Except for the uncooperative weather (fog and rain all day), we’ve had a perfectly lovely Christmas today. Here’s Chappy with his “loot.” A new pad for his crate (actually a little too large, but darn it, we’ll make it fit), plus his two new toys . . . not that he really needed any new toys, mind you. He’s got dozens. But, well, a kid needs new toys on Christmas, right?

He’s acted like a kid all day, too, starting from the first moment this morning, when he went running into the living room and stood next to the tree and the presents, tail wagging, ears up, and a huge smile on his face. Chappy adores presents. He likes the kind that come in gift bags with tissue paper best, but is almost as happy “helping” with boxes in wrapping paper. He’ll help paw at the paper, will grab an end with his teeth to pull, and will delightedly shred tissue paper, looking for any small things that may be hidden in there. And this is two days’ of presents he’s had.

Yesterday, we went up to my sister’s house in Pennsylvania. Chappy had a wonderful time, and so did everyone else. (Even my niece, despite the fact that I left one of her presents home. Luckily, we’re seeing them again on Friday.) We had a good time, ate some good food, and generally enjoyed ourselves. The worst part was the drive–it’s just a hair over an hour to my sister’s house, and pretty hilly-turny-twisty at her end–and Chappy does not like the ride up there. (Though, thankfully, he’s only actually gotten sick once–about 2 miles from her house, of course.)

I also gave out my two knitted gifts of the year–the Mets-colored Tychus hat I made for my nephew, and the white Tannenbaum for my niece. They certainly both seemed like they liked them! I know my sister liked the thick, warmness of my nephew’s hat–he likes nothing better than to be outside in the snow.

As for me, I got some nice knitting things–the fourth volume of Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionaries. (Now I’m just missing #3.) A book of knitted beading from my sister (along with some Godiva chocolate). And the Lotus Blossom shawl pattern, with yarn (Bronze), from Chappy. I also got a fabulous golden-brown hat (which I sort of knew about, but unofficially–I just pretended not to see the hat box Mom was carrying out of Nordstroms back in November). Also a beautiful pair of earrings I liked at the craft show Mom and I went to earlier this month. And Dad got me a bluetooth wireless tablet pad for my computer, which I can’t wait to try but . . . can’t until I get my new laptop . . .again.

Now, Chappy is zonked out on the floor in front of me. He’s been fighting off naps all day–yawning and obviously tired–but afraid to miss a moment. He’s just been so darn happy today! Which, of course, makes me happy.

Which is good, because, well first, I finally finished those socks. Which is wonderful–that’s all four of my goal-UFOs for Naked Stix 2006. (Woohoo!) Not only that, they are the best-fitting socks I’ve made yet.

But . . . I finally gave in and answered Cara’s siren call to cast on for the Jaywalker socks. Which, I’m sure you’ll agree, are beautiful socks. However, I started, knit the inch of ribbing and started the pattern . . . only to realize that I’d cast on the wrong number of stitches to begin with. Muttering ensued . . . ripping . . . restarting . . . fine. Whatever.

I re-cast on, double-checked the count, and started knitting . . . hmm . . . seem a little large, but . . . we’ll see how it looks once we’re into the stitch pattern . . . Um . . . these are kind of huge . . . I pulled out the measuring tape. 38 stitches should be 4″ . . . mine are almost 5″.

You know what this means, don’t you? Frogging on Christmas. Or, maybe I’ll just leave those alone and work on my sweater until tomorrow. Yeah, that sounds much more merry and bright, don’t you think?

Happy Day, everyone, no matter what you’re celebrating. I hope your day has been as nice as mine.

Tags: Chappy, Family, Finished Knitting, General // 5 Comments »