To Gift or to Keep?

I finished these colorful Fingerless Mittens last night. I haven't decided yet wether I'm keeping them for myself (I'm tempted) or if I'll wrap them up and give them to some well deserving soul for Christmas. I followed (more or less) the pattern for Easy Lace Fingerless Mittens by Kathleen Taylor. This was the first time I have ever worked with Noro yarn, I made my debut with Silk Garden Lite. Beautiful colors! Normally I like things to be symmetrical and orderly, but I rather like how the colors turned out on these mittens, similar but not identical. I see more projects made from Noro in my future!

California Snow Day!

Yesterday it started to feel like Christmas and today it was as if I was back in Sweden! This is what it looked like outside this morning:

 

Winter in the Vineyard and on the way to school

 

... and I it is supposed to be even colder tonight! We have covered what we can and brought some frost sensitive plants inside. Nevertheless we will probably lose some plants to Jack Frost.

Making Christmas

Today was a a day preparing for Christmas. We strung the lights on our tall (17 feet) but slightly tilted tree and hung all the ornaments. Beautiful! Conrad and I also did some Christmas baking and we had ham for dinner. Can you believe how quickly the holidays are approaching? With the house smelling of gingerbread it actually is starting to feel like Christmas. Of course I also managed to squeeze in some Christmas  gift knitting (shhh!) time and Kajsa and I even visited Yarn Dogs so she could pick out yarn for a pair of fingerless gloves for herself.

Christmas Knitting Continued

I've been busy working on Lars' Christmas Afghan (Exquisite by Carole Prior - in Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans) since Thanksgiving and now it is finished! It is a great feeling of accomplishment, I have never knitted anything this large before. I highly recommend big needles and double yarn for a boost of your self confidence. 

I also completed a quick and bulky cowl in some leftover Patons Divine yarn I had around the house and I managed to squeeze in a few squares on my Sock Yarn Blankie (Shelly Kang sock yarn blanket) . 

What have I done other than knit? Well, not much other than take care of a sick child and a sick husband. Today Phil is home from work with bronchitis and Conrad has been home sick (one day of vomiting, fever and a cough the other days) from school this whole week. We did manage to attend Unplugged, the LGHS talent show. Kajsa was one of the master of ceremonies and she also performed one number herself - Bridge over Troubled Water, by Simon and Garfunkel. She sang it beautifully!