TGIF

Yes, it's certainly a blessing that it's finally Friday! This week has been really hectic for me, but I've actually managed to get all the stuff I had planned done. I've bought all Christmas gifts, I just have to wrap them, and I finally remembered to send out this month's RAK package to UK. I doubt that it will arrive before Christmas, but that doesn't matter. Now we just have to clean the apartment thoroughly before we leave for the holidays...

On Monday my sister and I made some Christmas candy that some of our relatives are going to get for Christmas. We made chocolate toffees, raspberry toffees, Mozart balls (which are nougat surrounded by marzipan and dipped in chocolate) and apple marmalade sweets. Everything turned out absolutely yummy, although not all of it was very pretty :) I think the recipients will probably appreciate them anyway!

Then on Tuesday I went and had my car checked out for the yearly inspection, and it passed! This passed April I got to buy my grandmother's old Toyota Starlet when she bought a new car, and even though it's 11 years old it hasn't been driven muc at all. So the inspection guy's only comment was that even the underside of the car looked like new! I also finally got a Christmas present for my sister, but I'm not going to tell you what it is, as she reads the blog! I'll show you after Christmas, because one of the gifts is pretty neat.

Then on Wednesday there was a knitting café, the last before Christmas, which was fun as always. I've met such a sweet lady there, Sophiphi137 on Ravelry, and on Wednesday she had brought little presents for me and Anna as a RAK (both Anna and Sophiphi137 are members of the RAK in Europe group on Ravelry)! Look what she brought me:

The top two are notions bags, the small I will use to transport beads and such when I take projects with me, and the white one I will use to store my bead stash, as it is currently residing in a plastic bag. The three little things in the bottom photo are magnets, two of them with clamps on them to hold paper and such. They are just so cute, and I'm so happy! Thank you so much, Sophiphi137!

And yesterday Anna had a Christmas get-together for her friends, so we were eight girls who gathered at Anna's place and had glögg, christmas porridge and ham sandwishes. We also played a Christmas gift game, and I ended up taking home a wheat-filled fabric heart that you can put in the microwave and then hold against you for warmth. It is beautiful and hand-made by one of Anna's friends, Elin, and I was very happy with it. I've already used it twice, and I'm thinking of going to the kitchen to heat it up once again. Because yes, the winter has finally arrived here. So far it seems like we will actually have a white Christmas this year, as it is about 15 cm of snow and -10 Centigrades. It is SO COLD! It's very beautiful outside, when you're inside looking out at it, but it's no fun to have to bundle up in oodles of layers just to go buy some groceries!

So today I'm just going to sit on the couch and knit for the rest of the evening! I'm just about to start the decreases for the fingers on the second Moose mitten, so I'll probably going to finish it tonight. Then they will be blocked tomorrow, while I hang out with my friends Jenny and Klara. We have an anual tradition of making Christmas candy together that we've done for at least four years now, and I'm so happy that we get to do it this year even if Klara has moved to Liverpool in the UK this fall. She gets back to Sweden tonight for Christmas, and I also get to spend New Year's Eve with her and her boyfriend, so it should be lots and lots of fun. Our Christmas candy-making often entails lots and lots of champagne drinking, but this year I have to be sober as my anti-depressants don't work with alcohol (I fall asleep if I have both the same day...). So I've promised to be the one who tells them on Sunday what they actually did on Saturday :)

I think I'll probably cast on for some socks when I'm done with the mittens, to keep me busy during the holidays. I have to have something to knit while I visit my parents, and we're staying there for a few days (we're leaving for Borås on Wednesday, and I think we'll stay until at least the 28:th) so I have to have a few projects planned for then. I've almost finished the body of the green bolero as well, so only two arms left. Which means I'll probably have to start something else besides the socks to keep me busy. Maybe it's time I started the St James top that I've planned to make from my pink/orange KnitPicks Palette?

I wish I could cast on for some lace shawl too! My fingers are practically itching! I told Thomas this a couple of days ago, and he sighed and said: "Why don't you just start one now? No-one will know if you start it before January 1st, will they?" But I don't want to do that, I want all my shawls to count for the 10 shawls in 2010 challenge, and I certainly don't want to cheat! So as soon as I wake up on January 1st I'll probably throw myself at the yarns and cast on for the Aeolian. I think I'll probably start two shawls in January, so I get some variation. I think it will be good to have a shawl on the neeldes that doesn't require beading. I haven't decided finally, but I think my second January project will be the Echo Flowers shawl, that I'll make in my red KnitPicks Shadow Kettledyed (I think the colourway is called Wine).

I'll try to make at least one more post here before we leave for Borås, because my parents have the slowest internet in the world so I'll probably not have the patience to post while we are away. And next time I think we'll continue with the Jenny Trivia, and talk abit about what kind of music I like. As that could be quite and extensive post, I'll save it for now.

/ Jenny