Knitting Bag of Doom

What a wonderfully weird couple of weeks, this holiday season has been! Having my parents and brother with us at our house for Christmas dinner went very well - so much so, I want to do it again. Soon. I'm thinking a chimichanga night, what do you think? With all the holiday foods we've had at work for the past month, I was already craving chimichangas and hamburger helper and something with ranch dressing in it, well before Christmas actually got here. You know, normal foods again!

Remember that wish list that Sandy had going, over at the Yarn Haven? Well, that divine idea of hers made for the best Christmas I've had since I got that Barbie Dream House years ago. And just like a little kid, I wanna rattle off a list of all the things I got this year: something childish I haven't felt like doing since I really was that little girl.

10 skeins of Noro Silk Garden
10 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite
Malabrigo Sock yarn
Flat Feet sock yarn
a Go-Knit bag
several sets of those Kollage square dpns in various sizes
A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker
Top Down Sweaters by Doreen L. Marquart
a swift and ball-winder
the latest Harry Potter movie on blu-ray
some gift cards to restaurants
and a bit of surprise news from my brother . . .

Back in the fall, my brother had asked me about that game I play, World of Warcraft. I described it, showed him my toons on my computer, and thought no more about it. His asking seemed very casual, ya know, like just making conversation. So he waits until he's about to leave here from Christmas dinner to drop the little bomb that he's been playing it ever since that day two months ago and already has a level 80 toon!

And dammitall, he went Horde! Sigh.

Now he and I have talked nonstop about the game, and truthfully, it's given us something over which to reconnect with each other. We just didn't have anything in common before, besides old memories. Folks, reconnecting with my brother was the best Christmas present I got this year, hands down.

So the morning after Christmas, my head's all a whirl with all that yarn and my brother in WoW, and the relief of dinner having gone well . . . nothing left to do but go to the year-end sale at the Yarn Haven - I'm not kidding! I scored the Vest Sideways pattern by Carolyn, the Cupcake Hat & Fingerless Gloves pattern by Mimi Kezer, the Eliza Fingerless Gloves pattern by Mimi Kezer, some more J. Knits sock yarn in that Go UT! colorway, and two skeins of the 220 Superwash Quatro by Cascade Yarns.

But I got out and about a wee bit before the shop opened, so I killed time down the road at Jo'Ann's craft store, loading up on various cheap sock yarns and a copy of Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns.

But ya know, with all the hullabaloo and the tidal wave of yarn stash enhancement, I hadn't even had time to think about what I wanted to knit and with what before the day after that . . . you know, our knitting group's Fertile Turtle day was that very next Sunday. But then the knitting angel had already taken care of that decision: Have I told y'uns about Misty's hand? Can't remember if I did or not. She recently got a nasty burn over the top of her right hand, so knitting - among lots of other things - is on hold for her. She's having a devil of time keeping the gauze wrapping intact, and therefore, the blisters intact as the doc instructed her to do. And she asked for a single, thumbless mitten large enough to fit over her bandages, to act like a protective cozy.

So I've been knitting that mitten, and just finished it this morning. Slow, I know, but at least it's there. I'm waiting to hear back from her for her address, so I can rush-ship it to her in Johnson City. Anyhoo, that's what I took with me to knit on during this past Sunday's knit-together.

During which, Barb and Oliver made a date to go shopping the sales at Victoria's Secret. Anastasia worked on her teal cardigan.

Raeus worked on her woven autumnal duster.

Barbara & Daphne did the dishcloth thing this week, while Angelika & Debra began dog sweaters. Picking up on the same canine wavelength, Mary Beth was working on a puppy doll.

Oliver resumed his I-cord knitting.

And Jason drank coffee.

There was talk of the upcoming Townsend fiber festival, which I hadn't even heard of before, but found this link (clicky, clicky). Looks like we Turtles maybe have us a March road trip!

About that Knitting Bag of Doom . . . When I first got out of the car there at Borders, and grabbed my purse and knitting bag, I headed straight for the bench on the sidewalk. My bags were slipping, and I needed to readjust them on my shoulders. I plopped them both onto that bench, to re-grip and rearrange, ya know? Got my purse shouldered okay enough, but when I went to sling my knitting bag onto the same shoulder, this elderly man had walked up from behind (and a bit too closely, for that big ol' walkway with lots of room). His being too much in my personal space, combined with the timing of my bag slinging . . . well, he walked right into it. I clocked him with a very heavy bag, right in the gut. Didn't mean to. But there I was staring stupidly at a man who's wind I just knocked out of him. Since he was wheezing, I spoke first, apologizing profusely! He never said a word. After a few awkward moments, he walked slowly away, into the store, slowly straightening up as he walked. At a diagonal. With improved distance from everybody around him.

Minutes later, I had settled those bags onto the back of a chair with my knitting friends. As I stood back up to go get me a caramel mocha, that chair flipped backwards onto my heels . . . um, due to the weight of that knitting bag. Which I then got tangled up in.

I'm gonna make great use out of that little Go-Knit pouch I got for Christmas, lemme tell ya!