Home again...

Going home is always a delight. This trip was different without Buddy around, and a little sad at times... OK, really sad at times. But otherwise good to be home with the family. I was able to avoid most of the holiday travel by heading out of town before lunchtime on Wednesday which also gave me some extra time with Mom and Dad. Dad showed me where my dear Buddy will remain with the family and yesterday before I left we made a garden stone to place in remembrance. It will take a while to fully dry and then Dad will put it out in the yard. Plans are being made as to what flowering bush we'll also plant there in the spring.Mom and I spent our yearly quality time shopping on Friday. But not like most Black Friday shoppers. We really just went out to have some time out together. We casually picked up a few gifts for others, but spent the majority of our time in fabric and yarn shops satisfying our own needs and interests. Surprisingly, those shops weren't nearly as crowded as Best Buy and Circuit City - go figure!!! Here's what I came home with. The black yarn is for a pair of Nicholas's Fingerless Gloves for my god daughter for Christmas. Also my aunt asked me to make a pair of Dashings for my 16 yo. cousin and I plan on using the rest of the black for those. His 13 yo. sister will hopefully get a pair of Snowflake Fingerless Gloves in the Gems pink and grey. The Panda Cotton and Claudia's Handpainted are for me. I couldn't resist. Mom also picked up a few others that I'll get at Christmas. Then I picked up some reading material. There are so many great ideas in here! I'm planning on carrying one of these around with me at all times for when I have a spare moment or two to dream. Nothing from these will be able to worked on until after the holidays as I'm actually realizing how much I have to do between now and then. In fact, my before the holidays knitting list includes:

• finish Mr. Pumpkin Patch (Mr. Greenjeans)
• finish Isabella
• finish my Nicholas's fingerless gloves
• a pair of Nicholas's for Alex
• a pair of Dashings for David
• a pair of Snowflakes for Paige
• my Christmas socks
• Lori's Nori bag

1/2 of my projects are selfishly for me, what can I say? I guess I should really focus on those that are for others first so that I'm sure that they'll be done in time. But I'm having so much fun on the stuff that's for me! Here's Mr. PP so far (as of this morning). I worked on the stockinette while I was home and then realized that I didn't pack the smaller needles for the cabling so I had to wait until I got home for that. But as you can see, working on it last night after driving for so many hours wasn't such a good idea. Take a look at the cabling. It's all wrong. I had to frog it back and work it again. Updated photos later.

Since working on Mr. PP over the holiday was limited, I started a pair of Christmas socks for myself. It's Lorna's Laces in Tuscany colorway and the Socks of Kindness pattern. Again I flaked on following directions and added a 12th row to the repeat. But I'm liking how they're coming out anyway so it's all good.
Now I really need to get back into decorating the house with holidayness. (Yes, I made up that word.) We are hosting a revving up for the holiday season party this weekend and there's a lot to be done.