Get it?

Today is January 6 - the official date of the feast of the Epiphany.  Also the day the last "respectable" day to keep your Christmas decorations up.  Which means I should take down my tree and put away the Nativity set and the Advent calendar.  But all that will have to wait - probably until next week.  In order to put all of this stuff away, I need to first clean/straighten/organize the craft room so that I can get into the closet that has the box for the tree and the storage for the decorations.  But I'm too busy to take care of that this week.  

(Ok, full disclosure.  I love Christmas but am not the biggest fan of winter.  The Winter season is long and the Christmas season is short.  Christmas stuff makes me happy.  So I like to leave my decorations up a little longer than most people.  I've even considered leaving my tree up year round - totally possibly since it's artificial - and changing the decorations for each holiday.  Think what you wish, I love my Christmas tree and all the stuff that goes on it.  Especially the lights.  But the stuff about needing to organize the craft room first is also true.)

I'm feeling a little sad that Christmas is over, though I'm already prepping for next year.  I didn't quite have the time to knit all the gifts I wanted to this year (oh yeah, I'm a Knitter - with a capital K, for all those knitters out there - this is one of those many things I do that I was vaguely hinting at last time.)  It used to be that I only knew a few people who would appreciate hand knitted gifts.  Now I know a lot of people who would love for me to knit them something - so I'm starting now, and maybe in December I won't be kicking myself for thinking I could start the holiday knitting in October.  

Part of the problem this year was that my mom turned 50 in October but I didn't see her until Thanksgiving which means her birthday knitting wasn't finished until then, severely cutting into my holiday knitting time.

She got this beautiful February Lady Sweater (You do not even know how much I wanted to keep this for myself) 

And cashmere socks with a beaded leg (Whirlpool Socks in Artyarns Cashmere Sock)

Which meant when I spent the next month working furiously to finish a pair of Aegean Mitts (in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Heavyweight colorway Tanzanite) 

My first ever colorwork mittens - Ruba'iyat Mittens in Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool

A Fish Hat for my brother - in Giants colors.  (My dad got one in Packers colors last year.  I guess we are just Fishy for Football in my family).

A giant afghan (I think it was something like 7 feet long and 5 feet wide) for my friend Laura (feather and fan pattern I devised on my own)

And a large Laminaria shawl for my grandmother.  (This one almost didn't make it.  I blocked it in the hotel room at midnight the day before our Christmas visit.  I knit on it pretty much all of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the day after Christmas and for the 11 hour drive on our way to visit.  Crazy.  But soooo beautious.)

The pictures really don't do this one justice, but that's what you get when you don't finish your knitting in time for a proper photo shoot.  

Ok, show and tell over.  Let's just say that I've got all kinds of plans for this year.  Many of them have to do with knitting.  And being more ready for Christmas 2011 than I was for Christmas 2010.

Also, I really was writing because I wanted to tell you I bought my Rockin' Sock Club membership yesterday, and as usual, am super excited.  When most people hear that I've joined a sock knitting club, they look at me like I've lost my marbles and the men in the white coats might be coming for me soon.  But I'm hoping that you will get it.