Decor

For some reason, this year I am constantly moving Christmas stuff around the house.  I'm not sure why things are so unsettled, but they are.  One thing that was without a satisfactory home until today was the latch hook Briton made for me last year.

A finished latch hook is quite heavy, so I had to hang a braced rod to hold it up.  Since the only fire we'll have on Christmas will be from YouTube, hanging it here above the fireplace is no big deal.

This has been a puttering around Sunday, doing little and odd tasks around the house.  I'm almost done with cards, and there are only a few things left to wrap.  So far, neither the cats nor Tap have bothered what's under the tree.  Fingers crossed for the rest of the days.

Sixes and Sevens

Today in Advent knitting, among some Nativities

 beautiful purple yarn from The Periwinkle Sheep.  (Another fun part of this is learning about new yarn sources.)

I was sort of confused by what I opened yesterday until I realized that someone had mixed up the "6" and the "9" tins.  This is what the 6th day treasure was:

a handy little row counter, pictured with one of my most unusual (and favorite) Nativities.

I'd better get to knittin', huh?

Our Daily Knit

Yesterday's advent card had a pattern:

so I knew there'd be yarn!

(Photo from the Spun Right Round website.)

The knitting got me to this:

Next, I'm supposed to follow a chart, at which I am hopeless.  I tried to write it out for myself, but I am so bad that I couldn't make heads or tails of it.  Long story brief --- there may be several stockinette stripes in this shawl's future.

Scissors, Needles, Knives

Today's Advent goodie:

Cute little, sharp little scissors.  

I needed something cute and fun today, as I spent my morning at the dentist, having the temporary crown put on.  Turns out, by the way, that that tooth isn't just cracked, it's split, as in could it break in two? The dentist didn't see that until she was pretty far along in prepping the tooth for the crown, so she went ahead and put it on.  We're in "see how this goes" mode, and I am quite uncomfortable.

Had a nice afternoon yesterday with Briton.  We went to see "Knives Out," then grabbed a bite to eat.  The movie was good.  Of course, there's Chris Evans (my perennial KH nominee) and Christopher Plummer (whom I've had a crush on forEVER), and the seriously cool Jamie Lee Curtis.  I'd recommend it.

What's the state of your holiday preparations?  I've gotten all of our decorations out, but am still futzing around with where they should go.  The Christmas cards are beginning to be filled out.  Could wrapping presents be far behind?

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Ohhh. . .

Got up this morning, raring to go on the advent shawl.  First instructions were:

Well, that's a lot of stitches, but, hey, you have to begin somewhere, right?  Let's open up that little tin and see what we've got.

Wait.

Yep.  More than 200 stitches in thin-like-spider's-silk angora.  Casting on more than 200 stitches in angora that, if you don't allow enough for the full cast on, is BLOODY IMPOSSIBLE to unravel so you can start again.

Peace on earth, most wonderful time of the year, holly jolly-ness, may your days be merry.  Right?

RIGHT?

The Countdowns Begin!

I say "countdowns" because I'm a sucker for Advent calendars.  From the numerical

to the tasty

(from friend Marin --- I was gobsmacked when I opened this)

to the crafty.

I splurged this year (putting away money monthly) and got myself a Jimmy Beans Craftvent calendar.  At the end of the 24 days, I'm to have knit a shawl.  Today, just the tools to get started.  I'm anxious to try out the SmartStix.  What an ingenious idea, and how interesting that it hasn't been done before.