Brief and mundane post-Christmas report

I had such a non-knitting Christmas, y'all. I gave only one knit gift, and that was something of an afterthought, did very little knitting and received not a single knitting related gift. Resolving to stop before getting maudlin, I will just say that our Christmas spirit was somewhat dampened by the ominous presence of the Ghost of Christmas With a Sick Child. Thankfully said child got out of the hospital last Wednesday and is mostly functional now. We're off to visit in-laws today and I plan to take the Moderne baby blanket along. Progress is glacial at this point.

Christmas Knitting

I almost never knit for Christmas. I don't like the pressure of the immutable deadline, and I prefer to consult with the recipient of the gift as it is in progress. The Christmas surprise thing just doesn't work for me. But. Then there is my father.

My father is old, a tad strange, and very very picky. He does not want Christmas gifts because he feels he has enough "crap". He does not want a knitted gift unless it's a sweater. I do not have the time right now to make him another sweater. So the husband decided I should make dear old dad a hat.



Dear old dad has an extremely large head, so I cast on 104 stitches for this baby. My normal charity hats are 80 stitches. The yarn is leftover Patons Decor, so it has a bit of wool for warmth but won't suffer badly if it ends up in the wash. My prediction: he is going to hate it. He will laugh in his "isn't this ridiculous!" kind of way and reiterate that what he really wants is a sweater. It will never again see the light of day. But at least we're giving him something other than the usual case of beer.

Now it looks like I'm in for some hospital knitting. My 9-year-old daughter has to be admitted for tests and I'm sitting here awaiting the announcement that they've found her a bed. I'm thinking preemie hats are the way to go. Perhaps the hospital we'll be visiting will be able to use them. Must remember to inquire.

Why is it that no matter how large the stash grows I never have what I need? I have a big Rubbermaid bin full of sock yarn but I need to buy more. My darling daughters cannot wear the wool socks I've made them because they itch, but the older one at least can wear cotton/wool blends. Of course I need to buy some cotton blend. I have no choice, right? Right.

It is one of those days.

I am happy to announce that I am here. My computer, which has developed a mind of its own, was not allowing me into Blogger for a while. It also arbitrarily changed my wallpaper, my text size and probably a few other things that I haven't discovered yet. The miserable machine knows that I am stressed over a million things that matter a lot more than wallpaper and it is playing weird little tricks to see if it can push me over the edge.

My younger daughter is ailing and cannot get in to see a specialist until the new year. Although she is feeling lousy, she is still functional and does not appear to be in any danger, so she's currently at the end of a very long waiting list with the Christmas holidays threatening to make the wait longer. I am not impressed with our health care system at the moment.

My older daughter has a gymnastics meet tomorrow, and competitions always turn me into a screaming nutcase. To add to the fun, if I am to attend said meet, I will have to drag younger sister (the sickly one) along and force her to miss most of her friend's birthday party. I am girding myself to ask the older daughter's permission to skip the meet so I take the sister to her party. She's gonna blow a gasket, but she's going to have to accept that she can't always have the entire family around.

And with all this to chew my knuckles over, I am utterly incapable of anything but endless knit stitch. I am continuing with the Moderne baby blanket and a series of plain hats for charity. Once the young daughter has been treated and I have been given a barrel of Valium, I hope to get back to some kind of real knitting.