Christmas knitting update.

One holiday down, a couple to go...

My Thanksgiving was wonderful even if it occurred on Friday rather than Thursday. I was working Thursday night. To be honest, I was somewhat shocked by how many people came out to eat for Thanksgiving rather than be in there own homes with their families. It was really very interesting. Of course, my family came out to eat at the restaurant I work at just so they could spend a little time with me on Thanksgiving even though we'd see each other the next day. I love my family. This is why I'm so happy to be back in the area!

I currently have 373 blog entries to read in my bloglines.... it's safe to say I'm a little behind in reading those. I'm sure spending time with the boy has something to do with this, but lucky for me, he understands my passion to knit and lets me knit even while we're cuddling on the couch watching movies, or in the car, or wherever else the mood strikes me. You see, he has passion for some things too (World of Warcraft and running) so I'm more than happy to allow him his time as well.

Here's the finished socks I was telling you about.The leg looks pitifully short on these, but I'm sure they'll still be worn with love.

I started another pair of socks as well.Those are definitely Jaywalkers out of KnitPicks Felici. I've had trouble in the past with this pattern being too tight to get your foot into, but something about this yarn (perhaps it's the nylon content or the fact that it's superwash, who knows?) makes it a bit more stretchy and allows my foot to fit easily into it. This picture is actually a bit old, I've finished one sock and am turning the heel on the other one.

Now that I'm this far, I don't feel like I'm under too much pressure from my Christmas gifts because I only have two others to finish!

Finally the season it's supposed to be.

In my last post I wrote about how it just didn't feel like November and that it seemed strange that Thanksgiving is so close. Well, with this recent cold snap and a few white things falling out of the sky, it's feeling a bit more like the right season. We actually got more than a few flakes too, I woke up to this...I knew without looking out my window that it had snowed. The light that comes in through the window is totally different when it snows.

Since I had the day off, the boy and I decided to go to this nature center not too far from here and walk some of the trails. By the time we go there the snow had melted some, not to mention there were still quite a few leaves on the trees to catch it and keep the paths clear.

Here are a few pictures from our walk.
There were about a million geese on the lake while we were there. They were about all you could hear. Look closely at this picture and you can see all those little black specks on the lake are geese.
Because we're still young at heart we decided to climb on a fallen tree.The going up part was fine... it was the getting back down that was trickier than I remember as a kid!

By the end our hands were freezing (after all, why would we need gloves on a day that it snowed???) so we called it a day and went home for some hot cocoa and soup. It was great =)

As for the green socks, they're finished. Whatever had been bothering my hands and arms is now a ton better and I'm knitting at my normal speed again. I'll post a picture as soon as I have time to take one. I've started another pair of gift socks and I'll also be posting pictures of those too.

On a side note, I came across a quote the other day that really struck a chord in me and I thought I'd share it.

"You are the creator of your own reality. Therefore, seek not to find out who you are, seek to determine who you want to be and create it."

It really hit me because it's so proactive. It really emphasizes taking control of your own life. I like that.

Stalled

Last weekend I was moving right along on the sock I started. I was fairly determined to finished at least one of them. My roommate and I rented a couple of movies (nothing makes socks grow quicker than watching some good movies while you knit.) I was nearing the toe when it became painfully obvious that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the foot.I was so close! I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I ripped, and ripped and ripped and somewhere along the way realized why I usually knit from the toe up. You definitely avoid these sorts of problems when you knit from the toe up!

As if the ripping wasn't bad enough, I had to take a break from knitting to rest my hands and arms. They've developed an ache in them from all the knitting and I just don't want to overdo it. Better to rest and avoid problems in the future than stubbornly press on and develop carpal tunnel or something.

I may not get as much knit for Christmas, but that's alright. I'll do what I can.

I'm finding it hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a week away. They holidays are upon us and for whatever reason it just doesn't feel like they should be here yet. Perhaps it's the unusually warm weather? I can't say. All I know is that this Fall was one of the most peculiar seasons I've experienced. 70-80 degree weather is not what I think of when I think October in the Northeast, but it's what we got. Strange...

On to the next.

The scarf is finished.This scarf is so soft and squishy that I'm tempted to keep it for myself. I may not have mentioned the best part about this thing. It's superwash merino... yeah, you can wash it in the washing machine without fear of it felting up into a mass of brown and black fiber. I think I'm in love. Anyway, I won't keep it. It'll go to it's intended recipient (whom I can't mention, Christmas gift and all that)

So I started a pair of socks as my next gift.These are moving right along. I guess it helps that I got a couple of audio books from the library and have been listening to those while I knit. It certainly keeps the mind occupied during those mindless portions.

I don't know if I mentioned this but I don't have TV. That is to say, I have a TV but I don't have cable, and local channels don't even come in because there is no antennae. I love not having TV. I loathe TV. Actually, I loathe commercials, certain shows I think are brilliant, but I can't stand the commercials. My strategy now is to watch the shows online or rent the seasons from Netflix. I haven't gotten around to watching too much though. For now, the audio books keep me mentally occupied.

My local library is fantastic too. It just got built about 5 or 6 years ago and it is beautiful and the selection is great and the staff is even greater. Yay for libraries!

It's crunch time...

It's November and with it comes deadlines for Christmas knitting. I have been working quite a bit recently on Christmas presents. I've also been trying to come up with a list of presents that won't be too much work. I'm trying to be realistic this year. I don't want to overburden myself with a ton of projects I can't possibly complete in time. I've decided that this year's presents will consist mainly of socks and washclothes. And maybe a scarf thrown in here and there. Like this one...It's some yarn from Brooks Farm that I bought at Rhinebeck. It's soft and the best part is it's superwash merino. I had no idea superwash could be this soft. I'm actually very happy with how it's pooling. It's not too obnoxious, you know? Though I will admit, I ripped this scarf out... ooooohhh, I'd say about four times. It was mostly because I was trying to see how wide I could get it and still get a long enough scarf. Now that I think of it, I probably could have used some math for that.... but really, it's much more fun to re-knit such beautiful yarn.

With all these Christmas gifts looming, I've had to put my own projects aside. This is the main reason why I haven't got any finished socks to show you from Socktoberfest. It occurred to me sometime in October that I should probably be starting on Christmas gifts instead.

Recently my LYS was having a sale and I couldn't help myself when some of their yarn is 50% off! I ended up buying some Mountain Colors Barefoot and some discontinued Jaegar yarn to make myself a sweater. I'm so motivated to start using some of this yarn... but then the Christmas gifts pop into my head and I don't.... I suppose that's going to be my motivation to get these gifts done huh?