Après nous, le déluge

So I finished all the Christmas knitting well ahead of time. Here is the last of it - DD3's 'Secret Garden' cardigan:

front:




back:




DD3 liked it:




because she can play peek-a-boo with it:

I did indeed run out of the Stroll sock yarn that I was using doubled up for the vast majority of it, and then continued work with the Swish worsted. You absolutely cannot tell. I also bought a very snazzy ceramic button from Lettuce Knit, which got the stamp of approval at the holiday party from several other knitters who weighed in when I asked for button opinions.

So, you know when you've been really good and responsible at something for a while (e.g. food diet, yarn diet, keeping on top of the housework, sticking exclusively to Christmas knitting, etc.) and then you suddenly let yourself go completely (e.g. binging, massive yarn purchases, letting the house get disgusting, coming down with a massive case of Startitis)?

Yes. This is what has been happening to me. I finished my Nennir cowl - I decided to do only two repeats of the cable charts instead of three, because at two repeats it was already as wide as I wanted it. No pictures yet, but it's gorgeous and I love it and I wore it home from work yesterday after finishing it in the afternoon.

I also got started on a shawl that I have loved ever since it came out in Knitty First Fall 2012 - Bauble. I'm using some of the 24 balls of 'barn red' Stroll sock yarn in my possession, and it looks great so far:

I got some sock yarn from DD2 for Christmas, in her favourite colour:

So I'm using it to try and solve her perpetual sock shortage problem:

I think I'm actually going to be able to get three pairs out of it when all is said and done.

And lastly, DD2 came home yesterday complaining that her gloves weren't warm enough. Okay:

Just one more to do. She should have new mittens by Monday. The incredibly adorable pattern is Piggy Mittens by SpillyJane. I am enchanted.

Next time, I'll talk more about what I got for Christmas, and cover more reactions to the knitting gifts I gave!