Unwrapped Christmas

Alas, today is the last day of Christmastime. We had a great time, and though I didn't get any knitting-related things from Santa or from Tim (some years you do, some years you don't), I did get some great stuff from friends, which is always a welcome experience.

My friend April looked at my Amazon wishlist, and bought me a copy of Arctic Lace, as well as Amy Sedaris' book on entertaining (I love Amy Sedaris!). They were a really nice surprise. I had really loved the copy of Arctic Lace that a co-worker had shown me, and I have been having a great time looking through my very own copy. Thanks, April!

A few years back, I was part of a holiday gift exchange with someone else on a lace knitters listserv. As it turns out, the person I was matched up with was Sue, who is an incredible lace knitter, and a cyber friend extraordinaire. We check in with each other at least once a week, and have continued exchanging Christmas gifts every year. It turns out that we have a lot in common, and who knows, some day we may meet in person! Sue and her husband Mike have traveled the past two summers to Lithuania, Latvia, and the Czech Republic, as part of a teaching program that Mike participates in. This past summer, they set up a blog to detail their travels and adventures, and I loved checking it and vicariously traveling with them.

Well, imagine my happy surprise when I opened up my package from her on Christmas morning and found these:

The bookmark is a gorgeous blue-gray linen, and the work is really delicate and beautiful. The double pointed needles are from Prague. And the gloves are absolutely gorgeous! The photo doesn't show it too well, but on the hand, they have a slight texture that is very pretty, but not too discernible. The note that accompanied the package says that the needles are from Prague, and the bookmark and the gloves are from Riga, Latvia. I have needles from Prague! And a bookmark and gloves from Latvia! How cool is that? Now I can only hope that someday, it will be cool enough to actually wear the gloves ...

In any event, thank you Sue, for another wonderful package!

You May Want to Sit Down ...

That is, if you are not already sitting. Because I have knitting to show you. And not just any old knitting, some of my knitting! (Film at 11.)


Ladies and gentlemen, I give you not one, but two pairs of socks that I knitted with my very own hands. The pattern is a variation of the pattern for Wedding Socks, from Debbi Young of Young at Heart Designs. It's a variation, because the pattern as written is for teeny tiny needles. Well, when I started using the teeny tiny needles, I was getting really frustrated with trying to do all of the things to create the design as written. So I improvised somewhat for my own comfort and sanity. These were knitted for my next-door neighbors, Ben and Halden (Doughboy's parents). The green and brown sock is the Groom's (Ben's) sock, and the oatmeal colored one is the Bride's (Halden's) sock. The yarn for both is Fortissima Socka, which I figured would be a good choice, because it's superwash. As they are both medical residents, it seemed they would not want to spend a lot of time worrying about washing their socks! I took them over and delivered them this afternoon, so hopefully they will like them, and they will fit. I would make the pattern again, though I would definitely use somewhat larger needles. Because I don't think you should end up in a home as a result of knitting socks ...

We will not discuss how long it took me to knit these. Ahem.

So as you can see, it was a fun holiday, giving and receiving. And you really can't ask for more than that. (Though a bit of actual winter weather would have been nice. Out of my control though ...)

As for me and Doughboy,

all we have to say is:

GO EAGLES!