Xmas Knits, Finally

I finally mailed out my family's xmas presents last week, and everyone has now received and opened their gifts, so I can finally share my two xmas knits with you all! 

Up first are my mother's socks (Ravelry link), which I knit for the GAL on Ravelry. The pattern is Book Stash Socks, by Nailya Plaskey, which was a really enjoyable knit! The colors are brighter than what I tend to use for myself these days, but they sure were fun to knit up (Zwerger Garn Opal Sweet & Spicy in Fruchtgummi). I did modify the pattern so I could knit them top-down, as is my preference, and, as always, I swapped in my favorite heel and usual toe. I definitely plan to knit another pair of these for myself sometime, but I already have at least three socks on the needles for myself, and I am, admittedly, terrible at focusing on knitting socks except for my mother's xmas pair, so who knows when I'll actually get around to them.

Next is my brother's hat (Ravelry link)! I knit him a Musselburgh for xmas a couple years ago, and when I asked him this year what he wanted, he said, "I like that hat you made me," so it went right back into my queue. He gave me three color choices to choose from so I'd be confident he'd get something he liked and so there'd be some element of surprise for him, and I chose my favorite (honestly, I love this green so much that I was tempted to keep the hat for myself—Knit Picks Palette in Larch Heather). 

Since finishing my gift knitting, I've been back to work on my Dziadzi, which I'd started for NaKniSweMo. I only managed to get up to the front and back divide on the body before having to switch over to xmas knits, but since picking it back up I've finished the body and one sleeve, and I'm hoping that I can bang out the rest of the second sleeve this week. 

Goodbye 2023

Hello friends! When we last met, I was gearing up for a very busy three weeks, but between work and some things in my personal life, it was nonstop crazy up until Christmas. I'm just finally pulling myself out of the fugue I've been in for the past couple months and trying to find some kind of feeling of balance.

Coleslaw continues to be a perfect puppy, and everyone adores her. She'll be seven months old tomorrow, and I can honestly say the past four and a half months with her have been a nonstop adventure. She continues to be intelligent and curious and excellent at finding and chewing on things she oughtn't. We celebrated her first Chanuka and I managed to get one (1) decent non-blurry picture of us:

Because of the things in my personal life I alluded to above, I was traveling for most of Chanuka. We celebrated Night One on time, but then I decided to pause and we celebrated nights two through eight when I got back home. 

While I was out of town, her groomer/boarder/daycare did Christmas photos as a fundraiser for new playground equipment, and they are the best fifteen dollars I've ever spent:

Probably my favorite one is of her doing a perfect Kubrick stare:

Christmas itself was a little weird. It was the first time that my family hasn't been all together, and I also had to work at my retail job on the 23rd and 24th, which was exhausting. We did family video calls on Christmas Eve (to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol) and on Christmas morning (to open presents), and while it was different than years past, it was good to be together that way. 

Coleslaw got tons of new toys, which she loves, but within an hour of opening them she got very overstimulated and needed a nap, so we napped for most of the rest of the day.

We also managed an obligatory family Christmas selfie, again managing only one (1) decent non-blurry shot:

Because of all the craziness that took over November and December, I have still not managed to send my family their Christmas presents, and, in fact, I am still not finished knitting one of them. Fingers crossed that I can get that done soon. 

I got a couple days off from my library job for Christmas and New Year's, which I mostly spent sleeping, since the past few months have been exhausting and draining. I'm glad I had those days, and I'm hopeful that I'm starting to feel like a human person again.

On Monday I noticed that the bag of veggie scraps in my freezer was full, so I made broth in the 1970s CrockPot I found at the thrift store several weeks ago:

 

For many years I said I didn't need a full-sized CrockPot since I am only one person, and I have a little Crock-ette that works for most things, but when I saw this one at the thrift store, I just knew I needed it. Antique appliances for the win.

Yesterday was my fifteenth Diaversary (anniversary of being diagnosed with diabetes), so, as always, I made a cake: 

 

It's a very good cake, and I'm very glad that diabetes hasn't taken me out yet, and I'm very grateful for my incredible care team and my insulin pump and glucose sensor (even though the alerts sometimes piss me off). 

Best wishes for 2024, friends. 2023 was hard in many ways, and the last couple months really kicked my ass. I'm proud of myself for handling the challenges that 2023 sent my way, even though they were hard and dealing with them really sucked. I'm hoping that this year I can feel more balanced and get back to doing more of the things that I love that I didn't really have time or energy for in 2023.