Twelfth Day

Today is THE Twelfth Day of Christmas. This year there's convergence between the Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian calendars, so one can say that without asterisks, fear of offense or contradiction, or risk of faith-based tumult [sigh]. In honor of the day, here's a last Christmas confection, a confession, and an offering.

Behold the peppermint-striped sock worked in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, custom stripe 0ns/11ns available at Purl. I love the way the striping changes from thin stripes on the leg to bold stripes on the heel flap to skinny stripes on the gusset and back to thin stripes on the foot. (I originally worked a short-row heel, which yielded an even prettier stripe pattern on the heel, but the fit was not comfortable, so off it went to the frog pond.) There are more rows in the heel flap than stitches picked up along each edge, which makes the flap curve gently to cup the heel, one of the elegant niceties of a full-fashioned sock.

Also visible in the picture is a nifty green-tipped needle holder, StitchKeepers by Rollie, a most useful gadget I learned about from Kim. They're on the pricey side for point protectors/needle holders, but they do a superior job of preventing stitches from sliding off needles, keeping needle sets together, and stopping needles from poking through tote bags. I got 'em at Stix-n-Stitches (Exit 148).

As holiday knitting time was consumed by other needful things, I didn't finish a single official holiday project this season. I'm 0 for 5. So no gold star for me. At least I found the rest of the holiday plates, which will all be placed back in the box marked Christmas plates.



My fellow SnBers took a pass, so the Karabella is on sale at DeStash. It's my first offering – may it find a happy new home! [ETA: Got a nibble! So far, so good.] It's sold!

Tomorrow is a day for spinning. Cara mentioned Judy's post on Distaff Day – apparently January 7 is the traditional date for post-holidays resumption of traditional women's work... as opposed to the non-work of holiday cooking, etc? It's also the Memorial Ride in NYC to remember cyclists killed during 2006. The weather is still so freakishly mild that I'm inclined to spin outdoors. Cyclists notoriously tend to get fat over the winter, but this season so far there's been little excuse. Ahem.