Christmas Decorating In-Progress

With my recent contract ending and the various holiday obligations we have had, our tree only went up this last weekend! (Please forgive the photography, it is a work in progress).

In addition to the tree, I splurged on a fancy faux garland for the mantle. I also bring out the picture of us visiting Santa Paws with our cat last year!

Finally, our stockings are hung. When we first moved in I put clear pushpins in existing holes, and there they have stayed waiting for our stockings every year. This year they will actually get filled where they hang! (It is obvious in this photo that the sun came out. With our south facing huge windows this is not ideal for photographing my decor).

Finally, under the tree I have spread the few presents we have collected along with our family of Dutch Klompen. This makes for a special touch, while also taking up room to fill up the underside of our tree. You can also see the gold and chocolate ornaments that are new this year. I love how the colors are both elegant and nature-y. I have to say, I with I had noticed the lights had white cords before they came home with me, but I do think that I tucked them in fairly well.

Now for the projects in the works! 

I am re-working my ornament wreath. I chose the metallic colors hoping to change out christmas specific flair as winter goes on. Unfortunately, last year I attempted to make it just by stringing the ornaments on wire, and it was not a huge success. This year, I am gluing the ornaments to a wreath form. My challenge this year being that I forgot hoe much hot glue can hurt when it gets on your fingers!

As this photograph shows, I have also left out all of the packaging. It just seems odd to pack it back away, especially since none of it really protects my decorations. My hope is to find a large box (decorative or plain that I then wrap with festive paper) that would allow these packages to sit out at the ready while also adding a touch of cheer. Then, once the decorations are packed up for the year, they could go into the same decorative box for storage. The biggest challenge here is finding a place for such a box year round. 

Husband Socks

I have a daintily size 7-7.5 foot. My socks are fun, fast, and often colorful.

My husband has man feet, and a fear of too much color, and is much more particular about his socks. His most recent observation has been that his hand knit socks are rough on the soles of his feet. This made sense to me because the grid-like nature of knitting is rough on the soles of my feet in my cotton socks. These cute little ankle socks are knit out of cotton, and therefore done at a slightly larger gauge than the rest of my sock to allow for a little extra stretch. 

With this in mind, I pulled out the yarn for Paul's socks and a size US 0 needle. This needle has a circumference of about 2 millimeters, whereas is typically knit socks on US 1 with a 2.25 millimeter measurement. My hypothesis being that if the socks knit on 2.25s had distinct stitches, that smaller stitches would be less noticeable. 

I began these socks at the toe for several reasons, the first being that I could measure the gauge of my stitches and not need to start over. The smaller stitch size is my independent variable, the number of stitches needed is my dependent variable. The second reason is that men have large feet, and I tend to buy sock yarn in 100 gram batches. This is plenty to make snugly socks for my petite feet, but I wanted to know exactly how far this amount of yarn would go with a larger foot. This way, I can use the sock yarn I have on hand for Paul, or other large footed individuals, with a known amount of modification or additional contrasting yarn. Prior to this experiment, I have just been flying blind (and borrowing Paul's socks as needed). 

What I did not factor in when choosing a smaller needle size was the drape of the resulting fabric. These socks are much stiffer and less forgiving than the pairs I have knit on 2.25s. The toe of these socks retains it triangular shape much more than other socks when we pull them onto our feet (another beautiful, though only minimally helpful perk of the toe-up sock). I am hoping that some intentional washing  and blocking at the end will relax the fabric nicely.

I do not know if this sock experiment will result in a new go to method for husband socks in this household. But I do know that for my own socks, I will probably stick to using my trusty 2.25s. I just prefer the feel of them in my hands, the fabric they create, and the pace that I complete my socks.

Endings

This is my last week at my current job, and for the most part I am saying "good riddance."

There is one part I will miss dearly. The group of Latina women who meet in our school every Wednesday morning to knit, crochet, craft, and share coffee together. Obviously, I was drawn in by what these women were doing, but what has made me fall in love with this group has been their generosity, patience, and willingness to share.

