Our holiday shutdown this year is from December 22 through January 1. Eleven days to fill with lovely plans, for knitting, reading, listening, and streaming. I have a stack of books to read, a half-dozen Audible credits to use up, Mrs. Maisel and Jack Ryan to catch up with, and maybe middle-aged Queen Elizabeth, too. Except for the actual physical books, all of these things are perfect companions to knitting, and I have a lot of things on my list.
First I’m making a pair of warm mittens for walking the dogs. Purl pulls like a (tiny) mule so her leash wears out my mittens pronto. I make them plain so they can go on either hand but even switching them around (jackson is much easier on mittens) only gives them about 2 winters of wear, so it’s time. I’m making them from a sturdy black wool held with a dark gray alpaca/angora/wool blend.
They’ll be super-warm and that’s what counts on these dark cold mornings.
Then, from this crazy big shipment we just got in from Plymouth
I’m going to play with this pretty stuff
which is Yakima, a fingering-weight blend of merino and yak. It’s really beautiful with that dusky aura of yak down enhancing the beautiful jewel tones of the colors – and I bought them all! The shipment also contained lots (!!) of our other favorites, including Homestead, Worsted Merino Superwash, and Encore Mega. We have a really wonderful selection now, so if you’re planning some holiday knitting, come and see!
I’m also determined to find a great shawl to make with these two yarns,
the colors of which have been calling to me from my coffee table while I worked on a brown (frowny-face) sweater. I have a couple of ideas.
No-brainer, great for binge-watching:
Lots-of-brainer, for boredom relief:
It won’t be all beer and skittles, though; there are end-of-month, end-of-quarter, and end-of-year things I’ll have to work on, but a lovely stretch of uncommitted time is such a luxury! I hope you have some coming your way!
P.S. Thanks to everyone who came out on the ugliest Sunday afternoon ever to make hats for the homeless. Half a dozen hardy souls made it! If you’d like to dedicate a little of your holiday time to doing some charitable knitting, the yarn and patten are free from me to you!
