Oh, presents!

My brother and his family stayed with us for the last few days, and we had our family's Christmas celebration on Saturday the 29th. I had so much fun with my sister-in-law and my niece, who have also recently picked up knitting (my sister-in-law was a knitter when young, but hasn't done anything with it for awhile). They are now calling me The Enabler. I think it's because I went to yarn shops and patted skeins with them. And I had fun with my brother, too, and my nephew, but they did not knit. I think my nephew would, but he's two, and his favorite thing to do with yarn is grab and run.

Anyway, I so much enjoyed giving away the few Christmas handknits that I had this year. I would like to do more next year, but I know myself. I will need to start in February if I want to do it without having a nervous breakdown. Here are the things that I did this year:



I tried to tailor things to the recipients in nice ways. The legwarmers were for my sister. They are super soft and machine wash and dryable, because she is Anti-Handwash.
The multicolored scarf was for my sister-in-law (the one that was staying with us), and was just a couple of Noro Kureyon skeins done up in seed stitch. Nice and warm, because she sometimes rides her bike in the city in the wintertime.

The orange scarf, which translates least well to photography, is a simple garter stitch with a ruffle on each end. The yarn is all cotton from Maggi Knits, and it's so bumpy and fun; it makes a wonderful texture and looks like much more work than it was. I am hoping that it will complement my sister-in-law's favorite color.

I need to learn to photograph my projects better, because I don't think any of them look as yummy in the pictures as they do in real life.

Right now, in the washing machine, I am felting a Bracelet Bag from Crazy Aunt Purl, which I whipped out this morning while I was staying home from church because I felt pretty queasy. Really, I was not well enough to go, but sitting very still except for my wrists seemed okay.

I need to make some progress on the in-midstream projects, because I have so many Grand Ideas for new projects. And I need to figure out my travel knits for when I go a-visiting to Canada next weekend. And what to take to help my 19-year old niece, who is going along, with her very first knitting stitches! (I'm so proud.)

I'm feeling a little sick again. I think it's my body's way of punishing me for all the evil foods I ate during the past week. Ugh. Saltines and 7-Up, here I come!