Well you all (almost) put me to shame with your holiday knitting! Almost...but not quite. lol. I do admire all your work so that others can open a wonderful package hand made from someone that cares about them. I am not hand making any gifts this year. The socks that I was going to make as a suprise for hubby, I wisely let him pick the yarn for and let him in on the project. (I think it will be more fun to have his imput on them anyway! He's not a knitter, but picking up the lingo and pretty savy on how things go anyway.) While I'm in the Christmas spirit, I'm not into the hustle and bustle this year and hubby and I are going to play it low key this year. Things are falling into place to allow that to happen without too much fuss or muss and we're happy to see it be that way! Yipee for us!
I finally worked on the sweater again today. I realized that I was reluctant to tackle the pocket part of the front of the sweater and that was why I wasn't knitting. I'm always able to find other things to do to avoid the scary parts until I'm ready. lol. As it sits right now, I've split off the stitches onto a stich holder for the outside of the pocket and am knitting the lining of the first pocket (left side) as part of the left front side of the sweater. It's strait and plain sailing right now and I'm only a little apprehensive about the part after this one, so I'm enjoying this section right now. lol
Hubby and I spent the day relaxing; watching movies and crafting while it rained outside. All my terrific snow is gone but I'm sure there will be more. I did complete spinning the moss green yarn today and will have to wash it up for pictures. I immediately started on the very yellow roving I've got. It's nice to be making progress through my dyed stash and I'm tickled to death that I've started to ply in a balanced manner finally. I have some of the moss green single left and plan on trying it plyed up with some yellow or some brown...not sure yet which. I also made a start on a very cute Spindle lapel pin--very much like the ones sold at the Woolery--and wrapped with my own dyed handspun silk/merino. When it's complete with clasp I'll take a pic and show all.
I do wonder if there would be very severe "punishment" for posting crochete progress here it it's STRICTLY selfish. See, I have this wonderful little lap blanket I'd like to work on when I'm not working on the loverly sweater and really would like to share. If it's frowned on....let me know and I'll resist posting it here and keep it strictly on my personal blog. ;)
The last bit of progress is a bit of a suprise for even me. DH and I have been on a diet and Sunday morning is when we do our weigh in and measuring. I stepped on the scale today and to my own suprise I lost more last week than I expected. I'm down a total of 19.5 lbs! YIPPEE for MEE!!! This is a huge sucess for me and I can't help but tell everyone! I'm within grasping distance of my first goal and CAN NOT believe it! I've never had success dieting like this and I'm totally pumped up about it. I guess it's a lot like when I quit smoking. It just had to be at the right time and I had to be ready to be truely motivated. While I usually look at the amount of weight and say, "Hmm...5 #'s is the same size as a bag of sugar;" today I spent some time imagining 19.5 # of fiber....that's a WHOLE bunch. lol
Sorry for the last paragraph of blowing my own horn.....I forget sometimes that it's exciting for only me sometimes. lol Thanks for all your knitting support gang! Hang in there...the holiday season is almost over!