Can you tell we've been cleaning? All the stuff piled on the desk used to be on the floor.
It was a mostly successful Christmas as far as gifts went. I still haven't finished Laura's hat or Jeremy's blanket, but there's no rush there. They haven't found a permanent place to stay yet, so I'd rather wait and know that they will receive any package I send them.
Mom, after some convincing, loved her fingerless gloves.
She doesn't really "get" fingerless gloves, but she has poor circulation and I thought they'd be nice for around the house, especially when she's typing. She's always saying how her hands get so cold. Of all people Phillip came to my aid to explain how they keep the fingers warm by warming the blood at the pulse points. My brother has hidden depths in his general awesome.
He got a gun cleaning kit for Christmas. I thought about making him some potholders for his new house, but then it occurred to me that Mom might want to do that, since potholders are her specialty. I passed the idea along and she was thrilled. She's on a potholder/coaster making kick now - you can never have too many. As for her granny square slippers, I frogged them, decided to put any other knitting for her on hold until Mother's Day, and bought her yarn and knitting looms instead. No time left.
Jenn's mittens, alas, were not finished in time for Christmas. I gave it the old college try, as my husband would say, but it was not to be. However, one was worked up enough for her to see, try on, and approve of the pattern, and assuming I don't give up in a hissing rage on trying to weave in the ends, she should have a complete pair by Valentine's Day. As the pattern is called "Valentine's Mittens," that seems appropriate enough. The original, from "Stitch and Bitch: Nation," is red and pink with duplicate-stitched hearts, but Jenn does not like pink hearts. She likes stripes. And bunny hats.
Another pattern from the same book (which she gave me for Christmas several years ago, the enabler :P). The original hat, naturally, was pink and infant-sized, but it turned out that by using two strands of white Caron Simply Soft held together and size10 or so needles, I didn't have to change the pattern directions at all to end up with Jenn-sized super-adorable hat for marching band practice.
On the mitten front, Ryan finally got his two-years-in-the-making argyle flip-top mittens.
I even blocked them, since I had to wash one anyway. While the second was still in production he used the first while trying to fix his car. Fortunately gentle hand-washing with mild dish detergent saved the day, and also allowed me discover that blocking is a beautiful process that turns lumpy mittens into handsome, soft, awe-inspiring functional pieces of art. They even got a stamp of approval from my sister-in-law's fiance, a mechanic, who says that flip-top mittens are the best thing ever.
Not flip-top is my newly resized Hermione mitten-in-progress, which has not seen any progress since I started my Christmas knitting, and won't see any more until after Jenn's mittens are done.
I made a New Year's resolution that I would only work on two projects at a time this year, and at least one of them has to be from my enormous and looming pile of unfinished work from previous years until it is all gone. Finish or Frog! is my battle-cry this year. Once Jenn's mittens are done, I can go back to these mittens, which probably won't see any service until next winter, at this rate.
I did make an exception for two little projects.
The last couple months I've been searching for some kind of first Christmas memorial ornament for Gabriel. I wanted something angel-themed, maybe with his birthstone, but nothing struck the right chord until I read on Ravelry that a woman crocheted angel ornaments for her miscarried babies. "I can do that," I thought, and at 1am Christmas Eve morning I started with size 20 crochet cotton and a size 10 hook. Angel number one was finished just in time to hang it on my in-law's tree before we left for church. I wasn't able to finish the second one before the end of Christmas at my parents, but they didn't put their tree up this year, so it was alright. It just needs to be sewn together and it will be ready for next year. The one pictured, the first one, has two fairly major mistakes, in the wings and in the halo, but she turned out alright, and I'm sure Gabriel doesn't mind. I was able to catch them in the second angel, so that one should be picture-perfect once it's done.
One last picture, then, of my angel.
We will always love you. Merry Christmas, little one.
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