Indulgence

In the midst of the spinning, reading, and general not knitting, we've managed to squeeze in a couple of our standard Christmas traditions. This weekend, we kicked off the holidady season with the annual local production of the Nutcracker. I think this may be the last year we see the Nutcracker. As Little Clover grows older, the ballet is loosing some of the luster it had in the past, and as Italian summed it up, "he's a plot man." We still had a great time going to lunch before the show at a local Canadian themed restaurant, but I think next year will be the perfect time to find a new tradition better fitted to a growing boy.

After seeing the Nutcracker on Saturday, we headed out hunting for a tree at our locally owned urban garden center and did the urban equivalent of chopping down a tree. Basically, we pointed to one and said "we'll take that one." Little Clover did pick out a beautiful 15 footer right off the bat, and Italian and I then began the annual negotiations, trying to convince Little Clover that a 6 to 7 foot tree would be just as lovely. Plus, we found out this weekend that a 6 to 7 foot tree fits inside my car; yet, one more reason why I love the Honda Element.

From Irish Clover

Little Clover said he felt like he was riding home in front of a hole in a jet plane. I think he loved it.

As we've been slowing decorating the tree a little bit each night, I've been neglecting my knitting in favor of spinning. The Spinning Sundays sessions have been quite fun and productive. After plying up the purple tweed, I was motivated to continue spinning and wanted to try som new techniques. I originally pulled out a 2 pound bump of turquoise merino wool intending to spin it into a sport or dk weight sweater yarn because I need the practice in spinning bigger singles. At the same time, I also need practice on spinning skinny sock yarn singles and there is a bump of lusciously fun merino in my stash. Spinning sock yarn also requires I use the fast whorl for the very first time so I quickly tossed the turquoise back into my stash bin and pulled out the socks-to-be merino. Not only is spinning on the fast whorl very easy and fun, but the fiber warms me up with its hint of summer. Can you guess what the colorway is called?

From Yarn

Yep, Neopalitan. Yum.