I'm listening to the fabulous podcast Dear Sugar right now while Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond discuss the emotional pitfalls of major family holidays (such a great podcast series--do yourself a favor and subscribe on iTunes). Our family is, at this time, very small, so much holiday drama is not an issue.
This year Gingko flew down for a few days and we celebrated Christmas in our very entrenched style: a nearly unvarying menu, decorations made or acquired decades ago, a pile of rectangular presents (books, my friends, books are the key to Christmas in our house). So relaxing, so evocative.
I took a risk, though: knitting for Christmas. We all know the drill--you spend hours and hours working on these secret projects, anticipating the excitement and pleasure of the recipient when the box is opened. Sometimes this works, and sometimes, well, disaster. At the best of times I'm not a fan of deadline knitting, and Christmas carries such weighted emotional demands that I usually don't participate in the exercise.
This Christmas, however? SO satisfying! Here's the Embrace Octopus sweater that I knit for Gingko:
(Note how Gingko is checking to see whether our mandarin orange crop is ready to harvest!) A knitting challenge, but the sweater was received with all appropriate enthusiasm and fits perfectly!
Gingko wasn't the only one to get a knitted sweater--here's Mason:
He's not sure about this whole sweater thing--you win some, you lose some!--but I think it looks great on him. It's a little short--I didn't measure correctly or try it on while knitting to make sure the fit was right, as the excellent pattern (Wurstwärmer by Pamela Wynne) suggested. At any rate, we are set to romp in the snow. Not!
Recent Comments