days #24, #25, and #26: 30 + 1 handknits project...

it's the 26th of december, and i am currently sitting on my very own couch, sipping one of chris' christmas beers (we give the gift of booze liberally in my family), which is sitting on our brand new coffee table. in other words, we made it through our christmas-midwest-family extravaganza with flying colors and made it safely back home to the house and the cats.

i'm so very glad to be home.

today, i'm sort of struck with how lucky i am in this life. to say i was slowly dying a few short years ago would be an exaggeration, to be sure, but when i consider the vastly different ways i live these days, the things i'm doing and plan to do, the way i take care of myself, the pride i take in the day-to-day, and my overall level of happiness with life in general, i might as well have been slowly dying.

i guess i just consider myself incredibly lucky. i have another week of vacation - at home with my boyfriend and cats - and i have a whole slew of things planned. the to do list is looking pretty awesome to me. the to do list, in part:

• take down tree
• plan layout of living room (rug, blanket chest built by dad)
• clean car (okay, so it's still a tad boring, but...)
• research chicken coops, contact coop builder, look into buying chicks (YEAH!)
• draw up backyard and front yard landscape designs (DOUBLE YEAH!)
• organize art and craft stuff
• harvest worm compost and set up new bin
• write thank yous

and so on and so forth. damn lucky. so, without further ado, here are the last three days of handknit outfit love. i'm still going strong, even though we're nearing the end. merry, merry christmas, happy holidays, and happy early new year. it's going to be a good one.

12/24/2011. day #24, Rusted Root by sarah moore, completed august 2011. knitters, this is a brilliant little lace pattern, and i fully plan on making a cardigan or long-sleeved crewneck using this same lacey panel at some point in the future. i never ever EVER buy patterns... but this one was totally worth it (i bought it years ago and tried to knit it before i was really, ahem, up to the challenge... i rediscovered the pattern tucked away with loads others after i found this yarn on sale and needed to find something suitable).

here i am standing in front of the SUN at the adler planetarium. hot!


just your average christmas eve.


they had an infrared camera exhibit. look at how cold my nose is.


on our way out of the planetarium, we managed to catch golden hour with the sun setting over chicago.


12/25/2011. day #25, Printed Silk Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio, completed september 2010. this yarn (elsebeth lavold silky wool) gets softer and softer every time i wear it. and the color remains screamingly chartreuse.


what? i've got red and green going on - perfect christmas outfit, right? right-o. i also totally got this hat for christmas and tried my best ruska accent to go along with it.


i was probably singing the muppets version of "12 days of christmas" right here. my favorite part is beaker's part (listen for the "mee-mee-mee mee-mee-mee").


i also got these ridiculous/amazing socks:


12/26/2011. day #26, Miette by Andi Satterlund, completed april 2011. this was knitted up with more of the yarn that an old friend from my hometown found for me at a thrift store. really, he sent me a 2'x3'x3' box full of yarn last winter, and i haven't made it through even half of it yet. this is another sweet, simple pattern. make it! make it, i say! i've been dying to wear it with a poofy skirted dress of some sort, but i don't really own the PERFECT dress for it. jeans will do.


so glad to be home!