Holiday Knitting

I managed to knit a couple of small gifts for Christmas! Having some time at my mom's house with no pets or responsibilites of any kind was great--it gave me time to relax and knit! The first picture is a dishcloth I made for my friend Teri. Remember the Christmas cotton Holly sent me in the Fall into Autumn dishcloth swap? I used about half of it to make this. Teri thinks it's a doily despite my insistence that she actually wash dishes with it.

I made another dishcloth (no picture) that I gave my mom. She used it a lot since her dishwasher died just before Christmas and she hadn't had the time to get another one. We washed a lot of dishes and broke it in properly.

I love these stripey hats! Mom seemed to like the one I made for her. I think it looks cute!

This photo has nothing to do with knitting. My mom's cousin made dog cookies and on behalf of her granddog Caleb, gave me a bagful for Lucy. Here Lucy is showing her good manners as she sits nicely for a cookie.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Around the World Swap

I participated in the Christmas Around the World Swap. Yesterday I came home to a cheerful package from Cary. She lives on a sheep farm in Michigan. How cool is that? I don't think I'd have ever met her if it wasn't for the swap. Making new friends is the best benefit of swaps if you ask me!

Cary sent me a beautiful crocheted flower. She sent a Stash chai sampler, a tin of holiday fruit tea from Republic of Tea, and a fun mug to drink the tea from. It says "coffee's not my cup of tea" and she bought it at her favorite coffee shop. The candle is shaped like a bottle of milk and the flavor is chai latte. It smells really good. She sent some sock yarn (and I will try some socks with it) and a set of three scarf patterns from a Michigan designer. What a cheerful package of goodies for Christmas!

Tilt your head sideways to see the mug. I almost forgot to mention--it has a cover (see first picture) so it's a travel mug. I'll probably use it a lot.

Isn't this flower gorgeous?

While I was busy unwrapping my presents, Lucy was busy taking apart her rawhide bone.

Cary, thank you for being such a good swap partner! Merry Christmas!

Stripey Hat

This hat is a Christmas gift. A jar of spaghetti sauce kindly modeled it. I love the way the Noro yarn created the stripes. This was a quick and easy project. Now I am going to make one for myself.

Dog Update

Isn't she adorable? This picture was taken a couple weeks ago on a cold and rainy Sunday. My girl is growing up! She's 6 months old now. Tomorrow she has an appointment to be spayed.

Cocoa Swap!

I was checking out Ariel's blog (http://arielzoe.blogspot.com/) because she was my spoilee in the fall-into-autumn dishcloth exchange and I was wondering what she was up to. She made a lovely cat bed that was rejected by her silly cat! She also alerted all her readers to a fun cocoa and knitting swap (http://cocoaswap.blogspot.com/) that's getting started on December 16. I can't wait to sign up!