Happy Christmas and New Year!

Too long since my last post, so this one's going to be long. Let's start with Kisa, this time, exploring the Christmas tree:




Kisa found Christmas to be lots of fun, and just a little stressful (sounds familiar). Ribbons, tissue paper, bows and boxes were great. Visitors, trees being dragged inside, and long absences were not so good. But she survived.

As usual, my family bought me everything I asked for (I tried to keep the list under control). I just emailed Tom my Knit Picks shopping cart and they went to town!:




Panopticon's It Itches, a magnetic chart keeper, some Chibi yarn needles and these really cool DPN WIP holders, so you can safely carry unfinished socks around without fear of breakage, purse holes, or impalement.

Tom order this swift from a guy on eBay. It's much more durable than the umbrella-style, and lots cheaper. I love it, wind away!





Of course then came the Boxing Day yarn sales. From Romni I bought Lana Grossa sock yarn, Cascade 220 Heather, and Lavold silky wool. From Lettuce Knit I picked up some Misti Alpaca hand painted lace, and some Socks that Rock. I was very disappointed they had no Dream in Color Smooshy for sale; that was the main reason I went there. Unfortunately, I didn't take a group photo before putting the yarn away, so I think I'll just link to my Ravelry stash page.

Finally, for my birthday, Tom got me one of the Knit Picks lace samplers:



I have so much lace-weight! And lace takes so long! And I want to knit sweaters! Oh well, it is beautiful.

Speaking of knitting sweaters, after completing about 8 inches on my EZ percentage sweater, I had to frog it and start over. It was huge! I cast on 32 less stitches this time. Didn't you knit a gauge swatch? you say. Yes, I did. I knit it in the round. I washed, dried and measured carefully. Gauge swatches lie.

Before that I finished a hat to match my mittens:



a Noro One Skein One Stole scarf:



a Baby Surprise Jacket for a pregnant co-worker:



and one Monkey Sock:



I also cast on the Icarus shawl in lovely Malabrigo lace weight:



But because of the the rippage, I feel so behind on my knitting. I have one more week off from work and I need to get lots done.

Happy New Year!