Because of course I needed new yarn. (That’s sarcasm, friends, but it’s gentle and non-judgmental.) I decided I wanted to make a hat for the boy’s girlfriend, and her favorite color is yellow. Because yellow is my least favorite color, I had zero yellow yarn in my otherwise generous yarn stash. Oops, darn, I needed to go yarn shopping! And of course I want to support local independent businesses, so during Friday’s lunch break I zipped out to Yarn Social. The first trouble came because I got there too early, so I had to visit the antique store across the street where I found this beautiful polar bear.

I didn’t care what brand he was or how old he is, I just thought he was beautiful and needed to come home with me. Here’s the best part: I pulled out my debit card to pay, and the older gentleman said they only take cash or checks. But even as I was putting my card away and starting to say, “oh never mind then”, he kept wrapping the bear and said, “Just mail me a check.” He waved off my business card and just took my first name and phone number, and gave me a slip with the name and mailing address. I couldn’t thank him enough, and I was just so delighted to find a bit of old-fashioned kindness and trust. Made my whole day, I swear, and made that little bear even more special to me.

Anyway, after that I went to the yarn store, and debated between all the yellows before deciding on Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok Worsted in Spun Gold. (The boy weighed in via text so I wasn’t flying blind.) The girl working there helped me pick the best neutral pompom (though we really wanted to go with turquoise).

I cast on that night after picking the pattern Pennyroyal, and actually cast off the next morning and got it in a bath right away. I feel like the yarn grew a bit with washing, but I’m hoping it’ll still fit all right, maybe just a bit more slouchy than I expected. It took less yarn than I expected too, so I’ve got an entire skein left over that’s wound and everything. Guess I better make a second hat for someone!

But that wasn’t all I bought. Of course it wasn’t; did you think I could be that good, even if it is right before Christmas? No, I couldn’t, because I’ve been wanting Christmas socks and there at the counter was a bag of Christmas sock yarn plus a sample sock. I was only going to buy the one patterned skein on the right and the solid red, but then that girl (who is very good at her job) showed me the sock she was knitting with the other patterned skein and it was delightful so I just bought all three and I can’t wait to make Christmas socks!

I bet I can get a pair made before Christmas Eve…if I don’t work on any other knitting between now and then…so at least I’ll have Christmas socks for next year!

How do you other people manage to write posts every day, or every other day? Here I am, lucky to get one a week out. I think about it more often, I even have post ideas more often, but to have the time and energy to get the words out? Well. This is what I can manage right now and that’s all there is to it. I have been experiencing spurts of Christmas spirit and that’s quite fun. In fact, I might even wrap some presents today!

Yes, I do have most of my Christmas shopping done, except for a few teenagers who haven’t shared any ideas (the girl being one of them!!). The husband woke up sick this morning so he’s in bed and I’ll be on dinner duty tonight. It’s fine, we’ll just have meatloaf instead of his homemade turkey noodle soup. (I’m crying on the inside, but we’ll have the soup another day. I’ll survive.)

I finished a pair of gift socks on Friday. These are for my work gift exchange, the worsted weight house socks, and they might not be exactly the same size, but they’re pretty darn close and once they get out of their bath, I should be able to pat them into the same size.

The pattern is Arinn and they’re very simple, would be a great first sock pattern. I really like the rib pattern and how it flows down the foot. Yarn is Berroco Vintage, perfect for gifts because it’s machine washable.

Yesterday I spent my knitting time on my Color Me Happy cowl, which has been in hibernation while I focused on gift knitting. It’s HUGE, and I still have about ten rows of purple and then another section of two colors striped together. I’m loving these little eyelet bits in the purple. They’ll block out so nicely!

I’ll probably work on this again today and go back to gift knitting tomorrow. I’ve got one more gift sock to finish and I’d like to make the mother a wine sweater too, just for fun.

We went to a pop-up Christmas bar as part of our work holiday party, and I loved it so much! (Oh and I also gifted the cactus, along with some prickly pear tea, and I think it was a hit!) So, cheers to you — I hope you’re having a lovely winter holiday season so far!