Maybe little nails would work

Lookout world, because here I come.  Actually, it’s more like lookout living room, here I come, but today is the day that I pull this house the hell together.  (The little lights above the door fell off again. I need to try something else.)  The first of many holiday gatherings is here tonight, and I’m using it as the impetus I need to get the place squared away. The wrapping stuff has been put away, the bathroom is almost something you could let another person use, and I’m thinking about taking the pressure washer Joe was using yesterday to the kitchen.  It turns out there really are only so many hours in a day, and if you spend a bunch most of them knitting, everything else goes to Hades in the proverbial handbasket.  Still, the knitting is the only thing that seems to be going well (that fits, considering where I’m spending my time. I had a meeting last night where I plowed along on a wee sweater I’m not showing you, and when I got home I got the first of two hats on the needles.

hatstarted 2014-12-10

The other will have to wait until I make a trip to the yarn shop – and can I just say that I can’t believe I have to go to a yarn shop? I practically HAVE a yarn shop here in the house, and it boggles the mind that I’d have to go to the store for anything at this point.  (I’m making a careful note of what I don’t have – and when I get to the shop I’m going to buy double. Just to be sure that it’s on hand from now on. The stash should be a force against yarn emergency, not just a curated collection of pretties.) I’m cleaning in sprints today, my favourite way to manage the task. I set a timer for 10 minutes, and then address a problem, moving at light speed until the timer goes off. You’d be surprised what can get done. After a while I should have just the big jobs left, like swabbing the decks and running a vacuum around to collect up the worst of the cat hair.  (How can there be this much cat hair, and still be any on the cat? It’s a mystery. I think she grows extra on purpose – in cahoots with the hoover company. The wee beast is likely getting a kickback.)  So- the timer needs setting for the dining room, so let’s get to business, shall we?

What did Luis hang today?

Bola de arbol de navidad. (That one stretched my Spanish, though  it shouldn’t have.  Arbol is tree, I knew that, and Navidad is clearly Christmas – we’ve all sung that song, it was bola I had to think about.)

balldone 2014-12-10

It’s a Christmas tree ball! Carlos thinks he probably picked this one because they got their tree up, and Luis had a great time decorating it.  (I think he’s just so pissed he can’t put up the Santa and truck forever that he doesn’t care.) No pattern for this one, I just cut the shapes out of felt, embroidered on it a little, added a few beads from the stash for pizazz, and sewed them together.  Boom. It was a quick one.  There’s lots of patterns for knitted Christmas balls, but they were all too big for me, and I wanted something flatter that would fit in the pockets of the advent tree.  Felt, to the rescue.  (It’s still wool. It counts.)

Gifts for Knitters, day 10

As much as I’d like today’s gift to be a couple of hours of housekeeping service (and really, that would be an outstanding gift) today, let’s go with Jewelry for knitters.  There’s a ton out there, and as much as I’m not really a jewelry wearer myself, I love most of this stuff. (The same might be true of your knitter. Knitting themed stuff can almost always shift a knitter.)  First up? These cool kits from Laura Nelkin, so your knitter could make their own. (Double points, extra fun.) If that doesn’t suit, how about a cute needle gauge pendant? Still not your knitters style? Check in with our lovely Jennie the Potter. While her stuff is notoriously hard to get (she’s only one woman, for crying out loud) she has some fantastic knitting themed earrings in her shop right now.  This knitted jewelry is gorgeous, and Sassafras Creations always has cool stuff made out of knitting needles, including this necklace that’s really pretty understated. (It doesn’t scream KNITTER, but yours will get it.) Schoolhouse Press has two especially lovely things this year, the sterling silver ball of yarn pendant, I love that one… and for the right knitter, the Elizabeth Zimmermann signature necklace (also made by Jennie the Potter, hard to go wrong) is beyond charming.

… and with that, I’m off. I’m going to unearth the table.