This year I decided not to knit any Christmas gifts.  This might not seem like a big deal, but for a knitter with little time for knitting, this was a fantastically free-ing decision.  I knit a beautiful hat for Doug a few weeks ago.  Instead of trying to knit it in bits and pieces while he was not in the room and worrying about deadlines, I knitted it, blocked it, and then plopped it on his head with a “This is for you!”.  When it was done, I was able to go with the flow for a few weeks of no-knitting-mojo without having holiday-induced panic, and then spend time contemplating which project I felt like casting on next.  How different from the last few years where I struggled to get a far too unrealistic amount of knitting projects done for Christams gifting and managed to stress myself out about it to boot.

Let’s consider two facts:

1. Holidays are stressful.  No matter which holidays you celebrate, and no matter how much you may love them, holidays – particularly those that entail gatherings of family and friends – involve a lot of work.  There is the physical work – cleaning, shopping, baking, cleaning, cooking, laundry, and, dare I mention, more cleaning.  There is the psychological work – planning, budgeting, coordinating, fretting (my specialty).  And then there is the emotional work – keeping a houseful of friends and family from killing each other, or at the very least from fighting over politics, the state of the world, or who really ate the last piece of pumpkin pie.
2. Knitting is supposed to be the opposite of stress.  Knitting is what we do to relax.  It is our yoga, our meditation, our glass of merlot, and our flu shot wrapped into one.  It allows us to zone out and to let the creative juices flow, to forget about work, the news, and other pesky things.

Given these two facts, I would like to suggest, dear Reader, that turning your knitting from relaxing hobby to “just-one-more-thing-that-has-to-be-done-before-the-holiday-damn-it!” is counter-productive.  If you don’t believe me, give it a try next year!

On the other hand, doing some relaxing knitting over the holidays is a fantastic idea and one which I can highly recommend.  What a sensible, fun, and creative way to cope with all of the stress, and to keep your hands busy while enjoying time with friends and family!  (Note that it also gives one a great excuse to avoid cleaning: “I just need to finish this row before I can wash up, dear!”)

I have had a grand time knitting over the past few days.  I cast on a new pullover last Friday, and in five days of knitting, I managed to knit both sleeves (in the round on DPNs), and do the ribbing for the body:

This will be a gift (but NOT a “holiday gift”) for Leah.  I have had some trouble photographing this because the grey looks washed out, but here is a shot taken inside which is true to the actual colours:

Here is hoping that whatever holidays you celebrate, you spend some lovely, relaxing time knitting IN the holidays, and avoid knitting FOR the holidays.  That said, I’m off to do some knitting…

For a while, earlier this month, I was making steady progress on my Highland Rogue cowl.  As I have said before, it is fairly tedious to knit and requires attention too, so it has been a very slow project.  I took it with me to South Africa and two long flights plus hotel time meant that I got some solid work done on it.  Here is a progress photo:

Despite the seemingly interminable feel to this project, you can see that it will be great.  The texture justs pops out of the fabric.

Once I got home from Jo’burg, I managed to go for over a week without knitting a stitch.  I was super busy, and exhausted, and my knitting mojo walked out the door.  Both girls had come home for the holidays but I was still swamped with work.  Emma arrived with a terrible cold, Doug was trying to write a grant, and the house was a mess.  Yesterday was my last day at work before the year-end holidays.  I drove home and walked through the door – the tree was up, the smell of home-baked cookies was in the air, Doug and the girls were decorating, two weeks without work beckoned me, and boom! Mojo re-engaged!

I took advantage of it by immediately casting on a new project. (Note that housework did not make the grade.)  I am making the Tensho Pullover by Beatrice Perron Dahlen, for Leah.  Here is a photo of the pattern:

© Dianna Walla

I am making it with reverse colours – with dark grey as the background and white as the contrast colour.  The yarn is De Rerum Natura Gilliatt, the same yarn which I used to knit Leah’s SnowFlower sweater last year.  This means that I have skipped the swatch (or rather, the SnowFlower sweater IS the swatch).  I am happy to report that it is flying off the needles (so far at least)!  I started with a sleeve and you can see that I have made good progress for one day:

The sun is shining and Leah and I are off for a walk.  I hope that your weekend has some knitting in it, and some cookies, too!