Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is about 3.5 months away, which means that it is time to start thinking about the Christmas gifts I will be knitting for people. One of which will take me a while to work on. I am starting my friends Christmas gift. I picked up the yarn today at the craft store, and her gift will be simple enough for me to knit up. Right now my local Joann Fabric and Craft Superstore is starting a round of coupons, most of which are good next week (which will be nice so I can finish getting the yarn I need for Christmas gifts), as well as having sales on their fall decorations so going yarn, craft and decoration shopping is hard for me to say no to, even if it is more or less window shopping. I picked up a couple little wooden pumpkin decorations since they were half off so I got both for the price of one, then one of the yarns I bought was on sale, and the other yarn I bought I was able to use the 40% off one full price item coupon for, which was a good buy on my favorite brand of yarn. I did not pay full price for anything today at Joann. I was super happy about that. 

I am also working on finishing the poncho I started awhile back. I am working on the second piece of it. It has been slow going the last few weeks with having so much going on. I am really wanting to get it done before the weather really starts turning. I want to make use of it this fall and winter. 

The poncho I am working on, as well as my friend’s Christmas gift are being made of 100% wool. I used to not like working with, and wearing wool. I used to think it was too hard to care for, wash and such. Then I decided to give it a try, and I fell in love with using it for personal projects. After working at a knitting studio for 5.5 months where we worked with a lot of cashmere and cashmere blends I learned about washing techniques as well as wool was and shampoos. I have also taken to storing my knit wears in plastic buckets with lids, and putting cedar blocks in with my wool garments. Wool has gone from being my least favorite fiber to work with to being my favorite for using for myself. I am excited for fall and winter to get here so I can pull out all the hats and scarves I have knit up, and be able to wear them again.