Christmas Round-up

Where to begin? Christmas was great. We were very busy, right up through Christmas evening, with tons of fun family activities. The day itself was wonderful. Below is a picture that kind of captures the day.

There is a little bit of everyone who celebrated Christmas with us in this picture, except Bianca, our other white cat. She was not interested until the food came out. That's my leg on the far right in the flowered PJ's and Chloe, the "grub" right in the middle, where she always is.

Notice the cute PJ's on V. My mom makes new pj's for everyone in the family for Christmas Eve. That includes all four of my family members, my sisters four family members and my brother and his wife! They are the one gift we open on Christmas Eve and are always warm, brightly colored flannel. I love that tradition.In other Christmas news, we had a very rare white Christmas. It started snowing some time mid-morning and snowed off and on all day. We ended up with about 3/4 inch at our house, which was enough to be exciting, but not so much that it made things dangerous. Actually, it was all gone by the evening. What a treat though. As I understand it, it has been nearly 20 years since it has snowed on Christmas in Portland and nearly 70 years since any snow has stuck to the ground on Christmas.

The funniest part at our house was that A. had said, just the day before "I can't wait for Christmas because I am going to build a snowman." I had tried to gently explain to her that, unlike all of her Christmas story books, it was very unlikely to snow at our house on Christmas. She felt justified in her optimism the next day. I just hope she doesn't expect a repeat performance next year!

In knitting news, production has continued, as it is wont to do. I whipped up a little hat for the hubby this week. I like to keep something simple on the needles at all times so I can keep my hands busy while waiting in lines, etc. Since he has lost many of the nicer hats I have knit for him, he has been seen wearing some of my earliest attempts lately. While I appreciate the devotion, I am embarrassed about the quality. So, another new hat, to go with the one I gave him for Christmas.

Patter: Simple 3x1 rib hat, knit over 92 stitches Yarn: Noro Kureyon, color 124

I received many compliments on this one while I was knitting it. I have noticed that nothing gets the attention of non-knitters quite like Noro.

I also finished my second Great American Afghan square for All About Yarn. This one has oak leaves and acorns on it. The picture pretty much sucks, but I felt the need to include it anyway. It was really fun to knit! By the way, I got the scoop on the class today. Looks like it will meet once a month, on the last Saturday of the month for the entire year. Call the shop if you are interested in price info or signing up.

Next up, I have started a hat for A., a hat for V. and a Kiri Shawl for my new sister-in-law. All are progressing nicely. Perhaps if there is any sunlight (at all!) this week, I will take some progress shots. I also want to try to take pictures of a couple of special Christmas gifts we received this year. But that will have to wait for another, less dark, day.