Early Christmas

My Christmas present from Hubby is here! And I am so excited.

Now we have been married almost thirty years; second marriage for both. And I am sure it is the same for other couples that have been married awhile, the idea of a surprise Christmas gift is non existent. Not only do we have most of what we need, we also have most of what we want. And what we wanted 6 months ago may no longer apply.

So as usual at this time of year it is “What do you want for Christmas?” “Nothing” or "Let’s just give it to the kids”. But this year Hubby was paying attention when I was wishing for more knitting needles. He said he wanted to give me a gift certificate to “that yarn place you always buy from”. I have two favorites for yarn. The Purple Iris in Marshall, MN and Knit Picks on line. And Knit Picks has the needles I like. So Hubby gave me some money to spend as I pleased. This is what I got.

Yarn, needles and a new book.

The yarn is lace weight Shimmering Bayou. The needles are sizes 5-8 Harmony wood interchangeable tips with 2 extra cables. And the book is “A Gathering of Lace” by Meg Swanson. I have never done lace knitting before, but have fallen in love with the looks of it. So I purchased the “Folk Shawls” by Cheryl Oberle a couple of months ago, and now this book. And I WILL learn to knit lace; I am determined. I started with a simple shawl pattern for a gift (the Drop-Stitch Shawl) which is almost done. Next I am going to do the Wool Peddler’s Shawl out of Cheryl Oberle’s book. I already have the beautiful red wool to do this.

Then I figure I will be ready to knit a shawl for myself. And I have changed my mind (a prerogative that Hubby is always puzzled by). My wonderful Maple wool that I have been spinning will be used for the Highland Triangle Shawl from "Folk Shawls".
Maple's natural and peach dyed 2 ply.

I have about 400 yards of Maple’s wool plied and ready to go. I think I’ll need about another 600 yards, which I will start spinning on after the holidays.

And what did Hubby get? With age comes tired eyes. And he was having trouble hitting the target with his 22 rifle. A scope was what he wanted and so a scope was what he got. And he is very happy. As am I. No surprises, no strange gifts that you have to politely smile over, no gifts that you can’t use; all equals less stress for the holidays. I am always trying to find ways to reduce stress. And for me, fiber and fiber tools are better than jewelry.