Halfway There (almost)

So, being stuck on the couch because of my leg/hip/groin, I have been knitting. When the doctor said "You need to rest, let your muscle heal itself," I heard: "You need to knit, finish your Christmas presents and heck, go ahead and cast on anything else that catches your fancy,". Same thing, in my opinion. I have been making headway, at least on the knitting, leg still angry. I finished Amy's Present For Being A Good Friend and it's gorgeous. It's Abrazo by Susanna IC. I really want one in a deep plum color with shiny gold beads for myself. I think Amy's going to love it. You can't really see the beads from the pictures, but they add just the right amount of twinkle and weight to keep the fluffy alpaca grounded.

I started a Daybreak for myself (I know, and in the middle of Christmas crunch, no less!) which I am highly amused by.

I only have one more gift to finish, but I can't share details on that, now can I?

And the Count Down Begins

It is December 1st, which means that I have only a matter of days to finish 10 shawls in 2010; I am strangely behind on this. I have a game plan though. I am nearly finished with Amy's present for being a good friend (shawl #8) and I am half way through Anne's secret surprise (shawl #9). I have yarn for shawl #10, which I will finish ASAP, as it's small. I just have to decide on a pattern, but I've narrowed it down to a pattern that is striped. I am thinking either Daybreak by Stephen West or Romi Hill's new as yet unreleased striped shawl. We'll see.

I took a couple of days off the frantic gift/shawl challenge knitting (see how clever I was to combine the two? otherwise, I'd be busting my butt for two separate deadlines, although I have upped my deadline by a substantial bit; the shawls have to be done in time for Christmas gift giving.) to make myself a cowl to skate in. The rink is cold, and my neck is the only exposed skin. Scarves, like what everyone else at the rink has opted for, strangle me while I skate. I love scarves, but all of the extra motion of skating causes them to constrict around my throat, making me shorter for air than I'd like to be while exercising. I am very pleased with how it turned out, and while take a picture of it when I have both decent light and a willing camera-person.

On a different, non-knitting note, Happy Hanukkah!