12.26.2008

Christmas knitting and more

Since all of my knitted gifts have gone to their recipients I can finally reveal what I made this season. All of the details and more pictures are on my ravelry project page so I will let the knitters go there and spare all of the non-knitters. These are in no particular order.

For my sister-in-law, Bambu, I made a modified version of the Swiss Cheese scarf. Doesn't it look lovely over my new sweater? I love the way this came out with the great Noro color changes.

For my father-in-law I remade the Coronet hat that I made him a few years ago. He lost the first hat and really wanted another one so I made it again, but this time with matching fingerless mitts.



For my sister I made some fuzzy slippers to keep her icy feet warm in the winter. I love my Fiber Trends clogs so I have made these as gifts for many family members.


For my mother-in-law I made legwarmers from Sarah's 20-20 legwarmer pattern. I like these so much I decided to make a matching calorimetry-style headband to go with them.



I was going to get my dad some fancy wood for Christmas, but he came into the shop last week and he was talking about the neckwarmer he bought last year and lost. He really wanted another one so I made him pick out the yarn he liked before he left and I made him a new one. My plan was to make him two, but since I didn't measure his neck I wasn't sure if the first one would fit the way he wanted. It did fit so I have started the second one using a sailor's rib which he will receive sometime next week.


I made some other non-knitted items, but since they haven't all been given away I will have to save them for another day.

We had a terrific Christmas. After the shop closed on Christmas eve, Philip and I headed over to my sister's house in Georgetown for my family's annual Christmas eve dinner and gift opening. This year my sister invited Philip's parents along so it was my dad, my sister, my sister's husband Greg, and Philip's parents. My sister put together stockings for everyone and we opened gifts. My dad got me the giant steamer that I wanted for making seitan and huge batches of tamales. He also made me a two-toned, hand-turned ornament that went on the tree as soon as I got home. My sister made me reusable heat packs that Philip and I put to use as soon as we got home that night and they were fantastic. When we got home Philip thought we should each open a present. I noticed that he peaked into one of his packages (he totally messed the tape up) so I let him open that one. He gave me one of my stocking stuffers which was Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano's Dream Hunters which I managed to read in two days and I loved it. Not only was it beautifully written, but the illustrations were amazing. It was based on a Japanese fable about a monk and a fox, but it also incorporates the Sandman character from the earlier series.

Christmas day Philip had to work so we had lunch together (by lunch together I mean Philip came home on his lunch break and wrapped presents in the dining room while I stayed in the living room and out of sight of the gifts and we talked back and forth.) After "lunch" my dad picked me up and we went to visit my Uncle Bud and Aunt Cathy with my sister and her husband. My Aunt Cathy really went all out for Christmas by making Philip and I an afghan, two kitchen towels, a set of coasters, and a bookmark. I was completely blown away by her love and gernerosity. Then, my uncle who is pretty much confined to the house at this point gave my sister and I each a painting he had done of my grandparents in Korea in 1960. I almost cried because I knew how much these paintings meant to him and to have him hand them over to us was such a touching gesture. The painting I chose is really cool and I will be posting it here in the next couple of days, as soon as Philip and I decide where to hang it.

After visiting my uncle my dad dropped me back at home. I had a few hours until Christmas with the Castlens so I decided to watch some Christmas movies and finish wrapping our presents. The Christmas movie idea went out the window when I discovered that Spike was having a Bondathon. I watched the end of From Russia with Love and the beginning of Goldfinger while wrapping the last few gifts. Then Philip came home and we did our little Christmas and opened our presents. I didn't make Philip anything this year, mainly because I am starting the sweater he requested in early January. He refused to make a wishlist so I was flying blind this season, luckily I found a few things he would really like and a few silly things to go in his stocking. He completely ignored my wishlist and ended up getting me some really fabulous stuff. I got a few books including the Found book which I have been eyeing for months and My Secret: A PostSecret Book. He also got me a new glass head, a keyboard stand, and a stocking full of Luna bars and Kinder Surprise eggs.

After present opening, we loaded up Astrid and headed over to Philip's parent's house to do our Christmas with them and his grandmother. Sally made a spread of finger foods to tie us over until dinner (which was good since we really didn't eat before that.) We opened our gifts which included a heated mattress pad and a share of the co-op. Philip also got several graphic novels that he was wanting and I got a knitting book, a set of large Denise tips, and a set of Raellyn's fabulous stitch markers with the ABC's for making Cat Bordhi's socks. After opening all of the gifts and spending some time enjoying our new stuff, we picked up my dad and went out to Christmas dinner at Asian Wind which is a tradition in Philip's family. After dinner, Philip and I headed home. We put the new heated mattress pad on the bed and warmed it up before snuggling into bed to read for awhile.

I got to sleep in until 9am this morning since Astrid spent the night with Bruce and Sally. It is always a little sad when she is gone in the morning, but it sure is nice to sleep in. I am writing this entry between customers at the shop since we are having some friends over tonight for a game night and there will be no time for blogging later. Tomorrow we do Christmas with my mom which is the last of the Christmas celebrations for this year. On Sunday, both Philip and I have the day off so we are planning to take a morning trip to the coffee shop and then we are going to the Morris Book Shop to spend our Christmas cash. Hopefully it will be a relaxing end to a busy busy season.

2 comments:

Pirata said...

I'm curious as to where Phillip bought your Kinder Surprise eggs. That could come in handy.

Robyn Wade said...

They have them at Ali Baba on Southland Drive.