Author: Chauntel Ensey

Let me just start by saying I never had the intention of buying so much yarn to make Christmas gifts! After meeting Tracy at Ross yesterday to buy shirts for the boys for our family photog session tomorrow, we went to Craft Essentials & got what I needed for just 3 of the gifts on the list. Smart as we are, we used our 40% off coupons on the 2 hanks of Cascade 220 quattro for my brother-in-law’s irish hiking scarf. Satisfied with that we then had to find some yarn to make the “perfect” Gryffindor scarf & hat combo for one nephew. Amazingly enough I found Red Heart to be the best combo of burgundy & gold. It’s some of the most foul yarn to knit with but it washes to a nice softness & blocks well to hold shape.  Of course, then I needed some woolease to appease my dwindling woolease bin, for another hat & scarf set for another nephew.

Yesterday & today I sat so patiently waiting for the postman to come to my door bearing gifts. sigh

No yarn for me, I have an order from handpaintedyarn.com coming but i got an email saying it won’t be shipped until the 18th. I have 2 orders from Elann coming slated for gifts.

But today we were blessed with heelies for my son Tyler. Now some of you that know Tyler might ask “why in the world would you put that boy on shoes with wheels?” He put them on & promptly fell on his bony little butt! Now he is sure that I need to read the instructions to him before he can do it properly.  Right after falling he asked me “why’d the god make shoes with wheels?” In a very angry huff! I explained that people made them, not the God. They are for fun & he is the one that saved his money to buy them to be “cool”. I am sure he’ll get the hang of it eventually. If not, oh well!

Knitting last night at Java Station was fun! We had 2 new girls show up, very nice to see new faces! Our stitch n bitch group now has a total member number of 74 but our meetings are really only an average of maybe 8-10 of the same women each week. It’s a good group & last night we were all in great moods!

I have got to get dinner started, the fam is starting to revolt & that just is not a good thing! Happy weekend everyone!

Today is a day of patience. I am waiting for yarn to start my jacket, I am waiting for more yarn to start some christmas gifts for persons that read this blog, I am waiting for knitting tomorrow night, I am waiting to go to Craft Essentials tomorrow to get the rest of the yarn for more christmas gifts, I am waiting for our family pictures to be taken on Saturday morning and last but defenitely not least I am waiting to have enough money saved for a trip to DISNEYLAND! This will be the year we go between Thanksgiving & Christmas so we can be doused in the holiday spirit! Living in SoCal it’s sometimes difficult to get in the true holiday swing of things while wearing skirts & sandals.

My plan for the jacket is one of two things. I will swatch the yarn on size 5’s (that is the recommendation given) then I will swatch it on size 9’s & felt the swatch. I am SO hoping that the felted swatch comes out the way I would truly like the jacket to be. Then I will knit the pieces, felt the pieces, trim the felted pieces to the exact shape I want & sew them together on the machine! Now that is a great plan, but as we all know these things can go very amiss! I also have about 200 other items on needles & christmas gifts by the dozens to finish so the jacket may just have to wait until after the holidays but that makes me sad. Maybe I will forgo all other mundane things to give myself more knitting time. Like, no more house cleaning, no more laundry. They can wear things multiple times! Oh & cooking! Who needs food? Well I guess we need food but I am bound & determined to get it all completed before christmas arrives, mark my words!

I ran out of the yarn for the black cardigan with only one sleeve left to finish & then the assembly & collar. So that is on the list for the yarn store tomorrow. Meanwhile I picked up the Debbie Bliss fair isle sweater. I have the back & one sleeve completed so I worked on the second sleeve. That will done this afternoon & then I will cast on the front. It’s a fun, simple, colorful sweater that makes me happy to work on. I can’t wait to have it finished! I also love the Wool of the Andes yarn from Knitpicks that I am using!

Of course I promised pictures of the fan & feather shawl & camping sweater but for some reason I haven’t taken them yet. I will get around to it. The next overcast day will be perfect for a photoshoot!