Happy New Year!

After three weeks of traveling and visiting family and friends (and having family and friends visit us), I'm finally home (in my big, cushy desk chair that my wonderful husband bought me for Christmas) and back to work. What a relief! I love my friends and family, but I am beat!

This year's knitted gifts were a hit. Mom loved her Sophie bag. My nephew, Nathan, was excited about his NASCAR-colored striped scarf. My niece, Kaari, tried on her poncho and was eager to have her picture taken in one of her two new scarves. (Actually, I got a great picture of Mom, Nathan, and Kaari in their new scarves.) And the dishcloths and dish scrubbies may have been a little bit expected, but Mom and Joni loved them anyway. Pictures to come!

We did a lot of driving over Christmas, so I finally decided that I had enough uninterrupted time to pull out my copy of Cat Bordi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. I was amazed by how quickly I picked it up. After anguishing once over DPNs, I figured there were just things that I'd never be able to make -- like socks. But now I can't wait to try another one. Next Christmas, everyone's getting socks!

Santa was good to me this Christmas -- and so were the after-Christmas sales. I went nuts on little sock-able circs (like the bamboo Plymouth needles that were half off at Friends of Wool. And Paul bought me some gorgeous new bamboo needles and a magnetic board for keeping track of my place in my pattern.

On our way home, I knit up a new scarf for Mom -- to match a jacket that she bought on sale at Old Navy. And now I've started another felted bag for myself...

This year, I've vowed to start Christmas knitting sooner. We'll see if that happens...