mama-of-purl

Sorry it's taken so long, but I've been in a weird space last week. Not sure if it was simply a bad case of PMS or end-of-the-year depression or what. But once again, getting crafty is a great source of distraction. Another great source: shopping. In my case it's been online shopping for knitting books. Jess Hutchinson's lovely booklet got shipped super quick, which was a wonderful surprise after the latest annoyances with an amazon marketplace seller (after 2 months and several e-mails, they finally realized the package got lost and I'm hopefully getting my money reimbursed this week). It was totally worth the 9 € including shipping and these little creatures are so cute!

Tuesday we had the 3rd SnB at my place: (Corinna practicing stockinette and Milan hanging out) meanwhile, Johanna pushed her kids' chair to the kitchen, climbed on it and started wiping the sink. Her great-grandmother is so proud that her cleaning genes have been handed down to the next generation after it obviously failed to be included in my DNA;-)

Before the crowd came over, though, I made a non-knitting present for my mother's birthday which was last week. Check out this cool keychain with her store's www address and a pair of knitting needles on the back:

Mmh, I just realized why I seem to be the only one NOT knitting for Christmas- it's because I'm too busy knitting everyone's birthday presents...here are some armwarmers for my friend Ulli- the basic pattern is the one from Hurry Up Spring armwarmers, but I did a spiral k4p4 pattern and crocheted the edges with intense pink wool. I bought that green Lang Yarns Tosca a few months back because I love those shades of green/aqua, never minding that those greens look terrible on me. Anyway, it was the perfect combination for Ulli and she absolutely loved her present.

OKay, the pair of seaweed socks mentioned previously are done, and I've knit a doll's hat last night. The only Christmas present so far;-)

I'm going to leave you with my personal 'Christmas spirit' story: a couple of days ago, we met one of our older neighbors (in his late 70s, I'd say) in the hall, and we just chatted about the weather for a minute as he was on his way out. He returned soon after when Johanna was climbing up and down the stairs, came up to us and passed me a 10 € bill with the words 'buy the little one a nice toy from me, I don't have any grandchildren myself, you see.' I was so surprised and touched, I thanked and hugged him. How sweet is that?!

PS: Just in case you're wondering: there has been no progress on my sweaters whatsoever, nada, zip, naught, gar keiner!