Christmas is all over....can you believe it? We had a wonderful day filled with lots of presents, much love and laughter. About 18 family members were here and we all had a wonderful day. :) My son and his wife came up from the seashore and stayed with us for a few days and it was great having them here. They were such a big help with everything and we enjoy each other's company so much, that we fit like hand and glove.
We had tons of food, but you know the old adage, "better to overdo, than to run out of food with 18 hungry people. Since it was Christmas I even dove into the pastries and cookies, which I know I'll regret when I get on the scale, but Christmas only comes once a year, isn't that right?
Now, for the big news!! I GOT A DIGITAL CAMERA, YAY, and my secret santa was my DIL mentioned above..........does it get any better than that? I just finished getting everything up and running and took my first two pictures. By some miracle I managed to get them on here at long last. I know I haven't even scratched the surface of how to enhance my pics, and all the many options that are there that I don't even know how to use yet.
Anyway, here's pictures of a couple pair of socks I finished. The Fair Isle ones were knit with Regia and the blue and green stripes were Fortissima cotton. I used size 3 needles on each pair but when I knit my next pair I'm going down to a size 2 because I think they need to be a bit denser for longer wear. It's amazing how much more comfortable my feet feel when I put a pair of my hand knit socks on rather than store bought. Others don't realize the major comfort difference and maybe that's for the best or I'd be knitting socks for everyone, which would be okay if I didn't have somewhere around 8 or so UFO's floating about!
I hope that all of you had a great Christmas too! Now we can get ready for a brand new year, "with no mistakes in it", as the teacher tells Anne in Anne of Green Gables. May each of you have a healthy, happy 2006!
I fin
ised ALL of my Christmas knitting gifts and took pictures of each item that I still have to get developed before I can get them online for you to see.......alas, I don't own a digital camera, YET. :) So, I got 2 Christmas stockings finished and a lovely Chamonix scarf, and I'm closing in quickly on my Manos sampler afghan, which isn't a gift, but I'd still like to get it done before Saturday, which probably isn't in the cards, but I can dream, can't I? I promise to post pictures of the completed UFO's once I get them! My best to all of you for a wonderful holiday season and a great 2006!
Today I'm off to the rheumatologist to see if I can get some relief from my shoulder and wrist pain that comes and goes. You know that a knitter cannot tolerate these things. I think it may be arthritis which I have in several fingers but I'm happy to say that they don't ache like toothaches anymore. :)
I can't believe how the time is flying by, can you? I am in awe of those bloggers who post just about everyday! I can only seem to manage about once a week or so, but I'm present and accounted for anyhow. I finished all embellishments to my DIL's stocking and I'm really closing in on the Manos afghan. Down to the last square which is a third of the way finished and then I block, sew, and voila!
I have to keep it short today as there's lots to do before I leave. If I don't get to post before Christmas, I wish all of you much joy, happiness, and peace for Christmas and in 2006.
I've been knitting up a storm the past week or so trying to finish up the last minute details, etc. I'm still working on the scarf for my brother but I'm not too worrried about finishing that up on time. Also duplicating names on the 2 Christmas stockings I knit and that's been time consuming mostly because I'm too picky about the letters being as perfect as they possibly can.
I'm still hoping to get a digital camera so that I can take some pics and put here because I know how much I enjoy seeing all of your finished items. I've seen some lovely things on a few blogs, namely a great Christmas stocking on Not Plain Jane and some adorable hats knit up by Miss Wooly Knits.
Just started wrapping our presents which I always enjoy. I thought we had lots of bows but who knows where they got to..........can't find them anywhere. Also started writing our our cards and found the most adorable picture of a kitty with a santa hat on which is so cute! Inside it says "wishing you a warm and cozy Christmas". We don't send out as many cards as we used to but I want to keep up this tradition as it's an important one for us.
Once I get my knitted gifts finished, I will get right back to the ever present Manos afghan. It's a "must get done" priority on my knit list. I tend to have some issues with finishing........it seems I get to the point where I'm just about ready to finish and voila! I put it down, sometimes never to be picked up again! I've been asking myself, "what's up with that", there must be a hidden insight with a message in it there, LOL.
Well, that's about it for now and I wish all of you a joyful week ahead and until next time.
Finally, the colder weather is beginning here! I love the winter and the fall when I feel most energized and ready to tackle anything. Today we had the gas fireplace repaired since it wouldn't start when we first tried it. It took the repairman over an hour to fix the problem, a bad valve! So now, if we can afford to run the darn thing with the increased price of gas, we now have a working fireplace.
I started a pair of mittens last night with a lovely yarn, the name of which escapes me, but I'll report back later with it. I haven't had much luck with knitting the thumb in the one or two mittens I've tried so I hope that this pattern will make it a bit easier. I'm using a copied page of a pattern from when I first learned to knit. It was the first thing our teacher had us do....a mitten with a cable running down the top of the hand! Now that I'm more experienced I see that she picked a great project to begin with because it really got us started with quite a few things at once. Naturally, I don't remember too much from that lesson but perhaps when I get further along with the mitten it will all come back to me......or at least I hope it will!
Still plugging away on the Manos afghan which I should finish in the next 2 weeks. It will be one warm and toasty blankie to sit and knit with over a hot steaming cup of tea, ahhh, yes.
Well, that's about it for my part of the world right now, and I wish you all a great weekend with lots of good knitting.
