here's looking at you 2015

Although I thoroughly enjoy the excitement, togetherness and fun that surrounds Christmas, it's the quietness and peace of the week after that is my favorite part of the holidays. The guests are gone, the house is still relatively clean and the fridge is full of yummy leftovers. There's nothing too pressing that needs to be done. I love having the time to reflect on the year just past and to set some goals for the new year ahead.

The overriding theme for 2015 was knitalongs. Such a surprise to see that I had participated in ten KAL's! I guess my inner social butterfly was waiting until this year to find its wings and fly :)

Also taking note of the fact that there were a lot fewer finished objects this year than in previous years. However, I can honestly say that I love every single thing that came off the needles. Both the process of making them and the items themselves gave comfort/pleasure/peace in a year that saw many personal challenges.

For 2016, I intend to keep things pretty simple: continue to whittle down the stash, knit garments that can be easily incorporated into my everyday wardrobe, dust off the oh-so-rusty crochet skills, knit down the WIP pile that's been slowly growing over the past few months:

.... and most importantly, have FUN!

Wishing you all a happy, creative, healthy and peaceful New Year! Thank you for all of your kindness and friendship!

merry & bright

Wishing you a merry and bright holiday! I'll be knitting away on some presents during our annual Christmas Eve movie marathon. Hopefully more progress will be made on this cowl by the time the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears.

selfish knitting syndrome

sugarplum skyp sock for me

cowl for my sister

These two pictures say it all: I've been struck with selfish knitting syndrome at the most inconvenient time. With just one week before Christmas, instead of the gift knitting I should be doing, there have been too many happy hours spent working on all of my own projects. Today, reality set in and I anxiously cast on a cowl for my sister. A very long cowl using this pattern. I know she will love it but it is going to come down to the wire. Plus, I have a cute gift planned for my brother-in-law which isn't even on the needles yet. I have a feeling that I will be burning the midnight oil in order to get everything finished. Otherwise, there will be quite a few IOU's handed out on Christmas morning.

So, how is your gift knitting coming along? Is it winding down or are you just getting started? Hopefully you managed to plan better than I did. If not, these cute & free printable IOU's (plus gift tags and care instruction labels) can be found here. Happy elving and remember to have fun!

in the mood for ....

COLOR:

CLUE 1 & 2 OF THE DOODLER (WESTKNITS MKAL 2015)

COMFORT:

SKYP SOCKS

CABLES: 

REVERSIBLE BRAIDED COWL

CHRISTMAS:

MITTEN GARLAND ADVENT

  

.... in other words, all the things! I think that the more hectic life gets around here, the more new and shiny distractions are needed to cope with the stress. But it's all good and I am so grateful for the craziness of my work and home life. Also grateful for all of you who have hung in there with my sporadic blogging this year. So, what's new? Are holiday preparations and knitting/crafting/baking in full swing or are you in denial? I love this time of year and have been trying to fit in as much holiday merrymaking as possible with my two guys. The house is decorated, none of the shopping is done, and there will be cookies coming out of the oven soon. Seems like I'm right on schedule ;)