Holiday Hangover

I have a serious post Christmas hangover. Not the drinking kind but the "man, I'm having a hard time getting motivated kind." I've barely gotten out of my jammies for the past few days (remember, I work from home and don't have to when the kids don't have school), been sleeping late, going to bed late, haven't eatten a sit down meal in over a week and have watched a ton of football. I am a self proclaimed butt slug.

Christmas was wonderful albeit exhausting visiting family. We went on a three day whirlwind tour to see the family on both sides - aunts, great aunts, grandmas, cousins, the whole kit and kaboodle. Our families are way too generous, so much so that Winston (the minivan) was packed to the gills for the four hour trip home Christmas eve. My favorite gifts - DH and the boys gave me an entire wardrobe of casual clothes, Mom and Dad gave me money for a spinning wheel and my cousin in law knit me a scarf as a thank you for turning her onto the world of knitting. As the saying goes, Life is Good!

Everyone loved their knitted gifts. Mom took some pictures for me so I hope to have some to post soon. I even broke down and knit MIL a felted flower. It was almost to beautiful to give away. I finished some post holiday wrist warmers for my boys that totally kick ass. Thing 1's are hand dyed pink and black (looks cooler than they sound) and Thing 2's are knit with Noro Kujaku in a bluish colorway. The fun part about these is that I knit them with my new Clover miniature circular needles and didn't have to knit them on double points. The needle is only 22 cm long from tip to tip! These babies flew off the needle in less than an hour! I am definitely going to buy another pair in a smaller size to make socks with.

After all of my time constrained knitting, I decided to just rock in the corner this week and knit something with no recipient in mind, that requires very little concentration. The lucky knit? Wavy from Knitty using Noro Kureyon leftovers. It is so cool how the waves form and all it uses are knits and purls. Ah, what a great break for me.

I'm also in the market for a new digital camera since Santa didn't bring me one. I hate that I don't have a single holiday picture this year. With all of the great sales right now, there's no excuse.

That being said, I really am looking forward to next week when we get back into our routine again. Starting next week, I'm going to open a new chapter as a regular part of my blog - Dhiyaya - in alignment with my New Year's resolution to live a more mindful life. Knitting, of course is a part of this concept. I hope that you'll not only join me on this journey but will share some of your tips for more mindful living.

Later this week, reflections on my 2004 adventures in knitting. I leave you with some of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes cartoons from the past...