Felled by the flu

the week of thanksgiving was a blur. the tree was harvested on monday morning, our annual tradition. it's always up in it's stand and decorated by thanksgiving thursday.... rain or shine. or mud. or ice. or.... you get my drift. i've harvested trees with a babe in my arms, in a sled, dragged a toddler up a hill and through the woods. every year, i swear that it's not worth the effort and then i sit with a glass of wine and look at this....

so yeah, it's worth it!
back to my story, we came home with this beauty, set it up. later that night i was awakened to 'i feel sick' followed by the gastrointestinal bug from h%#$. just as the sun was rising, the next one started. i scrubbed, kept the washer running, fetched and carried and by the next day thought we were in the clear. our guests arrived for the afternoon, and i went south. i really have no clear focus on time until saturday afternoon when i was able to get out of bed. the worst part? no knitting or spinning or fiber!
this week, i'm back on track and see the end of the color affection wrap. i'm starting the bind-off and since there are 5 billion stitches, it's going to take me awhile. it really is a beast!

as i plug along, i've started to plan my next project. i have only one holiday knitted gift to complete, so i went searching for the yarn. i'm making the cloisonne mittens by yarn harlot as my christmas craft. i've done mittens in years past  and actually thought about finally making a pair of thrummed mitts, but amythefibergoddess reminded me that i had not done these yet, so yarn hunting i went.

i went with some stashed cascade 220. i love this yarn. it's durable, nice to work with and the finished product is lovely. this picture is a very poor representation of the colors, so look at this....

wow, what a difference. going with the basic black for the hand, and kicking it up with the fun colors. i want the recipient to look at their cuffs and smile when they get that blast of color.