And This is Why We Wear Wool

I hope you all have had a fun and peaceful holiday.  I know we have.  It's been a pretty hopping time here on the east coast.  Now I know that New England is getting a lot more weather than we had here in North Carolina, but in our defense, this is our first white Christmas since the sixties and snow is rare in our area.  So five inches?  That was enough to keep everyone indoors for a few days.

But it was fun.  After a leisurely Christmas morning with seven (SEVEN!) people in the house (all of whom loved their stressed-out handknit gifts) we walked to a nearby golf course to go sledding.  Remember, we don't have a lot of practice sledding.  But my mom bought us three sleds earlier in the week, so my parents, brother, Chris, and I all trudged off to sled down every hill we could find.  We had a blast.  I found one hill that was really good and had a space of flat ground before the pond, so there was enough time to bail out before one ends up in the pond.  Or so we thought.

I hit the hill with no problem the first time.  And then things got ugly.  I went back up for my second run, hit the tracks perfectly . . . and ended up in the pond.  My dad says I was going twice as fast, which I think is why I could not get out of the sled in time.  I honestly don't remember much.  I was in deeper than I could stand (I think my foot touched a barrel that rolled away. At least that's what I'm telling myself it was) and it was freezing cold.  When I finally got out my entire body was soaked from under my arms down (As far as I can tell from the bruising I managed to grab the side as I went in)  On the way back (all uphill for over half a mile) I kept myself distracted by telling mom all about why it was a blessing that I was wearing a wool sweater.  One of my Christmas presents was The Knitter's Book of Wool so I'm sure I'll have a lot of material to draw from when eighty and still telling this story.

But our Christmas excitement did not end there.  The next day Chris and I went for a walk in the snow ostensibly so that I could get some nice snowy pics and take some photos of the scarf my mom finished for me.

Isn't it pretty?  It's my first handknit scarf that anyone has made for me (Brooks Farm Four Play) and it goes with everything!

But evidentially Chris had other ideas.

There are no definitive plans yet (not that this has stopped people from asking).  Though I am in need of ideas for wedding shawls if you have any.

I hope the last week of 2010 is treating you as well as it is treating me!