Got tired of looking at that wadder green blouse below. I can't believe I haven't updated this in over a year. I have been busy though, doing some of the stuff I started this blog to highlight, and working like a dog. There's a lot I'd like to show & tell but for now, because I simply could not look at that blouse one minute longer, I'll post some Christmas cheer. We can't be called materially wealthy in most categories you could name but we can hold our own when it comes to Christmas ornaments. The accumulated treasures of at least 3 families means we have some very old stuff. Stuff with that tarnished patina the lifestyle stores are selling at a premium. These elves were part of my husbands dowry. The green elf's costume got terribly faded though, so a few years ago I knit him another one. This is a nice sort of treasure to manage, we can pretty much, do whatever we want with it, the ornaments only have sentimental value in our minds so we don't have to get all precious with them. My husband regularly GLUES old favorites back together, and that becomes part of their charm.
The old glass balls are known to crumble in your hands. We like to express alarm when it happens but even the eleven year old is onto it now, he delivers the shattered ornament to his Dad and they assess its condition and how it could be repaired, then he fetches the appropriate glue. It's part of our Christmas Ritual.
I got to sit on the couch and finish this little shawl on Christmas day. I've wanted to be able to just relax like that for a long time. It turned out to be the best gift of all. I started out going in another direction with this yarn, it's from Knit Picks, "bare" sock yarn. I dyed it in these autumn colors then forgot about it; must have been before I decided I wasn't knitting socks anymore (they wear out too fast). After I rediscovered it I thought about working up a straight rectangle stole in an openwork squares, modular knit pattern by Iris Schreier. 
