"Let me es-splain".

"No, there is too much...let me sum up."

Seriously, though. Where do I start? Right before I fell off the edge of the Earth, I was knitting and crafting a lot. Mostly stuff I couldn't blog, because the items were gifts that hadn't been given. At this point, I think it's all fair game, so I will recap some of the knitting for you.

I made this awesome pattern for my Dad, with a Dunkin Donuts gift card inside. (He's coffee crazy, just like me.) The designer is none other than our very own Heather (on Crafter she's "MissKnittyPants") who won the last prize from my contest. Small world, huh? Anyhow, I love it, it was easy and quick, and I think my Dad was pleased, too. Plus, his fingers won't burn through his cup, so that's a bonus.



Holli's sweater was finished in plenty of time for Christmas, but I believe I didn't really blog the finished product. Here's the picture:





And on Holli, so sweet!



Finally, I also knit up some Fetching fingerless mitts for Maura. These are so gorgeous, in Knitpicks Andean Silk. The yarn really is fabulous, and I think this Lettuce colorway is my favorite of anything right now. I did run a little short on yarn. So I cursed a bit, and then started ripping back the second one. I wasn't short by much. In the end, I had to use a button hole style thumb to save on the thumb yarn, and I did the "body" of the mitts with two fewer rows each. Then the rest worked out, with like, none to spare. Whew! In past days, I would have just either given her something else, or ordered more yarn and waited until it arrived. Poor Mo would have had to wait for her gift, too. Thanks to a little more experience knitting, and the many helpful people on KnitHappens and Ravelry, I had a few tricks up my sleeve and could adapt the pattern to the amount of yarn I had on hand. Gotta love Knitting Friends!

Here's a pic of the mitts--finished, finally.



With the gift knitting completed, we started the festivities...

First off, we went to my parents' house for Christmas Eve. Well, it's also Spencer's birthday (awwwwww) so we had a special Christmas Eve/Birthday celebration dinner at my sister's that evening. She and Don really did quite a job. Ann was in charge of a cake for Spencer, and she made this for him:



As most two year olds are, he is very into Elmo. Didn't she do a great job?! I loved it, and yes, it did taste as good as it looks. Dinner was amazing, too. My Brother-in-Law, Don, was in charge (you might know him as "Holli's Dad"?) and it was delicious...my favorite part was the cheesy twice baked potato casserole type thing. Not sure what it was, but I want to make a house out of it and live there until I eat the entire thing. Oh, so good.

It took Spencer a second or two to figure out the cake was Elmo...


...but I think he approved.


I can't believe my baby is not-so-much a baby anymore. Sort of sad, but he's a wonderful kiddo and I've very proud of him. We all had a great time at his little party, and I think we succeeded at making it more "Spencer's b-day" than "X-mas Eve". Here is my favorite photo. You can actually see wrapping paper flying through the air:



How funny is that?

Tune in next time for more pre-Christmas fun (meeting the big man) and an update on my latest knitting (Calorimetry).