remembering to breathe

Hello ladies, hope everyone is recovering rapidly from Post Christmas Trauma (PCT). Thankyou for all the lovely comments - the christmas do was ok.

My mother set me up to not be friends with the Aunt this year - I introduced Sherpa to my cousin when they arrived and my Mum hissed (Too loudly, in the way that everyone in the room can hear) "AND your aunt, dont be rude!". My aunt was of course out of my line of vision when i started introducing but once she heard my mother hiss she assumed i was trying to ignore her and that was it for this year. sigh.
She also scored a hand-knit washcloth (Taph's lovely pattern here) in the secret santa swap game and got rid of it so quickly it almost unravelled. My brothers girlfriend finally ended up with it and she actually wanted it so thats ok. Told you my rellies didnt respect the handmade. My grandma LOVED the one i made for her, and that was before she twigged that i'd knit it.

Christmas day was lovely, if a little hectic. My parents gave me some desperately needed mixing bowls and a pie dish and the Erika Knight Classic book (GORGEOUS!).. and my brother gave me a sifter which i also really needed.
Sherpa gave me a lovely artists journal (a proper one), some water dispersable charcoal pencils, some cuticle cream, bath mitts and THIS:
His father and he have been working on it for weeks... its a warp board which will make dyeing self-striping yarn a little less painful... AND ITS A SHEEP! I'm still blown away! isnt he beautiful? the sheep is from a kids picture book, a counting one, and his name is Woolly. But Sherpa's Dad thinks his name should be Hank :) any suggestions?

Since the christmas knitting is over, i cast on a Komi Mitten. Jo gave me the book for christmas last year and i finally had the perfect yarn (gorgeous italian variegated wool from Othlon). I'm really enjoying it :) makes me feel very clever :p
And... i dyed a whole lot of laceweight to put on eBay tonight... and i'm bad. because i cant bear to part with this skein... maybe the yarn harlot snowdrop shawl? its called Blue Lagoon, and i will dye some more.. eventually. Here it is wound... ah, hoardiness thy name is Spider.

Anyway, I'm off to see a movie, will be listing more yarn on eBay tonight (If the connection holds. for some reason we cant stay online for decent lengths of time at the moment)

Happy christmas and new year to all :)

The Joyful
Ms Spider xo