Gifts to our future knitting selves

My cousin is back home from England again this September and that fact has reminded me that last year I wanted to knit her and her husband each a pair of sleep socks for Christmas.  See? I even made up the kits.

I just didn't have time to do the actual knitting in time to mail them, and then I thought Meh, I'll do it over the boring parts of the winter, for next year.  But then things got crazy busy with moving and renovation, and I kind of forgot about them until I looked at the calendar and realized I could maybe knit both pairs before she has to leave again, and send them home with her.

Admittedly, this is absolutely not her colour combo of choice...

... but these are DK weight socks from Twisted Fiber Art and they are perfect for a nice cosy snooze.

These blue and brown yarns will be perfect for her husband.

Knitting these socks means a change from Vesper, which is probably welcome news for most of you.  (speaking of which, yes, I did just renew for another three months.  What can I say? I love Vesper.)  But it also means that I was really smart to use last fall's leisure time to kit up a future project complete with knit bags and needles.  I had no idea how busy I would be this fall, but believe me, I would not otherwise have time to find yarn let alone the needles.  What a wonderful gift I gave myself.  Never underestimate the value of spending a little downtime today for a lot of benefit in the future, is what I say.

You know what else is a wonderful gift I gave myself?  The new knitting nook.

At the house, I had only the green armchair in the sun patch.  Here, I have a comfy rocking chair too, which means I can have a knitting friend over some afternoon.  I am so glad I finally unpacked enough - and unpacked enough random white linens - to make this possible.

And yes, of course the knitting nook has a mascot.  You can probably just make her out in the pictures above, but if not, here's a closeup:

It's Biscuit!  She lives in the armchair, but today she was playing with the rocks from Newfoundland when I was putting the yarn into the bags I'd tucked into its Ziploc, and she decided to take charge of one of them.


And that's it from me for today.  Please have yourself a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you Monday!