"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Since there are only two days left before Christmas, I thought I would post some of my thoughts from the past few days.

There have been several times in the past few weeks that I have yearned for things (tangible or otherwise) and I now realize that I have nothing that I truly need. I may want things, but I need nothing, and I should never overlook the things I have and the people in my life who love me. So now I encourage you, too, to take a moment and think about the things and people in your life that truly matter. The people you love and who love you back are the most important part of life. And that, Charlie Brown, is what Christmas is all about. :)

And so, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year.

And happy knitting until next time, of course. :)

Thankful

It is Thanksgiving. I'm going to take this moment to reflect on all the things I'm thankful for.

I am thankful for:

• my family
• my friends
• the fact that both my parents still have their jobs, despite the economy
• the fact that I only have half a sock and a cell phone case left to complete until my Christmas knitting is finished

Frankly, I'm surprised that I'm nearly done with my Christmas knitting before Thanksgiving. I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone, so I'm not going to say what I've made, but trust me, it's a lot. At least, it's more than I've done for Christmas before. I've been working on things since the beginning of the summer, and I'm excited to be nearly done. :) I can't wait to give everyone their gifts! :D

Until next time, happy knitting! :)

Horses and Socks

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything. I've been pretty busy with school. But I have found some time to knit, as all resourceful knitters do. :)  Right now, I'm working on a Horse Scarf for my younger brother's best friend who practically lives at our house. The yarn is Red Heart Kids in Orange and Caron Simply Soft in Black.

He will be getting that for Christmas. In addition to that, I'm also working on a pair of socks (Silver's Sock Class again-it's simple and makes for very good on-the-go knitting) for one of my friends. I'm using some recycled yarn from an old, store-bought sweater (it was actually very fun frogging it).

I also have several other things waiting to be cast on (most of them will end up being Christmas presents), but you'll have to wait a bit to see those. :)

Until next time, happy knitting! :)

Things I Have Learned This Summer

Today is my last day of summer vacation. Tomorrow, at 7am, I will begin the school year anew. So, today, I thought I'd give you a list of things I've learned this summer.

• Cotton is not the fiber to use when trying out the Daisy Stitch for the first time.
• Double-knitting is like doing two projects at once.
• Double-knitting requires the stamina and willpower of doing two projects at once.
• Double-knitting, because of the reasons above, takes more time to knit than I think it does.
• Hats take less time to knit than I think they do.
• Stranded knitting is not as hard as it looks. 
• Stranded knitting is harder than it looks if you do it wrong. (I think this applies to pretty much any type of knitting.)
• A sock-in-progress that is kept in my purse is both productive and will keep me sane during long waits.
• Gauge is very important. (I realize that I should have known this before the summer, but I guess I needed to be reminded.)
• I knit tightly and I should almost always go up a needle size from what the pattern calls for.
• Summer feels very long in June, and then feels very, very short at the end of August. (I knew this already, but the fact that school starts tomorrow has driven this home.)

And some people say that we teens don't learn anything during the summer. :)

Until next time, happy knitting!

Swing and Elope

I finished my Swing Sweater! :) (It's kinda difficult to take a picture of yourself wearing a sweater, but I don't think it turned out too badly.)

It's a bit loose, but I like my sweaters to be a bit looser anyway. :)

Here's a close-up of the neckline. I followed the pattern and did the K2, P1 ribbing, but I did it for about 4 inches instead of the 10 the pattern said. 4 inches was just about perfect.

I'm very happy with it, and I can't wait to wear it when it gets cold again! :)

Now I'm working on the Eloping wedding garter with Patons Lace yarn in Porcelain. A friend of mine is getting married soon, and I wanted to knit her something for her wedding. I'm using size 6 (US) needles, because I knit really tightly. I really like the yarn- it's very pretty. :)

Until next time, happy knitting! :)