The holidays are among us and that can mean getting together with friends and family, shopping, deadline knitting and crochet. This weekend I get to take a trip down to PDX this weekend. I am super excited to see her and also to have a break from the holiday craziness. It is gong to make this week really crazy….. to try to jam pack everything in that needs to get down… which won’t be a problem to be honest the family has already crossed some big things off the list such as the annual trip to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker and the Santa pictures.

We need to get the Christmas tree and make some family gifts(non fiber related) and finish up the shopping… It seems really achievable so I am not stressed but I am excited to have a restful and fun weekend visiting a girlfriend  before I kick up the holiday cheer and chores up a couple of notches.

Oh and before I forget the responsibility check in:

1.Almost done with the handspun hat ( see picture at top of the post)

2.Finished the Chill Chaser but ran out of yarn ( I was really not happy about that but I emailed Customer Service and they are looking in to the yardage on the pattern. The Customer service group is pretty amazing).

3.Yarn for my Exploration Station is wound

4.I bought yarn a couple weeks ago…. Plucky had Spiffy, it was on sale and in one of my favorite colors “Skies of November” What’s a girl to do?

5. I am having a little bit of guilt about the diorama and the holiday slippers for my daughter.

 

 

 

 

How did the holidays get here son quickly. The spinning and fall knits are not done and there has barely been a moment to look at the calendar and decide what needs to be done before the end of the year. I used to alternate  every other year between selfish knitting and gift knitting, but I let that fall to the wayside when I lost my knitting mojo last year. I decided to make my list short and sweet this year:

1. Raindrop hat with handspun
2. Chill Chaser
3. Finishing my holiday diorama ( after all winter is coming)
4.  A pair of slippers for my daughter
5.  and I want to spin up as much stash as possible

So here goes nothing. I think 2 out of 5 are probable…. but we will have to give it the old “collage try”

 

 

It really started out as  unlikely hope during the Plucky Glamping event in September. I leaned over the class table and asked my friend “Wouldn’t it be amazing taking a class from Janine Bajus in the Shetland islands?” a couple days later at the retreat Janine mentioned that she and Amy Detjen happened to be organizing a trip to Scotland and the Shetland islands. Not that there really was a chance in hell but I asked my friend immediately ” If I can get my husband to green lighting this trip(trying to justify this as a 40th birthday present), do you want to go?” and immediate a “yes” followed by me thinking of ways to ask my husband  (I was predicting an immediate “NO”)

I felt sick asking him but eventually I did and he said he didn’t want to tell me know and would crunch some numbers and get back to me…. Shortly after that I got a “yes” I found out the sign ups had moved to a lottery system….. All I could think was there sure are a lot of hurdles to this trip. Well I submitted my application and “I am in!!!!!!!!”

I am beyond excited….. Did I mention I am excited.