Christmas in July

My sister-in-law, Linda, once told me that Christmas is like a part-time job.  There is always so much to do, that I have to agree.  Although a chorus of “Dominick the Donkey” can lift my mood and put me in the holiday spirit, I get totally stressed by thoughts of gift-giving, decorating, baking, handmade gifts, etc.  I make a yearly resolution to begin my knitting and sewing gifts in July, but this promise seems to meet the same fate as the one I make every January 1st to lose weight.  My ideas and plans for cabled scarves, fluffy mittens, hats, aprons, potholders, etc. dissolve and I inevitably find myself, mid-December, at the mall at midnight becoming quite unpleasant when my coupons will not work on my purchase (do they ever??).

I know it’s the end of July, and I haven’t made a thing, but today, as I dusted my collection of Christmas tree pins, I felt a slight twinge of inspiration and motivation!

My collection began back in the 90’s, with a single vintage pin from the Brimfield Antique Show.  Some I bought.  Most were gifts.  And many I’ve just yanked off the coat or sweater of the wearer.  (My sister, Nancy, can attest to this.  To avoid further altercations, she now buys one for me..one for her).

I may not have knit anything this July, but as I was browsing my photo archive, I found pictures of a holiday hat and booties that I had made for my now not-so-little nephew, Daniel.

The hat pattern was from an old 1950’s knitting book, and the booties came from “50 baby booties to knit“, by Zoe Mellor.  I just love this book!  It is jam-packed with the cutest patterns and most beautiful photographs.  I used sport weight yarn for both, and spent an hour (or more) reinforcing those little jingle bells with button thread!

Well, August is just about here, and there are 148 days until Christmas.  If I cross hand-knit socks off my list and add more washcloths, I should be in great shape.

“A”