Spinning for Christmas

Well, my hand is still healing - oh, so slowly it seems, so knitting is still not a real option right now. I do seem to be getting better, though, because I seem to be using it more which means it is hurting more. I'm trying to watch myself a little better. I'm sure there must be some line between reasonable use = continued healing and overuse = new (or re-) injury. My guiding line so far has been, if it hurts much it is probably bad. If it just aches a little it is probably okay for a brief time. You know, rebuilding muscles. There is still a fair bit of swelling around the actual joint and thumb area. I've also got this weird little twitch in my thumb from time to time. For a while, it was waking me up at night, but not any more. I'm not sure if that is because it is twitching less or I've just gotten used to it. Hopefully it is a phase in the healing and not a permanent thing. It is kind of freaky to see (I think).

I finally! got to spend some time spinning this past week. Long overdue in my mind, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. I've just about finished up some Romney that I got to practice with while learning, so now I'm almost ready to start with some fun stuff. I've got some red roving that I plan to use to make a French Market Bag. I've been dying to do one of these, but couldn't decide what I wanted to use. Then I was pondering what to try my homespun on and a little lightbulb went off. So, I'll use the Romney I've been practicing on for the bottom, it is kind of a grey/brown color so it won't show as much dirt, and I'll spin some ruby red for the rest of the bag. Then I plan to gift it to my grandmother. If it goes well, and I like it, I'll do another in homespun for myself. I do want them to be a bit bigger, so will have to be sure to spin plenty of yarn. Oh darn! LOL The best part is that I am spinning and it doesn't hurt my hand, so I don't feel like I've abandoned my knitting. I'm just in therapy. Practice and therapy all at once.

Other non-knitting projects include another cross-stitched quilt square for a wedding quilt at church. I'll get a picture of this one when it is done. The quilt is all in earth tones again. I don't know what it is, but the last 3 or 4 quilts have been increasingly brown. Don't get me wrong, I like brown just fine. It's just that it would be nice to do something more varied; blues, greens, reds, yellows, pinks, purples, ANYTHING that wasn't brown, beige, tan, khaki, cream, gold, rust, maroon. They work, but after 4 of them, BORING for the stitchers. Ah well, it isn't for me so I probably shouldn't be complaining about it.

Christmas went very well and was a lovely day spent at church, playing with the girls, and then over to a friends house for a lovley meal. We had a great time visiting with them and it was a very nice and blessed day. Of course, it was back to work for me the day following. I think this is the first time in over 8 years that I haven't taken extra time off following Christmas. It feels very strange, but I wanted to save the vacation time for when my hand is more normal and I can actually spend my time doing stuff, whatever that stuff might turn out to be. As far as gifts go, I didn't get anything knitting or craft related. Well, unless you count cooking and my new Alton Brown cookbook that I've been wanted (the new revised edition). This year I took pity on my husband and gave him a list of 3 things I'd like so that he could concentrate on the joy of shopping with the girls instead of worrying about them AND what to get me. I also tried to pick the easy to find gifts to help even more. (The poor man does struggle with the whole gift thing. he wants to get something nice/meaningful, he just doesn't know how to go about doing it.) So I listed the book, a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean 2) and some Knit Picks needles (size 0 - 4 circs, I LOVE this for socks!). I didn't get the needles, but I do have a birthday on Jan 7, so I might get them yet. If not, I do know where to get them for myself. LOL

I didn't really need anything, so I was very pleased and happy with my gifts. My DH also surprised me with the new Gin Blossoms CD. I've been waiting so long for a new one, I'd given up, so this was a very nice surprise (and spontaneous gift giving on his part). In fact, we all had a much simpler Christmas this year. None of us needed anything, so I really didn't want to buy a bunch of junk that would never get used. We did more charity gifting and less for us. I'm glad and hope we keep that up.

Well, the hand is getting tired, so time to stop. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! And in case I don't get back online this week, Happy New Year!