Decorating for Christmas

In years past, around this time, I would be madly knitting away.  I would check the completed objects drawer and start assigning items to people and figuring out what I still needed to knit for Christmas gifts.

This year is a bit different.  I am not knitting Christmas gifts this year.  Actually, I am not planning on Christmas gifts at all.  I have distributed the items from the completed drawer to those who wanted specific items.  

Decorating for Christmas is minimalist.  It is done.  See.

My Christmas Cactus is blooming and I bought a Poinsettia.  That's it.  No tree, no ornaments, nada.  Mother Nature did her part too.

I have not decorated for  Christmas for about 25 years.  I used to.  It was stressful. When my Hubby and I got together we discussed whether or not to decorate for the holidays.  He did not care one way or the other and I did not want to.  Making this decision to not decorate inside or out was very liberating.  There was a lot of social pressure to conform to the social norm of decorating a tree and installing outside lights.  Just read the book "Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham.  I laugh each time I read it and really understand what Luther Krank is trying to achieve.  I have had similar pressures put on me.

Once I actually had a woman almost screaming at me.  I should decorate.  I should do all those other things that everyone else does. How could I opt out of Christmas?  ( I don't, I just do it in my own way.)  I do not bake for the holidays either.  I did not cave.  Several years ago I ran into that woman again.  She apologized.  One year something happened and she stopped decorating and baking.  She too found it very freeing and told me she now "gets" it.

My Hubby and I celebrate Christmas.  We watch our favourite Christmas movies.  I send Christmas cards.  We get together with friends and family.  We actually enjoy ourselves and have our own annual traditions.  They just aren't what everyone else is doing.

The one thing that has not changed this year is I am still knitting madly.  I finished the On Hold Socks.

Some details for you.

I make my own sock blockers.

I cut these out of a hard foam sheet I picked up at Michaels.  A really good material for making these is the stuff political signs are made from.  For several elections, I called one of the political candidates and asked for a sign.  I figured I would be able to keep it after the election was over.  Each time I was not fast enough the morning after and the sign would be gone, picked up or maybe taken by someone else needing sock blockers.

This past election, my sister volunteered to put up signs for her local candidate.  Her garage was full of them.  She promised to save me some after the election.  Her candidate did not get elected and he is unlikely to run again in four years.  There should be lots for sock blockers.  I will collect them from her when we get together for Christmas.

 Doodler shawl Clue 3 came out this week.  The first instructions were to pick up 300 stitches.  I put it aside.  I just was not in the mood and worked on the socks and afghan.  I wound colour C and started Clue 3 this morning once the sun was shining.  It was easier to find those stitch legs in bright natural light.  Colour C is very dark.  It looks black but is actually a real deep dark purple.

I have not looked at any spoiler photos yet so what this clue is going to look like is still a mystery to me.

Conference Knitting

This week has been busy and full with little time to complete any projects.  I am off tomorrow to Toronto for a conference on Monday and Tuesday.

Years ago I found that I got more out of conferences and courses if I knit through them.  As long as the pattern did not require concentration on my part, if my hands were busy, I stayed awake and learned what I needed to from the course or the papers presented.  If the knitting was not enough to hold my concentration and keep my eyes from closing, I could stab myself with the needles.

There was one other advantage.  Even in a crowded room, I had lots of personal space.  No one wanted to sit next to the crazy lady knitting away.

This is just a round about way of saying I have been choosing a project for two lovely conference days of knitting.  I chose to start the Unisex Adult: Raglan Sleeve Jacket from Patons Canadiana Back to Basics. 

This sweater will be for my brother.  I measured him up at Thanksgiving.  He chose the pattern and the yarn from my stash.  He wanted a very basic sweater.  His choice suited me as well.  The sweater in the Back to Basics booklet has a zipper.  Neither of us wanted a zipper but this is the same pattern in an older booklet called Canadiana Raglans by Beehive which is a button front cardigan.  The trick is that the older booklet does not have the larger size that I need.  But I have both booklets and see no difficulty in making this sweater with buttons.

The colour of this yarn is somewhere between grey and brown depending on the light.  I think it will be beautiful knitted up.  The yarn was a special run for the 2014 Listowel Tent Sale.  It is no-name Patons Classic Wool.  If you know your brands, you can recognize the unlabeled yarn bargains at the tent sale.

To round up the 3 project plan, I started socks.  While rooting around in the stash, I found the baggies of sock yarn from the 2009 Sock Summit purchases.  I purchased Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up and was in love with her patterns.  I vowed I was going to make each and every pattern in the book.  I laid out the balls and skeins of sock yarn on the bed at home opened the book and asked each skein what it wanted to be.  I placed each in a zip lock bag with a note stating which pattern it chose.  I made three pairs of socks before other patterns took my fancy.  It started with a desire to make a hat.  I convinced myself that I would come back to the socks.  Well first the hat, then mittens, a sweater and as time passed the baggies in the stash were forgotten.

This is On Hold Socks.  The yarn is The Periwinkle Sheep Watercolour sock yarn in Fresh Lavender, chosen at random from the collection.  As this pattern requires some concentration it will be reserved for quiet time in the hotel room.

The knitting is done; I have started to assemble the poncho.

One more seam and the fringe still to go.  The stripes are growing on me.