This week was a very exciting week for me because I started my first semester at my new school. It seems like I've been working up to this forever, so it was really great to finally be there! I think that it's the perfect fit for me, and already I'm blown away by the differences of attending such a small school as compared to the big ones that I've been to in the past. Everyone there has been really welcoming and supportive so far.
I also got my new computer this week! My school is Mac based, which meant that in order to be on the same page I needed to make the change and dump my little PC. It was kind of terrifying actually, which is apparently really funny to people because Mac's are supposed to be so easy....but I've got to say that I have had some difficult times with Mac's in the past. But this time, this new laptop of mine is my new favorite thing! It's shiny, it's got a huge screen, and so far it's been great. I think we'll be friends.
In other news, our wedding photographer emailed me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that she is going to start making custom wedding albums to offer her clients. She chose our wedding as a sample which you can view here by clicking on "albums" and then "Ginny and Matt". The online view is simply a layout, but she had the real book leather bound in Italy. I just thought it was great to revisit our wedding photos, and I love the way that she grouped the photos together. Heather has an innate sense of each tiny detail that was important to us, and she included most of those moments and details in the book. She's going to come by the house to visit and show us the real album tomorrow afternoon. How nice is that?! I thought it was great.

I'm Baaaack!

I apologize for taking such a lengthy vacation from the blog, but maybe you'll forgive me after seeing all of the gifts that I made for Christmas. For a minute there I didn't think I would be able to finish everything on time, but I came through in the end! And I have to say that I'm so happy that I made most of my gifts instead of buying them, even if it caused me a little bit of stress....

Mom's sweater caused the most stress. This was mostly due to the fact that I started it in June and then had to rip out all of my work when I realized that the yarn I was using just didn't work with the pattern I was following. I ended up making a seamless sweater because it was so easy to jump into and didn't require an exhausting pattern search. I like the finished sweater, and Mom says that it's the only sweater she's ever owned that didn't have sleeves that were too long for her. I'm just happy that it fits! I called her first thing Christmas morning just because I was so Handknervous for her to open it.

This bag is for Pua, my sister-in-law. The pattern is from Interweave Spring 2006, yarn is Nashua Creative Worsted which I doubled and knitted with a size #13 needle. The bag is huge, but I loved making it. I made this at the beginning of the summer, which in retrospect was a very good idea.

I just love this picture. I made these two aprons for Matt's Nana's using a pattern from Amy Butler's book. The fabric is from Japan, but I bought it at Satin Moon Fabrics here in SF. I wish I would have made one of these for me!

This bathrobe was one of the more challenging projects, but I think it was a good learning experience. It fits Matt's Mom perfectly, and she was really excited about it.
Now that I'm posting all of my hand-knitted gifts I'm realizing that in all of my rushing around before Christmas I forgot to take pictures of a lot of the things that I made. I guess I'll just have to tell you that I also made an Elf Cap from Handknit Holidays. (I'll definitely make another one of these.) And I sewed a log cabin pillow that turned out really nicely and was really fun to make.
Oh well. Now that I'm back home I've got some cleaning up to do as well as some more knitting. I'm thinking that my unofficial New Year's Resolution is going to be to knit up some of my stash because my craft closet is overflowing with yarn and fabric. I've already gotten through about eight balls of yarn for a sweater that I started over the break...and I know that you just can't wait to see my sweater.