Making Xmas Progress

Well, maybe not on the shopping. Or much with the decorating. But I've been sampling the Xmas rum (just to check for quality, I swear!), and the knitting is coming along nicely! I haven't been posting much lately, mainly because (a) my lovely offspring have been very busy reminding me of why some animals eat their young (to the point that it warrants bold emphasis on the very), and (b) because all the current knitting is for Xmas and I don't want to ruin any surprises. I did make it to Prattes (one of my LYS's) yesterday. I bought some 2.25mm round needles now that I've discovered I much prefer magic loop to dpn's (if for no other reason than they're much more transportable in my purse without feeling like I'm trying to pick up a porcupine every time I reach into my bag) and while I was there I picked up a couple of balls of St. Ives sock yarn. (Boston begged me to let him model it; really!) It's a really pretty brown with blue tinges, perfect for wearing with my new brown shoes (I guess this would be the place to mention that the glue didn't hold on the "old" brown shoes; they're toast). It's slightly thicker than the "usual" sock yarn, calling for 3.25mm needles, but thinner than the Briggs & Little I'm using on 2.75's, so I'll use those for this yarn. It's also seems a little softer and smoother than the "usual" wool, so I actually thought of making them for my best GF who was admiring my socks until she said "are they wool? Ewwwww!!" So I'm thinking she'll not be getting these (much to her relief, I'm sure!) since after all wool is wool. But maybe if she'd just TRY them... and see how soft and warm and... and... oh never mind.

I DID want to mention that I found a great new device for blogstalking; Bloglines. It let's you enter all those blogs you're stalking (don't forget this one!) and then it tells you when there are updates, so you don't have to go through 200 blogs (or is that just me?) twice a day looking for new postings. :)