These are a few of my favorite things

I’ve been busy the past few days, getting my Christmas stuff ready to go. I actually did wind up making some fabric bags to put my presents in.

I think I made 6 altogether. I thought they came out pretty decent, and I used up about a yard and a half of fabric. It was nice to take the sewing machine out for a drive, too – I’m looking forward to doing more sewing in the next year. I’ve taken about a 2 1/2 year hiatus from sewing and quilting, which I think I needed to do. Now that I’ve had some time apart, I think I have a new perspective and different goals regarding sewing than I had in the past. But more about that after Christmas.

I started knitting a pair of socks out of the Amysbabies yarn that I got from her Etsy shop. Here’s the yarn, but no in progress sock picture because I’m going all drama queen and extending the anticipation. 🙂

I also spun up the fun roving ball set I had combed up the other day from the miscellaneous fibers Travis and I picked out.

It’s called Juvenile Delinquent. It’s spun, for the most part, really low-twist, and has fun random mohair locks trying to escape from the skein. I had over 6 1/2 ounces and about 200 yards of it. I say “had” because after the yarn was finished blocking, I immediately got a warp on my loom and started weaving with it. About 4 hours later, I had a new scarf! It’s very glam rock – the mohair gives it these nice random shiny areas, and the scarf is almost ridiculously wide – 11″. I love it.

Ellie loves it, too. When I had it on the table to try to photograph it, she kept jumping up and laying on it.

Also, you can’t really see it here, but I’m wearing a new shirt Travis got me for Christmas.

He got it from an Etsy buyer called Look For Fiddleheads. Here’s the design on my shirt. I love it. I am all about Etsy and am going to try to honor the Buy (or make, in my case) Handmade pledge as much as possible next year.

Travis and I leave for our Christmastacular family adventure tomorrow, so probably very little (if any) blogging for the next 4 or 5 days. Hope everyone has a happy holiday season!

PS – Wish me luck – god willing, I’ll be hitting Mass Ave Knit Shop’s post-Christmas Sale. All yarn is at least 30% off. Travis and I accidentally found ourselves in the midst of it 2 years ago – I had no idea there would be a sale going on, and I think Travis died a little bit inside. But I’m prepared this time, and my only goals are Malabrigo – lots of it – in almost-solid colors (for colorwork!) and some new needles. Let’s see what actually makes it home with me.