Have you ever had a project...

That is going so well that you're really not wanting to give up and are secretly hoping you can keep for yourself without anyone noticing? Yeah? Well, that's me right now. Mom's French Market Bag is really going well and I've fallen in love with the yarns I'm using to make it.
The base is Cascade 220 in a beautiful rich chocolate brown and the top is a handspun, hand-dyed wool I bought from a vendor at Silver Dollar City. The lady's name is Donna and you can find her at Dewberry Ridge. I've actually already contacted her to see about the possiblity of emailing her a picture and having her try to replicate the colors. It's a long shot, I know, but I almost cry whenever I think of giving this thing up!

(By the way, I love the Cascade 220 and am trying to find a sweater pattern for me that uses it, or something like it. It is great to work with and they have a nice selection of colors.)

It's that time of year, people. The time of year when you start feeling like you have to decorate your house before you're the only one without lights up. You know exactly what I mean... don't try to hide it! So we're getting ourselves into the festive mood and bought ourselves a Christmas tree last night. It started SNOWING while we were out! SNOW! This San Diego girl was giddy and a wee bit scared that she lives in a place that has the ability to snow. I still was so excited and called both my mom and sister on the way home to let them know about our little Norman Rockwell moment. Snow while choosing a Christmas tree. It's a Kodak moment!
While decorating the tree tonight, I came across this littel beauty. Never before have I had much more than a decent amount of appreciation for this stocking. Until this year. This is a handknit stocking made by my great-grandmother's SIL.
And of course, what kind of knitter would I be if I didn't sneak a peak at the inside of it. Beautiful, no?

I can't believe it's December 1st already. My sister flies in from San Diego in 10 days and I can't wait to see her. I'm disappointed that I couldn't do Soleil for her, but it'll just have to wait until her birthday in July and until I can find a yarn that I like better. I will have a chance to make the gift bag from Last Minute Knitted Gift, though, which will somewhat make up for not having a tank top. (It's almost the same!)

Thankfully, I didn't commit myself to making every person in my family a handmade gift. I'm still really up and down emotionally, and I don't need anything to make this Christmas any more difficult. Away from a lot of family, away from 99% of my friends, first Christmas in a new state, and a baby that was supposed to be due December 24th that made it's journey heavenward early in life. It's going to be a low stress Christmas this year, and I'm very much okay with that.