In Which I Curse Myself

Despite my best intentions, almost two weeks have passed without a blog post. I know it sounds cliché but I don’t know where the time goes.

We’ve had our share of fall weather, a mix of glorious sunshine and west coast drizzle—sometimes, like today, we experience both in a matter of hours. Mother Nature smiled upon us a couple of weekends ago, which allowed us to install the railing on the stairs leading down from our deck. It is so satisfying to see the deck and stair renovations finally completed, considering that it was last summer that we began working on them.

Jessica observed yesterday that there were 78 days until Christmas and wondered how I would fare with my gift knitting this year. I made a big dent in it last week by completing five more squares for the Great American Afghan.

When I began this afghan back in July I did so without a particular occasion in mind to gift it to my sister, Alison. It seemed too extravagant for a birthday or housewarming (she and Stan moved into a new house last month) and besides, I knew I wouldn’t have it finished in time for either of those events. As my pile of blocks grew I realized that at the rate I was going I could easily have it done by Christmas so I enlisted my other sisters’ help and rigged the Christmas gift exchange so that Cameron and I drew Alison and Stan. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble staying motivated to finish the final ten squares but I must admit I am dreading putting it all together.

This coming Sunday we are celebrating my family’s fall birthdays (since it’s so hard for everyone to get together, we celebrate our birthdays in bunches, three times per year). Besides knitting the shawl for my sister, Jeanine, I also made some felted slippers for Alison, by request.

I’ve made countless pairs of these slippers from Cascade 220 but after reading the Harlot’s recent review of Patons Classic Wool I decided to give it a try this time. I was really impressed with how quickly and nicely it felted and immediately bought some more to make a pair for my sister-in-law. That’s not to say I won’t use 220 for felting again but it’s nice to have a choice.

Other than the afghan I do not have a lot of gift knitting planned, just a few pairs of socks and a scarf. Knowing me, I will probably come up with more ideas between now and Christmas but for now I have it well in hand.

And yes, I do realize that with those words I have set myself up for a very big fall. May my ever-expanding stash cushion me when I land.