Knitting Socks and Holiday Happenings

As I'm writing this tonight, the house is so quiet.  After a fun filled two 1/2 days of festivities, everyone has gone back to their places and it's just me and Lilly tonight (rest of the family went to the movies).  My Christmas trees are still up.  Usually I take them down the day after Christmas but this year I think I will let them stay until the new year and enjoy them a bit longer.  They've been up since Thanksgiving weekend!

We had a very nice Christmas.  In our family, the main festivities begin on Christmas eve and continue through Christmas day.  This year we attended Christmas eve church services for the first time in five years!  I grew up going to church but my family never attended on Christmas.  My husband and I started a new tradition years ago and that was to attend Christmas eve services.  I remember one year it had been so cold with snow coming down all day and the wind  blowing.  My parents always celebrated with us and we had eaten our dinner and opened our gifts.  We didn't make it to service that evening.  Until, my daughter and I decided to go to the 11:00 PM candlelight service.  I remember driving in the snow in our small town in Eastern Washington.  The fresh snow under the tires made such a lovely sound and it was so quiet outside with the new snowfall.  We had a big sedan car back then and it did very well in the snow.  The service was beautiful that evening with the moonlight coming through the stained glass windows of the church.  It's a Christmas eve that I'll always remember.

Now, that I live in sunny, warm, southern California, we don't have snow but we do have lighted palm trees!  But, I am thankful that we are together here as a family and can celebrate together too.  It really warmed my heart to attend my daughter and son-in-law's church on Christmas eve.  It was a beautiful, traditional service, like we used to have in the Lutheran Church.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to preach my religion, but it is a big part of who I am and since moving to California, I haven't really found a church family like the one I left back in Washington.   Maybe it's because I'm an empty nester or because I live in such a large metropolitan area.  It's different but that's OK.

Speaking of church, each year there are a couple of churches that host a huge New Year's party.  My husband and I have been going the last six years.  One is held at one of the local Orthodox parishes and the other is at a local Catholic parish.  Both of these churches are comprised of  Middle Eastern parishioners so the party comes complete with mezze, (appetizers), main course, dessert, beverages and live Middle Eastern music!  It should be a fun filled evening.

I've been so focused on getting my Christmas schedule in order that I haven't had much time for my knitting or crocheting.  I'm working on a fun crochet project that I will share that with you at a later date.  In the meantime, here is a picture of the socks I'm almost done knitting:

They are for my daughter.  She brought me the yarn and it was Red Heart worsted weight!  Not sock yarn but never fear...I looked online and found a simple quick  pattern * for socks using worsted weight yarn.  I'm not sure how they will wear but we will see....*note...I cast on 40 stitches instead of 44 stitches and it seems to be perfect measurement wise....

 I came across a new blog the other day entitled Winwick Mum .  She mentioned in her blog post about knitting socks and giving them in person to the one she made them for.  I so agree with her.  Socks can be time consuming but they are truly a work of art when made with the finest sock yarn and a beautiful pattern to match.  I love knitting socks but I must admit, that I haven't knitted any for about two years now.

My daughter had brought me some beautiful sock yarn from Germany.  I found a pattern I liked and started knitting.  This one sock went on a couple of vacations with me and even crossed the ocean one or two times.  I finally finished one sock.... only to try it on and see that the pattern had caused the tension with the yarn to be extremely tight and nonwearable.  Now, that one lonely sock sits upstairs in my craft closet all alone.  I need to get motivated again and start a new pair with a different pattern.

Here's a close-up of the herringbone pattern.....

The pattern for these socks was originally published in Interweave Knits, Winter 2008 under the title "Herringbone Rib Socks".  I'm afraid the pattern to me was a pain in the neck since you knit a stitch and then place the stitch back on the left hand needle to pass a stitch over it; thus the herringbone design is made.....

I'm afraid I've rambled on and on tonight.  If you don't hear from me again before the new year, I wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best for 2015.  And, more importantly, thank you so much for visiting Lilly My Cat and also for signing up to follow this blog.

with my best wishes for the New Year,
Pat