Dashing Through the Snow...er, I mean Rain

No more work for 2013. YEAH!!!!! Yesterday was my last day in the office until January 2.  Now my attention is totally devoted to Christmas.

The hat for my nephew was finished last night.  I really like how it turned out.  It is thick and perfect for slogging across his university's campus. It comes down to just over my ears.  I really like how my homespun worked out with this.  The only note is that the yarn was maybe just a tad too thick for the needles I was using.  The yarn didn't have any stretch to it, so when I was doing the k2togs and ssks it was a bit hard to manipulate.  I can see making a few more of these in the future.

Buttonbox is moving along.  While watching It's a Wonderful Life, I got the right and left fronts finished.  The back stitches are now on the needle and awaiting action.  It is going to be a race to see if this can get finished by Christmas.  If I don't have it completed by tomorrow wet blocking is out of the question.   Ed and I have dinner plans tonight so I'm not sure how much time I'll get to spend with it today.  I'm not giving up hope yet.

Today is my day to finish shopping.  As soon as I sign off here I need to check my list.  We are supposed to get record breaking levels of rain this weekend so it is going to be a joy dashing from store to store.  The rain will be a nuisance, but if it were snow or ice my shopping plans would be cancelled. 

Coming Too Fast

Yikes! Christmas is in 10 days!  I haven't done half of my shopping.  The decorating isn't finished.  No cookies have been baked. No cards have been sent. The gifts for my siblings are still in only the starting stages.  I'm in bad shape! I really need to take a few days off work, but that isn't going to happen.  I have too many meetings this week.  It is time to start handing out assignments to the family.

As far as decorating goes, I'm done with what I'll do.  I'll hand out assignments to the kids.

The girls will have to help me with the cards.  I've scrapped the idea of a family photo.  The opportunity to do that went away after Thanksgiving weekend.

Fortunately Trisha likes to bake.  She has volunteered to do most of the cookies and treats.  That will be a huge help for me.

The remaining shopping isn't something I can assign to others.  I'll try to go after work a couple evenings this week.  I should be able to get my list checked off by doing that.

As usual, I've bitten off more than I can chew in the handmade department.  I don't think I'll get all of my projects finished by Christmas, so I'm going to have to prioritize.  

First priority are the gifts for my siblings.  That project is not portable so I need to devote my home time to it.  That is what I will work on today.

Second on the list is a hat. This is a hat that I'm making for Ed's nephew.  We will be with him on Christmas Eve.  This is a portable project, so I'll take it with me to work and spend some of my lunch hour each day on it.  That should be enough time to finish it.

I really hope to get Buttonbox done by Christmas day.  My plan was to wear it to my family party.  I need to get buttons purchased still.  I'll do that next Saturday.  If I work on this in the evenings this week, I should be in good shape.  My goal is to get the knitting done by Sunday so that I can block it.

I have the last skein of yarn ready to go.  This is a photo I took of it resting in the snow on my front porch yesterday morning.

Blake asked that I make Gladiator hats for two of his cousins.  Here are the beginnings of them.  These will have to wait until the hat for Ed's nephew is done.  These work up fast, but they are not at the top of the priority list.  If I don't get them done by Christmas day, I will finish them shortly thereafter.  I will be spending a couple days with my sister over the holidays.  Her boys will get them no later than December 27.

The last project is fixing a sweater for my mom.  One of my sisters knit this vest years ago.  Unfortunately it has gotten eaten by moths.  My sister no longer has the original yarn.  While out running errands last week, I bought a few skeins, hoping one would match.  The middle one below is pretty close.  I will use that to repair the moth holes.  This will be an after Christmas project.

Time now to get off of the computer and get moving with some of these things.  Times a-wasting!

One for the Record Books

Winter storm Cleon hit Ohio Thursday and Friday.  It started as freezing rain Thursday night.  All night long I could hear the ice pellets hitting the window.  School was cancelled, but unfortunately not my work.  The commute to work wasn't too bad.  The roads were wet but not terribly icy.  About noon the snow started.  When I left work the roads were beginning to get a bit treacherous.  Ed and I ventured out about 8:30 pm to bring Trisha home from work.  He drove me over to her work so that I could drive her car home.  She rode with him and they followed me. I'm glad we decided to do that.  Her car slid all over the place and could barely get up a small hill.  I had to put the car in low gear and inch it up the hill. She wouldn't have known what to do and would have ended up sliding off the road.  I'm sure the drivers behind Ed weren't pleased with the slow pace, but since all I could see in the rear view mirror was his truck, I didn't worry about the other traffic.

This morning we woke up to a record setting snowfall.  We have about 4 inches on the ground.  That doesn't sound impressive, but it is a record for this date.  The meteorologist said that it is unusual to get this much accumulation this early in the season.  It only happens about once every 10 years.

The view out my side window was lovely at sunrise.  (The checkerboard pattern is because we still have our screens up.)

I love the way the snow clings to the branches of the trees.  Many people are complaining already about the snow, but this is what I needed to get me in the Christmas spirit.  I'll pull out the decorations and get things going inside.  I'm just disappointed that we didn't get our outside lights up before this snow hit. By the looks of the temperatures forecaster for this week, it is sticking around for a while.

Buttonbox is moving along.  The waist shaping is done and I'll soon be at the armholes.  This is how far I got with the first ball of yarn.  I attached the second ball as the end of the previous row.  I still need to ply the yarn I spun a few weeks ago.  That may be on my agenda tonight as we watch Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship game tonight.

One last note, Blake wore his Gladiator hat to a football game last weekend.  His high school was playing his cousins' high school in the semi-final round of the state championship.  His cousins loved the hat and asked for their own.  Agreeing to make them hats has earned me the title of 'Best Aunt Ever!'.