Month: December 2018

Christmas

mildlygranola9 Comments

I hope you had a Merry Christmas. If you celebrate I hope all of your Christmas wishes came true. If you don’t celebrate I hope you enjoyed a quiet day at home alone drinking tea and watching movies (that is what I would do).

We were busy. The kids are still recovering from such a big change in their schedules. So am I, actually. We spent the Sunday before Christmas to Christmas at noon at my parents. After that we headed to John’s parents house for the night. They live in Des Moines, so we were able to spend Christmas night in our own house.

We went to church on Christmas Eve. The kids were actually good, thanks to the fancy coloring books I picked up in a panic an hour before mass when I realized I forgot to pack their quiet toys. Shockingly we remembered to take a family picture after church.

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Elliot wore his Harvey cardigan.

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The kids got what they asked Santa for. For Audrey that was an alarm clock and a stuffed unicorn. Santa brought her the unicorn of her dreams (and my nightmares). Kathleen made Audrey a unicorn horn, so she has taken to wearing the unicorn horn and carrying her unicorn around with her.

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Elliot never had a straight answer for what he wanted. He asked for “nothing” when he was feeling especially scared of Santa. He also asked for red presents. He got a red tractor. He is a big fan of tractors. He loved showing it to my Dad.signal-2018-12-25-083356701356889241158006.jpg

I didn’t take many pictures this year (most in this post were taken by Kathleen). I think that is because I was too busy shoving fudge into my mouth. I’m sad Christmas is over, but I’m delighted to have the treats out of my house.

Now on to the New Year. Where does the time go?

 

WIP Wednesday: 51/52

mildlygranola, , 1 Comment

I’m a day late this week. I forgot that yesterday was Wednesday. Christmas has my days all messed up. John is off of work this week, so it feels like a perpetual weekend.

I’m working away on my Up All Night socks. I would have finished them had I not decided to make my MIL some slippers.

I’m taking advantage of John being home by drinking coffee, knitting, and watching knitting blogs. It is an luxurious way to spend a morning.

I’m using my new lap desk, which has greatly improved my working in bed. A few months ago Rachelle blogged about hers. I immediately added it to my wish list (if you can’t trust the opinion of a fellow knitting blogger who can you trust?). I’m hoping it motivates me to get more writing done.

I picked up my shawl last night and knit a few rows on it. I thought that I made a mistake and had to tink back 2 rows. It turns out I hadn’t forgotten the decrease, which I didn’t see until I got all the way back to it. That shawl might be the death of me.

I had the same problem when I knit the vanilla latte socks – easy patterns that require minimal thought mess me up because I am used to knitting things with no thought or intense concentration – never middle ground knitting. Minimal attention throws me all off.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and may the new year bring fabulous knitting projects.

South Marysburgh Slippers

mildlygranola, , 2 Comments

I finally decided what to knit my mother-in-law. She loves felted slippers, so I usually make her a pair every year. I do not like felting, so I decided to take this year off. After a lot of searching I decided to make her slippers that weren’t felted. I think she will appreciate having a light weight slipper for days that are cool instead of cold.

I stumbled upon the South Marysburgh Slippers in my favorites on Ravelry. I was pleased that it was a free pattern and only used about 100 yards of yarn. 100 yards is all that was left of my gift knitting attention span, so it was ideal.

I love this pattern. It knits up quickly. I was able to finish one slipper at a knit night last night. I like how the slippers look. I’ll be making this pattern again. I have plans to make a pair for a friend soon. I might make a pair for myself too. I think it is a great way to use up a 50g skein.

I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted I had floating around in my stash. I imagine she will be happy she can throw these in the wash.

Last night was International Knit for Peace Day. Did you participate? Ivy and I had plans to eat cheese and drink wine at my house, but she suggested we visit Knitting Next Door in Ankeny for their Knit For Peace knit night. I am glad we went. It was a nice group regular knitters. all of whom were welcoming. As an added bonus, Christina, the creator of Project Peace was there too. I was able to show off pictures of my Project Peace cowl to the designer. It was a great night, and it left me feeling more peaceful (also more nacho full, as Ivy and I shared nachos after knitting).

I hope you are getting any Christmas knitting done that you planned to do. I also hope you are finding peace in your life during this busy season.

WIP Wednesday: 50/52

mildlygranola8 Comments

After months of avoiding working on this pair of socks I finally started the second sock last night. The pattern is Up All Night by Meanest Mommy Knits. It is easy to memorize and fits great (thanks to the rib).

I’m going to start slipper socks for my mother-in-law tonight or tomorrow. If I suddenly find hours to knit I might whip something up for my sister-in-law too. It is doubtful that I’ll find hours to knit; I have too much to do to get ready for Christmas.

I don’t have an updated picture of my shawl. I did work on it for a few hours. Then I dropped a stitch. It was in the only fiddly part of the shawl so I could not pick it up easily. I ended up tearing out the two inches I finished this week. The shawl is now sitting in a corner being punished. It knows what it did.

Have a great week and a Merry Christmas!