Non-Christmas Knitting

About the time that I should be all finished knitting Christmas presents, I still have 1 gift to start! I grew tired of knitting slippers long, long before 3 pair were finished, let alone 4, so I think that I will make my dad a pair of socks rather than the slippers that I had intended. As I didn't have a gift for him, I made an extra large batch of gingerbread cookies, which he loves. I think he really liked them. The other many, many Christmas gifts that I knitted were all very appreciated and will be worn for a long time. This makes me so very happy. I received a voice mail from my sister, yesterday, saying that her son really likes the snowman sweater vest! I could hardly believe that she brought up that rather than the toy car that my husband bought for him.
About the time I tired of knitting slippers, I started to work on these socks for me. I finished them on Christmas and really like them.

Weekend Knitting

I accomplised much, this weekend. I finished felting the second pair of slippers and moved on to some other things. One project that I worked on for a while are a pair of lacy socks for me. I almost feel guilty, but wanted to knit socks and don't want to start a pair that might not be finished in time for Christmas gift giving, so I'll knit for me. I also spent some more time working on a pair of Moss Grid Hand Towels for my guest bathroom. I finished the first of 4 skeins of yarn that I purchased for this project. Finally, I knit an entire scarf on Saturday afternoon for my SIL. We had a Christmas party planned with my dh's family on Sunday and she had asked for a scarf that was, "Short, soft and like Emily's [her daughter]" I wasn't exactly sure what she had in mind, but when I was in the Village YArn and Tea, I saw a shop sample that had been knit up that seemed to fit the bill. It is the Ruffled Scarf which was a free pattern with purchase of 1 skein of yarn from the store. Since they had everything I needed all together, I bought a skein of a pale blue-gray and went home to knit. I put on the latest disk from Blockbuster.com (Monk :) ) and began to wind the skein into a ball. By the end of 4 episodes plus the extras on the disk, the scarf was finished, with the ends woven in. What a great, quick knit. I may even make a couple more of these for other gifts!

2 more down!!

After a really long time in the washer, the green felted clogs are finally finished!! My husband says that they should fit his dad perfectly! Somehow, one is a little bigger around the foot than the other, which really surprised me. I didn't want to let that one stay in longer as it is already a little shorter. Oh, well...It will still fit fine. I've been knitting on more of these slippers, but am knitting the next smaller size so that they don't have to spend as long felting. I have the next pair in the washer, now, and am almost finished with another half pair.
In other knitting news: I finished my oldest UFO! The Pink Sweater is done and drying. In the picture you can see the blocking wires are still in it. I'm hoping that both projects will be dry this evening so that they can be wrapped. I am working to have no more than 3 gifts to wrap at a time and have 1 more ornament that I bought Thursday, so that's 3.
On Thursday, I took the day off from work to go shopping with my mom. We had been looking for some time to "hang out" and that seemed perfect. Neither of us likes going to the mall during the Christmas season, at least certainly not on the weekend. So, Thursday it was. She picked me up at 9:45 and that way we were there around the time when they usually open. (I don't think they opened any earlier that day, but we couldn't have made it earlier any way.) My sister met us there and we shopped together for an hour and a half, or so, until she needed to get home to meet her preschooler's carpool. Mom and I continued to shop and then stopped at Starbucks before heading home. We picked up my little brother at school, and then headed out again, this time with my SIL in tow. It surprised me how we looked at such different things with each group. We really accomplished very much on Mom's list. She needed help shopping for my husband and my brother (SIL's husband.) Taking the wife always helps, right? :) So, the day was fun and everyone enjoyed themselves very much.

More Christmas presents

I was at a loss as to what could be made for some of the men in my family. I decided on felted slippers. While at Village Yarn & Tea, last Saturday, I picked up enough for 4 pairs. The first is done. I felted them last night & this morning! While the pattern said that it needed 850 yards, I used only 660 (almost exactly I put the remaining yarn in the photo) and they're still HUGE! They should be a perfect match for the guy with the largest feet, FIL, with a size 13. The next 3 pairs, I plan to use the men's medium, instead of large so they're a little smaller. The yarn is Cascade 220, 3 skeins.

He likes them!

On Friday night, we had a birthday party for dh with his parents. I gave him the Spiralling socks that I had made him. They fit great and he like the color and fit of these better than the Huskies Socks I made him before. (The legs are longer. I would have made the last pair longer, but I was running out of yarn. That's a lesson for me: use a skein that has at least 450 yards and use a size 2 needle rather than a 1.) I've already washed them once and the yarn, Smooshy by Dream in Color, is sooo soft after washing I'm sure he'll like them even better!

Snow!

Yesterday, it snowed! It began snowing in the early afternoon as I was out running errands. I was driving down I-5. There was no precipitation of any kind. Then, I crossed a bridge and the snow just started! I was surprised, and being Seattle, everyone was braking to slow from 55 to 30mph. It wasn't even sticking, yet! I arrived home safely, and decided that I would still go down to Village Yarn & Tea to visit with my knitting friends. Two of the them made it. We had a great time sipping tea in the warm store, while watching the snow cover the trees across the street from the store. It wasn't even too bad to drive home in!
After I was home, I still enjoyed watching it fall while I did my weekly dinner cooking. I made 4 dishes which usually net us 2 dinners per dish. Needless to say that gives us lots of food that is already to go. (I just lift a dish out the night before and dh reheats it the next night.) We get better nutrition and I don't have to worry about cooking when I'm tired from working all day. This really helps us avoid the fast food/take-out trap. Lately, I've been enjoying cooking from the book Meals in Minutes by Sue Gregg. We've had chili, pasta, rice, chicken, and soup. I haven't even had to make changes to any of the meals. We like them exactly how she has written the recipe.