Until last night, I?ve been too intimidated to try casting on using any other method than the one I was taught to use from the very beginning. I have managed to make my cast-on stitches look fairly neat and stable. Unfortunately, that method isn?t always the best one for some projects I?ve had my eye on. For instance, I really wanted to try Wendy?s Toe-Up Sock pattern when I first began working with the Regia yarn in my stash, but when I read that I?d have to do a ?provisional cast-on? and that that method required me to wield a crochet hook, I let my fears get the better of me. The only thing I?ve been able to use a crochet hook for thus far was to pick up dropped stitches. I had no idea how to crochet a chain.

That all changed last night. I panicked about the fact that my father was going to be here on Sunday and that I still didn?t have anything to give him for the holidays. I tried starting a watch cap for him, but none of the yarn I had on hand really wanted to be knit up as a watch cap. I then conducted a desperate search on the internet for a free hat pattern that would be quick and easy to knit and which I could make from materials on hand. Eureka! I found a nice pattern in the most recent edition of Knitty and had the perfect red wool for the project. I started to read the instructions?and that?s when I learned that I?d have to do a provisional cast-on. (Insert ominous theme music here.) My heart fell.

After indulging in self-pity for awhile, I took heart and resolved to learn how to crochet a chain and do a provisional cast-on. I found my trust ?dropped stitches picker-upper,? a.k.a. crochet hook, fired up google and located a tutorial on crocheting a chain (I can’t find the site right now, but will link to it once I re-discover it). Within a very short while, I had accomplished the first hurdle. It wasn?t as bad as I had feared. In fact, it was remarkably easy!

I then went back to Wendy?s instructions for a toe-up sock, and read through her explanation of a provisional cast-on until it seemed fairly clear to me. I tried to do what she said, but then found that my crocheted chain was waaaaay too tight. I redid the chain, but at a much looser tension, then knitted into the bumps on its ?wrong? side and voila! I had accomplished what I thought was impossible a short time before. So, here I am feeling very cocky about my newly gained skill and am almost ready to face a ?tubular? cast-on for my next project.

Last night, Sam helped me decorate our Christmas tree. He started out by handing me decorations to put on the tree and sometimes indicated where he wanted them placed. Eventually, I encouraged him to try to hang decorations on his own. He had a lot of trouble figuring out how to place the hook on the branch so the ornament wouldn?t slide off, but had a number of triumphant moments. I was very amused by his determination to hang all ornaments of a similar type on the same branch. All the colored balls belonged on branch one, the felt ornaments belonged on branch two and icicles belonged on branch three, etc. It?s funny how a toddler?s mind works. His efforts in that regard didn?t work out too well, so I had to help him do a little bit of rearranging. What he really liked doing was collecting all the plastic ornament hooks and connecting them together. Once he discovered how fun this was, I lost my little helper, lol! Anyway, I?ll post a photo of the tree later on today.

My parents called last night to inform us that they?d be showing up Sunday afternoon and would be catching a plane to the East Coast on Monday morning. They?re going to visit my aunt and uncle who live in Maryland. It will be nice to have them for one night at least! They?ll be dropping off the incredible gift they bought for Sam: a wooden artist?s easel with a chalkboard on one side and a dry erase board on the other. My little artist is going to love that! Mom also finished mending the sweater I had knit and which the cat decided was a fun thing to gnaw through. It may not be perfect, but at least I?ll have one sweater to my credit! I?ll be sure to post a photo of that as well.

If you?re in the mood for a little holiday cheer, go ahead and try out the new skin I created for this weblog!

It?s such a relief to be back to work after this weekend. I never thought I would hear myself say that, but it truly reflects how I feel. The weekend wore me out. Robert hurt his back helping the plumber sort out all the problems with our system, so he was mostly out-of-commission, which meant that I had to take care of both of our sets of chores plus some extraordinary ones due to the holiday season. We also had a couple of weeks worth of laundry piled up on account of the plumbing fiasco.

I hardly made any headway with my list of projects. I accomplished very little knitting, except I did finish the parts for the baby cardigan. Sewing them together will have to wait until next weekend, I think?unless I?m miraculously gifted with a fount of energy. Since I am in the mood to work on something easy, I?ve started working on the second Regia sock. It?s a good project to take on my commute.

One thing we did make ourselves to do was get a Christmas tree. I have always had a real Christmas tree in the house and wanted one again this year, but the prices were really out of this world. Things certainly are different from when I lived in Montana and could go out and cut one down somewhere on our property. We broke down and bought an artificial tree?a very nice one, but it sure is different from what I?m used to. There?s none of that lovely scent. I have heard that people use a pine scented spray, so I may have to try that to make it feel more ?Christmasy? in our home. Sam likes the tree (or ?tower? as he calls it) and all its pretty lights. Hopefully, over the next few evenings, we?ll be able to get the thing completely decorated!