Knitting away

I don't have any pictures of my knitting progress this week as I have been knitting madly on gifts. I have almost finished 1/2 of one gift for my sister, and only need to do finishing work on the other gift. So I'm feeling pretty good about what I have accomplished in the past week.

We (my husband and 2 of the boys) braved the mall this past weekend. We went on Sat. and it wasn't nearly as crwded as I had expected. I'm sure it was much more crowded on the day after Thanksgiving. I feel pretty good about how much shopping we got accomplished. I think I am almost done with the gift buying. I only have stocking stuffers and a few small gifts to buy. While we were at the mall, we visited some jewelry stores to look for my 20th anniversary gift. Our anniversary isn't until June, but my husband likes to start early. Let's just say that what we found is big, beautiful and VERY sparkly!!!

Even though I love making Christmas gifts, I always find myself looking forward to the things that I will have time to knit in January when the Holiday hustle and bustle is over with. About a week ago I got a notice in my e-mail that they were taking sign-ups for the Rockin'Sock Club. I jumped right on that band wagon. I didn't act quick enough last year, and missed the whole show. It's always fun to get surprises in the mail, and I am very excited about this club. I love the colors and the feel of the STR yarn.

I have also been debating about joing another KAL. It's always fun and inspiring to see what other people in the KAL are using for fibers, and how their finished product looks. One of the KALs that I was thinking of joining is Cardigan for Arwen Along.

I love the cables down the front and around the hood. The only thing that I would like to change about this sweater is the lack of a buttons/zipper - it needs something to close it on a cold day. Although, when I think about it, I often leave my sweaters unbuttoned, so mabe it doesn't matter.

There are several projects from the Interweave Knits Winter2006 issue that I have been drooling over. I hope to be able to do at least one of them after Christmas - probably the Nanatucket Jacket. I really like the shaping at the waist of the sweater, and the shawl collar. I think I would probably knit it in a teal blue.

I really like the Provincial Waistcoat also, probably for the same reasons. It has alot of shaping at the waist, hem and neckline, and an interesting design.

These Cowgirl Socks would be fun to knit, and a nice small (and semi-affordable) project to do and experiment with Buffalo fiber at the same time.

Okay, enough daydreaming. I need to get back to my Christmas knitting.