Decorations and Such

Well, I am sure you guys do not need the countdown.....but only ELEVEN days left till Christmas.  I am still not ready...ARGH!  I did get the tree up and decorated....and my daughter gave me an awesome candle, so I lit it and got to enjoy the wonderful "Frosted Cranberry" scent while I knitted on Sunday (It is hard to photograph a burning candle).  Saturday was spent cleaning and putting up the tree.

Okay, I will jump in with some stash enhancements....first, I got some more knit picks felici in the Tea Party, Madrigal, Candy Jar and Baker Street colorways.....Instead of showing each stash picture (which you can see on my ravelry), I will show you a picture I sent my sister a picture of almost all the felici colors I have so she can tell me which one my niece will like the best (I will be starting the toes for her and giving her a little sock knitting kit for Christmas):

Then, I got three more packages from the HiyaHiya New Product Swap...thank you to Chappy, Wendi and Susan!  The ornament is already on my tree and that bracelet can hold stitch markers!!

I got the most awesome early Christmas gift from Darlene....a new bag set that I LOVE!  It has deer wearing knitted items and the trees are yarn bombed...How cool is that!

My newest needles came in from Dyakcraft.....ORANGE NEEDLES.....who thought of that?  I love them!  You are either seeing double or I may have bought two sets:

Plus my iPad Pro....this thing has a pretty big screen....I have not decided if I love it or hate it.  It is heavy, but I love the clarity of the big screen.

Now for the knitting.....pretty much all I knit on were the mitts for Shyla and I finished them.  Now, this yarn is NEON, but not quite as neon as the pictures are....it was very hard to photograph this yarn.

I also started Chris' socks....in the awesome bag from Darlene.

And, I worked maybe an inch on my niece's socks...but did not snap a picture.  Speaking of socks....I think I have mentioned that I am going to try to do the Desert Vista Dyeworks Unofficial Sock of the Month Club.  Now, I have a friend named Paula (that I have mentioned on the blog before)....she was knitting socks two at a time on two circulars like this (these are her pictures):

then she saw a picture of three at a time being done:

and decided to give it a try (despite me telling her that she was smoking crack!):  Well, I got an email from her last night and I loved what she said so much, I asked her if I could put it on my blog (and she said yes):  She said:

Well, I tried.  I really did.  I have the 3 pair toe up socks on my really long needles & I have tried to knit them all.  I find it very ‘fiddly’ and more trouble than it’s worth.  I’m going to take them off & put them back on 3 pair of double circs like I’m used to knitting.  Good news is, I have the beginnings of 3 new pair of socks!!!

And the really good news is – I don’t feel like a failure because I didn’t do it.  I *could* do it.  I just didn’t *like* doing it.  And that’s what knitting is all about for me.  The joy of doing something creative that relaxes me.  Three pair at a time was work, not relaxation or joy. 

I just thought this was the most wonderful way to look at it!!!!

So remember to always try at least once....and with that, I leave you with some wonderful sayings and pictures of my grandsons.....my youngest grandson, Mario Ramirez III turned 1 this past week....Happy Birthday Mario!

 

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!