A White Christmas

Is there anything in your life that you decided you knew as a child only to grow up and realize how off you really where? I have moments all the time (well, not everyday, but often enough) where I discover something completely obvious that I could have figured out if I had thought about it. I just never thought about it because I decided that I already knew everything that there was to know some time around age 8. One of these things was the phrase White Christmas.

I grew up in northern Wisconsin, and it wasn't until I moved to Arkansas in high school that I realized that dreaming of a white Christmas could be a request for any snow at all. Up until that point, I thought it meant a fresh layer of snow. When I sang that song in elementary school, I was wishing for a fresh sparkling blanket to fall while we were all asleep. That way, everything would be a beautiful crisp white. Beyond the stories of Christmas snow being magical, and Santa bringing it from the North Pole, the dirty piles left by the plows are just not pretty enough to sing about. All I ever wanted was the inch or two it would take to cover them up.

Then I moved to Arkansas. I know that if I had thought about it, I could have figured out that not everyone has snow all winter long. It just never occurred to me to think about. While I lived down there White Christmas became an anthem for me, and I was never able to get it. I would visit my family in Chicago for the holidays, and they would all comment on how I must have brought the warm weather with me because there was no snow. I met my future husband who was from Seattle. When he took me home to meet his family, he promised that if it didn't snow on Christmas, we'd drive up in the mountains where he snowboards to see the snow there. (He's a sweetie isn't he.) There was so little snow that the mountain top ski resorts were all closed. While we were in Seattle, it snowed in Arkansas, and as soon as we left Seattle, they were hit with a storm. The only snow we saw that year was while we were driving home though Texas, in the middle of the night, and I was fast asleep.

Now that I'm back north, I've been hoping for snow this Christmas. This year I settled for just having snow on the ground, and I pretty much got my wish. When I woke up yesterday morning, all of the grassy areas, and bushes were covered, but yesterday was a bright sunny day so it all quickly melted away. Fortunately, right outside my office window is a is a little shady spot that the sun never hits. So, I still have some snow left over from Christmas. Maybe next year, I'll start hoping for the fresh stuff again.

Christmas Stress Relief

If you are not going to finish up that last minute Christmas knitting, you are in luck. At this website you can create a handknit holiday sweater and send it to anyone naughty or nice. I found this almost as entertaining as the Weepies snowglobe, but nothing will ever top paper snowflakes.

Earl Grey

I am half way though my Christmas knitting for this year, and I am starting to feel myself lag a little. I think there are a few reasons that my excitement is petering. First, I really like knitting for myself. I haven't done much knitting for me, and Francis was empowering. Beyond just creating something, I created something that is useful, stylish, beautiful, and it fits me perfectly. Nothing ever fits me perfectly, so now I am obsessed with wanting to knit more things for myself. To top that off, I don't have a pair of hand knit socks. Secondly, I am knitting socks for Christmas. No matter how simple the pattern is, they are still made on toothpick sized needles out of fingering weight yarn. It is not nearly as soothing as worsted weight (which I don't have to pay nearly as much attention to because I can feel what is going on a lot easier).

In addition to all of that, I think the biggest reason is that I am just not as confident about this gift as I am the others. My current project is a pair of Earl Grey socks for my brother in law. I don't know my brother in law as well as I do my other in laws. We just haven't spent as much time together. I gather that he has very fine taste, and it is obvious that he has a better fashion sense than me so it is hard to be confident in what I am making him. I went with some simple socks that small cable pattern along each side in a simple gray color. The yarn is soft and so far, the fabric is really nice, but my hubby can't give me any assurances that he'll like them.

To be honest, it is not the pattern or the yarn that I'm worried about. It is the concept of hand knit socks. I think that if he is going to like hand knit socks, he'll like these. So, I guess I'm worried that he won't like receiving hand knit socks, and he's not going to be able to return them to the store. I'm probably just being silly. His mother is big into crafts and so I have every reason to believe that he time and effort that go into handmade items. No matter how it turns out, that lack of confidence does take away a bit of the excitement of knitting for someone else.

Brooklyn Tree Completion

The Brooklyn Tree socks have been finished and re-queued. Hubby and I both want a pair, because these are some of the coolest socks I have ever seen (let alone made). This pair was made with Essential Tweed in Blue Ox. Through the middle of the arch shaping, I started to worry that they were going to be way too long. I just kept reassuring myself that the hubby has long feet and they would be fine. (I've been using Mike's feet as a gauge for what size to make his dad so he's been trying these on constantly.) When I finished the arch shaping, he tried them on and they were still about 3 inches short of the end of his foot. I knit another inch straight, and then the foot sizing said they were ready for me to start the toe. By the time the toe was done, I thought I had some how accidentally knit a pair of socks for a clown.Can you see what I'm talking about? Look at how long those are from the heels to the toes. Well, I guess it is an optical illusion because they are so skinny. They almost fit me just fine.They are smidgen too long, but not a full inch. You can't even tell in this picture that they are too big. They fit the sock blocker nicely too.The true test is how they fit Mike though, so here (in his modeling debut) are the socks on him.Notice how well he shows off both the top and the bottom of the socks in one photo. That is pure skill; I didn't even have to ask him to do that. He says they fit great and are wonderfully comfortable. I think that I will go up one needle size when I make his. Since these fit both of us fine, I think a little extra room isn't going to hurt him, and he is pulling the spots that have two increases in a row a little tight for my satisfaction.

Brooklyn Tree Socks

I am working on some Christmas socks for my father in-law. The pattern is Francie, but I've renamed it Brooklyn Tree to make it sound a little more manly. I was originally drawn to these socks because they have a very unique construction, and my FIL is definitely one who would appreciate a unique construction. The inspiration for the pattern designer was the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I've never read the book, but I think these socks are going to inspire me to.

I was all excited about a new way of doing things, but now I can't get over the wonderful bark like texture that these have. I am thinking that I am going to need some brown/tan tweedy yarn for some incredible fingerless gloves. I don't know if my FIL will apprecaite the look as much as I do, but I 'm sure I'll be able to distract him with the very cool heel, toe, and arch shaping.