Crafty Kitty

Christmas was good to me this year!  Thanks to my parents (the swift) and the boy (the winder) I am able to have this current setup going on at my kitchen table:

The boy told me his gift of the ball winder was not an endorsement for me to buy more yarn.  My response is that I would have to see about that.

And because I was so excited to wind my Mountain Colors yarn into a perfect ball, it inspired me to finally start the Ella Shawl which I've been meaning to make since I first saw the pattern.  I had started it once before but wasn't really paying attention to the lace pattern and kept getting off in my counting,due to having a few beers while watching a football game, that I had to rip it all out.  It's moving along smoothly now.  The yarn is so nice to work with and I just love seeing the Ella pattern work it's way out of it that it's been very hard for me to put down.  But yay for a holiday weekend with not much do!  I'm looking forward to getting down with all the knitting and sewing I had been neglecting due to how busy I've been.

Tonight I also finished a wallet I sewed for my friend.  It's her Christmas present but I knew I didn't have to have it finished in time for Christmas because I'm not going to be able to see her until the end of January.  I'm glad to have it done though and I really like how it turned out.  I'll make a few simple modifications when I make another one like this but I was using some scraps of corduroy that I was going to use for another project so I had to work with what I had.  Check it: