Christmas Joy

This Christmas and New Year had a lot of fiber-related activity.  I can always find joy in that!

Gifts/Purchases
I may have mentioned that my niece taught herself to knit last year, and ended up knitting me a beautiful scarf.  While this might seem like bringing coals to Newcastle, it was a very special surprise.  She was quite funny about it...it's all garter because she doesn't know how to purl, and she wasn't sure how to weave in ends. 

But overall, the scarf is beautiful.  I forgot to snap a photo, so I'll post one later.  She made it using a beautiful burgundy color Cashmerino (I recognized the yarn just by how it felt), and she had amazing persistence in doing a scarf that's probably 5 feet long.

Her mom (my sister-out-of-law) also surprised me with both a box of knitting books and magazines, but she also donated a sheep on my behalf to Heifer International.

A non-fiber-related gift from my sister was this cool set of hand-painted espresso mugs.

Now I don't have to actually grow a cheesy mustache.  They match the Fiestaware dishes we use and I love the idea of a mustache on them!  I can just drink espresso and show off whatever style I feel like sporting for the day.

Current Knitting and Spinning
Well, I didn't make either of my end-of-year deadlines.

I still have a bit of spinning to do to get the singles of Merino top finished (hopefully this coming weekend???).  I also finished all but the button-hole band on the nephew cardigan.

I honestly forgot how long it takes to sew on buttons and tack down pocket linings.  These little things take FOREVER.