pieces, but mommy is beginning to miss her knitting time... so I'm trying to get at least one row in a day. Even if it's just ONE row, I still feel like I've accomplished something.

I've also been meaning to show this off prior to Parker's arrival- the "Waiting for Duane" dishcloths for 2011. I leave a dishcloth at the front door so I can just pick up and knit a few rows while I wait for the husband in the am. This year I managed to knit 6 cloths waiting for him!

And lastly- it's not knitting, but I thought you might like to see- here's my "little" guy at 6 weeks. His last weigh on the 23rd he was 12 lbs 4 oz... so let's all use the term "little" loosely. :-)