December Project

These are Fiesta Mittens by Lucy Neatby. Unknown yarn, as it was a kit from some yarn festival that surfaced when starting to clean house. Pattern followed almost exactly, just a little change to the thumb. (Some day I will follow a pattern or recipe exactly, without any tweaking - yeah, sure, uh huh.) Since I was making the large size, I used her suggestion of a provisional cast on and then made the cuffs later, to make sure I had enough yarn.

Also this month, I ripped out the ending of last month's shawl and made the other border. When posting, I discovered that it was 100% merino and realized that neither mother (91 or 86) would want to care for a handwash shawl, so it could be larger. That took almost another ball of yarn.

The double-knit dragon hat was also modified. The top was frogged and reknit to a smoother curve. It could still be better, but not without modifying the dragon. As it came down to my mouth, it then got semifelted. (I know, it's really fulling, but that sure sounds weird.) Warning: KnitPicks BlueJay yarn bleeds. Also, there has to be a better way to do it than sitting in the bathtub and using my head for a mold, with a bucket of cold water beside the tub. When first wet, it came down to my chin - yikes! It now comes to my eyebrows and is quite warm. Works well, as it it is 20 degrees (F) in Milwaukee today.

All this energy (frogging, cleaning, plus cooking and some home repairs) is because I was off work since before Thanksgiving. I'm back to work for three days now, and then off again (burning accumulated vacation time) until I retire officially in January. It's good to be back to work to get a rest - we have a boomerang son at home now and cooking has been a full time job, not to mention the guys are expecting real meals on a regular basis now. Since husband normally works evenings and I worked day shift, we were out of the habit of cooking during the week. I've been doing at least 10 dozen cookies and three dozen muffins at least once a week, plus regular meals. Husband has gained at least 15 pounds, as he and boy seem to be in an eating contest, and boy has taken over the dog walks (three dogs, walked individually, at least an hour each). Sigh. They are upset because I am not cooking this week while working. LOL.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season, and staying healthy and warm. Regards to all, aj