Merry Christmas!

Okay, this is cool. My dad got a new computer for Christmas and it has a wireless keyboard. I always kind of scoffed at these things, but it's rather nice to be curled up on the couch and typing! No pics in this post, as I've honestly been too busy and thinking of other things than taking pictures, but I'll try to keep it organized as much as possible.

1. Christmas: was wonderful. We always have Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family. Of course, Santa came that night (after drafting me to help wrap my brother's gifts and some of each of my parents' as well) and left all sorts of goodies for us. The rest of Christmas Day is always spent with my dad's side of the family, who live just down the driveway and across the old orchard from us (it would make sense if you knew this town). My entire extended family lives in the same town, so we don't really have the big family get togethers, but we always have special meals for Christmas. Both days are my favourite times of the year. Christmas is a 48-hour day for us, really.

2. Felted Clogs: went over big time! The guys' are a little big (about an inch, which isn't bad), which is fine. Too big is easily fixable. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get them off their feet long enough to take them through the felting process one more time, let them dry, and get the soles sewn on! They did finally admit that the slippers were pretty slick on the stone tile floor in the kitchen, but they didn't want to take them off and put their feet on the cold floor. Men. Mom's were knitted in time for the holidays, but not felted. She wears a size 8 shoe, which is right in between the women's medium and large sizes. Since the guys' turned out so big, I went with the medium, but want to have her feet around when I felt them so they don't get too small too quickly. I may end up hand felting all three pairs again - they have a pretty powerful washer here. I also ordered the soles for Mom's size (they were out of stock when I ordered the guys'), and I hope they're here by Friday so I can sew them on. If I don't, it'll never get done!

3. Presents: I only got one knitting related gift, but it's still cool! One of my aunts got me both Stitch 'n Bitch and Stitch 'n Bitch Nation! I've had fun flipping through the patterns and tips. I don't really need another "learn to knit book", but it's still fun to get new ideas, and super cool that she thought of that for me! My big present from my parents, though, is that they are going to buy me a new computer! Yay! It would be super awkward to try to ship one back to California, so my mom and I are going computer shopping on Thursday to find the one we like, and then they'll buy it for me once I'm back home. This, my friends, is when it pays to have a mother who is a computer systems admin at a bank! You would think that with as much time as I spend in front of a computer, I would know quite a bit about them, but I don't. I just make up a list of what I'd like to be able to do with the computer, and then Mom goes on the hunt. It's always worked out so far. Other very fun presents include the new Dilbert book, an incredibly comfy zip up hoody sweater, and new Cubs flannel pajama pants!

4. After Christmas projects: I did not bring Rogue with me here, as it's in that bulky sweater stage, but I did bring the Snowdrop Shawl, both parents' socks, and a skein of the SWS. I started, after several ideas, a multidirectional diagonal scarf with the SWS. The denim hasn't been striping for me at all, though, so it's not a particularly interesting scarf color-wise. Still, it might work well as a guy's scarf. We'll see. I've made this scarf before and really enjoyed it (you know me and short rows!) and I love the feel of the SWS, but I have to admit that it doesn't stand up particularly well to frogging and tinking. Mental note to self: next time I buy this, definitely have a project in mind BEFORE I start playing around with it. I've done another repeat on the shawl, and am about half done with the foot of the first of Mom's socks. I'm going back and forth between completely frogging what is done of Dad's sock or just back to the lifeline at the start of the heel. I think I know what is throwing me off with the stupid heel - there's an odd number of stitches! For some reason I just now thought of this. Oh...and I spent my Christmas money on the KnitPicks Options set and one of their US 2 circs. They should be waiting for me when I get home, and I can't wait to play with them!!

I think that's about it. Mom keeps mentioning that I should look around to see if there are any yarn stores that are in the areas we will be shopping in, and if I want to check any out, she'll go with me. I'm not sure whether she is that interested in the knitting or just in finding yarns she likes that she can "request", but either works for me =) I'm going over to Purdue on Friday (I think) to hang out with some friends, including AF guy (we met and dated my sophomore/his junior year there), and hoping to hang out here with Becki and Amanda on Saturday. The kittens are cute as ever, and have been pretty good about the whole Christmas thing, if you don't count trying to use the tree as a vertical racecourse. The older cats still are doing their best to ignore the little ones, and the dog just wants to be petted and played fetch with. I miss my TeddieCat. A lot more than I thought I would. I hope he's doing okay!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday as well! I've seen some of the posts already and it is SO COOL to see how everyone else celebrates, what they have made, and what they have received! Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!