About gifts

So it's almost the new year, and everybody - except for the younger BIL who told us that he wasn't coming down for Christmas too late to be able to ship anything out in time - has received their knitted gifts. (Said BIL will, sadly, still have to wait a while before we can mail his presents, as DH hasn't wrapped the last one yet.)

The handknits were certainly appreciated. My dad loved his hat and has been enjoying showing it off to people. My mom was extra-delighted to receive two pairs of socks - she felt that one pair would be normal as a gift, but two, well now, that's extravagance! :) My brother really liked his hat, although personally, I think it's far too big for him - the motif doesn't stretch out at all, which it needs to do in order to look right. :( However, I refuse to feel bad about this, since I asked numerous times for his head measurements, to no avail. Various teacher and care provider gifts were very happily received, and DD1's dance teacher in particular seemed thrilled at how ballet-customized her fingerless mitts were. Even my generally-undemonstrative elder BIL got pretty animated over his socks. (Although to be fair, even though his reactions to his knitted gifts may initially be pretty laidback, he will then visit weeks or months later and mention how awesome they are and how much he has been enjoying wearing them.) So - hooray!

As for the immediate family, DH adored and waxed rhapsodic over his knitted present, but I cannot speak of it yet. And as I mentioned last time, DD3's cardigan was a hit. But my older girls also loved their stuff...

DD1 was incredibly pleased and surprised with her bolero:

DD2 was in raptures over her legwarmers. ("Oh, Mummy! I've always wanted legwarmers!")

(The two pairs of elf slippers you can also see in that shot were from my SIL, and they were a tremendous hit.)

As for my haul, Santa gave me some stitch holders, DD2 gave me the purple sock yarn I showed in my last post, and DD1 gave me two balls of a wool/acrylic blend:

I'm planning to make Wendy D. Johnson's Victorian Neck Cozy out of it.

But then...oh, but then. We went over to my parents' house for the wider-family celebration and the exchange of more gifts, and they gave me Margaret Stove's book, Creating Original Handknitted Lace. I've been wanting this for ages. I am going to read it cover-to-cover. Ska-wee!!!

My husband also designed and knitted me some truly lovely socks with a cabled monogram (!!!), which I can't show you right now because he didn't finish them in time for Christmas. (He felt very badly about this. For my part, I don't mind.) One of them is currently blocking, and the other is having its ends woven in as I type. But I LOVES THEM. Beautiful and they feel terrific. Can't wait to wear them.

I hope the coming year is absolutely splendiferous for all of you, and that your holidays have been wonderful! Thanks for sticking with me throughout the year, and I will certainly continue to blather on endlessly about my knitting in 2013.