Ten Thousand Dancing Stars

Joseph had a bag of jelly buttons and I borrowed three of them for these next two shots.
My sister-in-law Linell made a seafood and veggie soup on Christmas Day at the park. I borrowed the mushrooms before they got dunked in the broth.

I’ve always envied my sister’s long lashes. She got the good genes in the family. Here is a close up of her lashes.

There were plenty of little white flowers which fell on the walkways at the park. I picked out one which was the least damaged and asked it to pose for me. I love its yellow tips.

On Christmas Eve when we gave out presents to the kids, I forgot to give Isabelle hers because the box got jammed underneath the sofa when we moved the furniture around to accomodate everyone for dinner. I discovered it the following day and brought it with us to the park. Here is a detail of the gold ribbon on the present.

It’s a whole new world of wonders and finding kindred spirit who are just as passionate about it makes it just that bit more enjoyable. The yarn buying and gawking at patterns is obsessive compulsive, yes but the actual knitting is my therapy. Last night, Bernie tried on the socks I knitted for him for the first time and he was quite pleased with them, said he loves them. That was quite a moment for us.

So, obsessive compulsive? Hell yeah!

That felt good having it out like that. Now back to normal programming.

I gave Aibi a bonsai starter kit for Christmas – she who is into all things Japanese at the moment – and I helped set it up a few days ago. This morning I was so pleased to see that the hyssop seeds are sprouting in one of the pots. I’m sure she’ll be so excited when she wakes up and sees this.

Filipinos traditionally celebrate on Christmas Eve with a (close to) midnight dinner with the family followed by exchanging gifts. Christmas Day is when we go to church to give thanks and ask for blessings. For the past 8 years it also meant celebrating my nephew’s birthday.

When I was younger, Christmas Day was when our parents would take us around to most of our other relatives to share a meal with them and exchange more gifts. Christmas and New Year week is one long festival of food and gifts. A little girl could only eat so much traditional desserts and ham.

The only sad note to this year’s Christmas is that my first born is away in Manila. I will definitely be on the phone to her tonight. Sure there might be tears (I’m choking up a bit as I type!) but she is with family so she is well looked after. Next year, I plan to take the family back to Manila and have a reunion of sorts and let the kids experience a proper Filipino Christmas.

And yes, I have photos. The mini-sock now hangs in the tree along with the mini-sweaters. Next year, the tree will have a knitted skirt.

I don’t think the Thujas will use up all 3 skeins of the yarn so I will have almost a full skein leftover when both socks are done. I haven’t decided what to do with leftover yarns just yet so they sit in one ziplock bag waiting for the decision on their fate.

Add to this the recent slew of purchases made which have yet to be delivered to me, including one knitter’s entire stash! Yes, I am weak. No wonder my bank called yesterday to confirm if I have been purchasing through Paypal. My credit card statement has nothing but Paypal transactions on it.

I am never one for New Year’s Resolutions but I talked myself into making one for 2009 and that is to not buy any more yarn. Do not laugh! I have so much in stash and so much more to come as the above list shows so I should have no reason to covet any yarn right? Right. I need a mantra that I can chant to myself to remind me of this.

Back to the Sundara Seasons Collection, my second mailing arrived the other day. It’s Fingering Silk Merino in the Flaming Flamingo colourway. Five hundred yards of 50% silk, 50% merino. It is amazing! I compared this skein with the sock yarn I received in the first mailing and the addition of silk does make a pronounced difference. The yarn is much smoother to the touch and the sheen is amazing. Here it is in it’s loveliness.

Enjoy the holidays with your loved ones!

Also because when the Yarn Harlot waves her magic knitter’s hands, magic tends to happen.

In the links above, Stephanie talked about resisting Brooklyn Tweed’s Striped Scarf just because everyone did it. If you clicked on any of the links above, you’d find proof that the Yarn Harlot is only human after all as she succumbed to the power of beautiful pieces of knitted objects.

I felt like that with socks. I still do sometimes. People said, once you knit a pair of socks, you will not want to stop. Bollocks I said! What about those lovely cardigans and scarves and mittens? Then I began to wonder when most of the popular online yarn shops specialize in sock yarns. Not that there’s anything wrong with that because sock yarns are perfect for other projects too. I’ve seen shawls knitted with Wollmeise and Socks That Rock. Hats and mittens knitted with Shibui Socks and Lorna’s Laces. And before you know it I was reading up on sock knitting techniques, browsing through yarn e-shops, looking for an easy beginner’s pattern and then, and this is the really fun part, I started buying sock yarn.

Why, as recently as one week ago I was one of those hundreds if not thousands of people across the world madly clicking away to register to the 2009 Rockin’ Sock Club! I managed to get in the day after registration began so I’m cool now. My sock yarn stash is nowhere near decent I think but I have fallen in love with it. Also having conquered my fear of DPNs earlier this year, it’s a huge step towards improving my sock knitting skills. Of course, I have to actually knit and finish a pair of socks first.

Which I did!

My Swan Song Toe-up Socks are done. (Sshhh, don’t even mention the hibernating Jaywalkers). Took longer than I would have liked only because I had quite a lot on my plate, still do. But these are now blocked and stored in my sock drawer ready to make their first outing on Christmas Day when we hit the park for barbecue and my nephew/godson’s birthday celebration. I can’t wait to show these off!

Oh yes, three days to go until C-Day. I’m not remotely ready. The ham is still in the meat section of my favourite shop somewhere but at least I know what I will be cooking. It’s the usual pot luck dinner in our place plus presents for the kids and lots of fun. No Dom Perignon this year I’m afraid but I do have plenty of red wine which will compliment most of our dinner items.

The mini-sweaters are on the tree but I didn’t have time to make mini-hangers so I just stuck them onto the branches.