What I've done in January ... and there's still time left!

It's been quite the month for me -- from finishing projects, starting projects, and everything in between!

Firstly, and there is no photo to go along with this, I've been x-c skiing THREE times! The first two times created an amazing variety of bruises. My knees look like they've been painted various colours of green, blue, purple and black. So unattractive! But the third time? Not a single wipe-out, and a grand time was had by all. I'm looking forward to this weekend -- the potential for another three ski outings!

Remember Doug's (non-existent) Christmas socks? This is how they look now!

The boy is ridiculously happy!

We are teaching a fair isle class at the shop. In times past, I have used all kinds of bad words, in many combinations, to express my displeasure with fair isle. I did learn, finally, a technique to wrap the yarns so that they don't tangle around each other. The result:
This lovely hat and fingerless mittens. I used Patons Classic Merino and some neat yarn my step-daughter brought home from her trip to Ireland, on a 4.5mm for the hat, and 4.0mm for the mitts. Doesn't the inside of the work look nice? (Not that I'm fishing for compliments or anything!)
These little ensemble just might become a gift for the young ladies in my life. All four of them live in cold climates and a little extra warmth would be greatly appreciated by them.

In other news -- January 2 was the one-year anniversary of the shop's big relocation. We decided to have a party. But first, we needed to clear the counter of coffee mugs. Doug built and installed this for us, the morning of the party. Cut it a bit close, but after giving him a ball of yarn for his unknit socks, who am I to complain?
Since the party, he has installed a second, smaller panel which holds 18 mugs to the left of the first panel. Interestingly, a number of ladies brought cups in, and we're now looking at a total of 16 empty spaces.

I did mention that we threw a party, right? Parties involve food.
It was all delicious. Entirely too good. At the wool shop, however, there are no calories, so were just fine with it all.

And if you have delicious food and wool, you just know there will be friends!

All told, we had 20 people attend the party, as well as another half dozen who stopped by and shopped. Or dropped off chocolate.

I'm so excited that Doug procured the Addi Click needles for me. The fair isle set above was knit with them. For the hat I used the 16" cable, and it was quite nice to not have to finagle magic loop. (Did I say that out loud?!?) And you all know how dedicated I am to knitting everything possible on circular needles. So, guess what I did Tuesday?
Started a new project on my new Addi Clicks!