Happy Holidays

Wow. I haven't blogged in so long, and I have been worse about the stitching. I'm trying to get everything set for Christmas. It's December 22 and I still have to: finish my sister's shawl (fortunately, it's on big needles with a simple pattern, and I've just got one more ball of yarn whether it's long enough or not!); finish my cousin's scarf (this goes quickly when I actually do it, though not as quickly as the shawl); knit ears for a (dog) hat for my neice. Oh, and I just found out a relative I hadn't expected will be at Christmas so I need to buy something. I'll see what the airport has. I'm not kidding about that.

We celebrate on Christmas Eve, so everyone's got to be accounted for by then. You can see I have more than enough knitting for a transcontinental plane ride on Orange Alert.

I have been sidetracked from both the knitting and the afghan (don't even talk to me about that!) from the moment I put up my tree. I decided on an all-Santa motif. I took out the 20 Sandra Cozzolino santas I have stitched and mixed in a number of purchased Santa ornaments. But looking at all those stitched Santas made me want to stitch more of them. So I did. Even though I have SO MUCH TO DO before Wednesday. Wish me luck.

And have a Happy Channukah, Warm Solstice, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and a New Year full of fun stitching. Happy 2004. I'll be back then.

Bring your stitching!

I'm so glad I packed up the afghan and took it on the plane. I got a lot done--managed to finish the camelias and rose gallica, and got back to the hydrangea a bit too. And with the nightmare of our return on Sunday...

It all began at 4:15 a.m. eastern time when the alarm went off... We were at the airport by 4:45. We waited for the self-check-in kiosks to open at 5:00 only to find out our flight to Phillie was delayed, and we would miss our connection to Los Angeles. We were happy to be rerouted through Pittsburgh to arrive at LAX before noon. Our flight to Pittsburgh, however, was cancelled because of mechanical problems with the plane. So, we were rerouted again--three different flights before 9:00 am! Back through PHL, but our plane to LAX wouldn't depart until 5:55 pm to arrive in LA at 8:30 (that's pacific time). They put us on a morning flight to PHL just in case, I think. We spent a whole lotta time watching football at the gate. (We watched three flights go through.) Fortunately, when we arrived home our luggage was first off and the traffic Nazi was directing the taxis and with remarkable speed we got through that line and home.

So I have begun the peony right on schedule. I am going to take the afghan on the plane again because four hours of uninterrupted stitching time rocks.

MYSTERY SOLVED
Loyal readers will perhaps recall my wonderment at one of the Just Cross-Stitch Christmas Ornaments from the September 9th installation of this blog. It was a "Christmas butterfly." And I was baffled by it, just as I was by the Christmas clown. Well, at Thanksgiving this year, my neice kept singing this song she learned in Lutheran kindergarten for her Christmas pageant, "Butterfly, butterfly open your wings/Fly away to Bethlehem while we sing;" the butterfly is supposed to bring something to Jesus, but despite hearing the song about 40 times, I forget what. Apparently, I have a shorter attention span than a three year old. Anyway, I'm thinking this is where the concept comes from. I just didn't have any three year old acquaintances. (I googled, and I can't find the lyrics, but there is a Christmas butterfly in South Africa which is black and white with red spots--still doesn't look like the one in the magazine.)