What I Did On My Christmas Vacation

It was only four days, four short days!!! But it felt like a million bucks, having several days off to rest (and knit).

There were a few stressful things that happened (we won't talk about plumbing gone awry, last minute Christmas shopping and computers locking up). But all in all, it was a really nice time off.

My plan was to knit on and hopefully finish my Plain Vanilla sweater, but alas, that didn't happen. Here's what DID happen. Shopping. Knitting. Relaxing. Thinking about my upcoming diet. Doing household chores. Cooking. Visiting with friends. Relaxing. Wishing I could be independently wealthy so I didn't have to work.

I spent Friday with my Mom, Bob and Emmy. We bought more WW candles, ate at the Cracker Barrel for lunch and bought some last minute gifts. Then my Mom and I trekked off to The Studio (knit shop) and fell in love with a scarf designed by Annie Modisett - her "Ruffled Roses Scarf." You can see one of the finished scarves by going to her web page at Annie. They had a sample made up in the shop and a lady shopping in the store had one on that she wore very attractively!!!

Note to readers: You can get this pattern only by going to your local yarn shop and telling them about it. They have to request it directly from Annie. The designer is offering this pattern for free, but only to the shops themselves, who can distribute them to customers. This to help shore up business for the local yarn stores so that they'll be there when we need them! I think that's a brilliant idea.

Back to the knitting drama: Mom decided that she really wanted one of those scarves. So she set about getting the yarn for it, and encouraging me to do the same. "It's just a little project" and "it will go so fast" and last but not least "You can help me figure it out."

The lady who proudly wore hers assured us that it only took 3 hours to make - but I think she was referring to another simple garter stitch scarf she had also recently completed and not this one. This one (the Ruffled Roses) has lace. Anywho, we both became DETERMINED to find the ingredients to the scarf because The Studio was sold completely out of the red color of the Online Linie Solo. We called every knit shop in town and out. Amazing enough, we found it in our own backyard. My Mom mutters, "I wonder if Knitcraft has it?" Guess what, they did! So we found red - the hotly sought after color for the bloom part of the Ruffled Roses scarf.

Now Mom and I are both knitting on this danged scarf (it's addictive) and I'm done with the bloom, finished with the lace (fun) part and am now working on the ribbing part of the first HALF of the scarf). I'm doing my scarf in red, grey, cream and black. Then I realized that I probably didn't buy enough of the cream and black, so I'll probably have to go back and get more later. And they're closed on Christmas, naturally. I'll have to return later this week and get more.

I will post a picture of this scarf once I get my computer back in enough working order that I can post - I'm having problems with it - and it may be Blogger, but more likey this time is my computer. You can see a photo of the scarf by going to Annie Modisett's website.

But that's how easily diverted I am!!! I now have several projects going (see updated Progress on right). I have the Plain Vanilla sweater (which I LOVE), it's getting nearly completed on the body part. I have only 5 more inches to go before I start binding off on that, and then I have the collar and sleeves to knit. I also am about half finished on a long-ago abandoned UFO Dr. Who scarf, and I have this newly-started Ruffled Roses scarf. Not to mention, I'm really getting antsy to get back to my Freeform vest that I started working on last summer. I am motivated to get back to that because we're going the the Studio retreat at the end of January and learning more about Freeform techniques. It would be so FUN to have that vest finished to wear for the retreat, but I doubt that will happen at the rate I'm going. Maybe I'll work on the vest at the conference as my project-in-process.

So I wish I had like a month off to do nothing but knit. I am divinely inspired, but alas, with all the plumbing, car and computer problems, not to mention run-of-the-mill debts, I must continue to work. Ah!!! (do you hear the squeaking violins?)