Schrodinger's Kittie

So, here are some of the wonderful things I got from my delightful and spectacular family.

My mother finished the king sized quilt she’s been working on for me for years. I love it!

Then, if that weren’t enough to blow me away – Daddy gave me a spinning wheel! He made it out of jarrah wood. It’s got ash splines in the wheel; but, otherwise, it’s 100% jarrah. It’s gorgeous and the weight of it is surreal. It definitely won’t be walking across the floor when I use it.

Plus a gorgeous cedar box. And, Dad let me play with his lathe and make myself a jarrah rolling pin out of the left over wood. How much does my Daddy love me? Well, he found out he was allergic to jarrah when he started making the wheel. Yet, he pushed on through and finished it for me – in a wood he’s allergic to!

Finally, we pieced together the family blanket. Each of the blocks was made by someone in the family:

Emily – age 10 – did the brown and blue variegated squares.
Jessica – age 12 – did the rainbow variegated squares.
Jason – age 17 – did the ivory squares.
Julia – my sister – did the maroon squares.
I did the oatmeal squares.
Mom did the green squares.

I did a key square to fill the one spot that was left empty. As you can see, not everyone got their full number of squares done.

I love how it turned out.

The best Christmas present I can ever receive is the love of an item that I’ve taken the time to make for someone. I am blessed to belong to a family of people who truly appreciate hand crafted items. I think the highlight of my night was when my mother and her sisters loved their shawls…and even better than that? When my little cousin, Kaylee, actually fit into the sweater I made her. I was so worried that it might not fit…but, it was as if I’d had her there to measure against. Amazingly perfect fit.

Photos:

They all opened their presents at the same time and loved them. I managed to select the perfect colours for each of them. Yay!

Then the cuteness overload began:

Of course, who can focus on just the knitting when there are so many other wonderful things going on and so much wonderful family and laughter?

I am going to cheat and just post the whole crew here, to help keep the post from going way overboard in the photo area – but, I am so glad to be a part of this family. I can’t even begin to explain how much they mean to me – each and every one of them.

Back Row (left to right): Grace, Emily, Matt, Jessica, Deborah, Wayne
Front Row (left to right): Bryan, Kaylee, Lesli, Dianne, Robert, Helen, Carol, Delbert, Julia

If only Jaz had been there, it would have been perfect. As it was, we all thought of him and called to let him know he was missed and loved.

So I finished Kate’s present tonight. I’m so thrilled. This means I can give it to her before I head out to my parents’ for the holidays. Since I know she won’t read this before I give it to her, I’m going to go ahead and post the photo of the present along with the particulars.

		Name: Noro Cash Iroha Colour: 102 and 103 Dye Lot: 5 Size: 99 yards Composition: 40% Silk, 30% Lambswool, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon yarn
		Size: 8 US (5.0mm) Brand: Addi / Brittany Circular/DPN: circular / Bamboo DPN Length: 24″ / 7.5″
		Pattern: Palindrome Hat
		Notes: I worked this with two strands of the cash iroha held together.  It was a bit tighter knit than I would have liked; and, if I do it again, I’d drop the needle size and up the repeats by one to compensate.  Otherwise, overall, I love how it turned out and would certainly make it again.