Lately, two things have struck me.

First, and more profound, is how adults learn and share language. Today, several of them told me that my Spanish was much better than their English. To which I responded "¿verdad? no" so I suppose between that natural response and the fact that I have begun to dream in Spanish on occasion may verify that.

This got me thinking about how I have learned my Spanish. Two years of high school Spanish instruction can hardly be held accountable, yet I do think some of those fundamentals have stayed with me (like those crazy little verb boxes we practiced to memorize the conjugations). It got me thinking about privilege. These women need to be able to communicate in Spanish, but I am sure that whenever they have the opportunity to practice speaking the English just flies by them. Whereas for me, practicing my Spanish is a privilege. I have the spare time to look up words I am commonly searching for in conversation, or to look up words I can use when sharing a knitting technique. In the moment, those handy little iPhone apps do not help. In the moment, what bridges the gap is patience, relationship, and generosity that is shared between the two people conversing. It has also helped that I have the time to build my vocabulary and grammar away from this group.

The second thing that has struck me over the last few weeks are these gorgeous crocheted lace shawls. Honestly, I have been coveting them for weeks! First a lovely pastel blue and pink number with some shimmering white. Then today it was a red one, and I do not like red, but this lace pattern is just incredible. So I finally got the nerve up to ask about it, the pattern is called espuma del mar or in English sea foam.

Now the terminology in the knitting and crochet world is very different in both languages (luckily, in most cases a direct translation gets my point across). So I came home to explore my crochet books and find this pattern. To no avail! I didn't find it online, I found the stitch itself, but not the pattern they have been using.* What did yield results was searching for the name they gave me and the Spanish word for crochet (which is the same as their word for knitting).

I found some wonderful instructions, fully in Spanish. So I really do have the privilege of the time to explore the world in either language I choose. Though it makes me wonder about how others learn and absorb their second (or third, or fourth) languages as adults who aren't taking formal classes. These women tell me the free English classes are always too simple for them, and moving beyond the basics with support is a challenge.

Have you learned a new language as an adult? What was your experience like?

*These women also tend to have one sample item, and then reverse engineer it from the original garment. So I really do not know why I thought I would be able to find the pattern they were using.

Darn it!

After coming home from work today, I took off my shoes to discover a hole in the toe of one of my hand knit socks. This brings me to 3 pairs out of commission and in need of darning.

The expression "darn it" I believe is derived from having to hand darn knit clothing. This is a simple (yet at times tedious) process where new fabric is either knit into the place of a hole, or woven to cover the area of the hole.

I have done this on the bottom of a color work purse, but not yet on socks.

I have not done it on socks, because I habitually get rid of those scraps of yarn left over after a pair of socks is knit. I hate having them laying around taking up space. And until now I saw no point to holding on to them.

Strangely, the three pairs that have holes needing repair are all damaged in very different places. The pair I am currently wearing are worn right at a decrease for the toe shaping. Another has worn on the bottom on the heel (I think the woven darning style will be a good choice for this pair). The final was weak in the picked up stitches for the heel flap.

Cold Remedies

For the last week, I have been lucky enough to have stayed home. Sadly, this was a direct result of a nasty cold I caught. Since being pregnant and teaching after school, I have caught 3 colds!! Not very fun, though the most recent one was the only one to negatively effect my sleep.

I finally bit the bullet and took a Benadryl, which hallowed me to sleep soundly and consequently feel human for the first time all week.

I hate feeling the need to fall back on drugs to get the rest my body needs. I always have, but it wasn't until a couple friends started using essential oils that I began to think about natural alternatives to support better sleep.

While my current cold is now on its way out, the order I placed won't come in time to help with it. I do hope to find some relief for both gross colds and also the occasional restlessness (something I would never consider using Benadryl for). Only time and trials will tell, so stay tuned.