Christmas taking stock of the season

So after having yet another day of Christmas knitting interrupted by that dreaded swear word WORK I have come to the realization that I am not going to be ready for Christmas and I am never going to have a hope in Hades that I will be ready for Christmas.  After a fair bit of prayer to St Therese to help to work out what is going on.  I just don't feel that I am ready for Christmas. Ok it is time to pull out Plan C that is to go with the flow and just bumble our way through this Christmas period. I really don't have the time or effort to go all out for Christmas. I have not even done the Christmas cards that horrified one of my colleagues today. Sod it are they really that important or a true part of the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas is meant to be the time to celebrate the joy of new life and the coming New Year not being this all consuming madness that stresses everyone out and causes people to compete with each other. Christmas is not about stores and shopping events but families and the friends. For many families Christmas time is the only time families can unite in one place to catch up with each other. For some Christmas is a time of excitement and joy but for so many it is also a time of despondency and heartache.

Christmas time in our family is when we take the opportunity to gather together and remember those who are no longer with us from our Christmas Pasts. Our family, like many Territorian families, have good and bad Christmas memories thanks to Cyclone Tracy.

Even now, so many years later, I still get anxious in the build up to Christmas and am not able to get a good night sleep until I have survived midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami brought back so many memories but also provided an opportunity to help others like we had been helped in the aftermath of Tracy.


The Christmas break is also an opportunity to take stock of where we are at and prepare for the New Year. I like many use the Yule time period as an opportunity to reflect on the past year and prepare for the New Year.
I don’t make New Year Resolutions but I do attempt to hash out a few goals so that we actually get something done.

This evening as I drove across the wilds of Lancashire in the Fog on my own I had time to think about why I was so stressed and was it really worth it. I came to the realization that No it was not. We are all healthy at the moment, which after the year we have had is quiet remarkable. We are not rich and not poor we have elegant sufficiency so the bills are paid and we are muddling through. The kids are growing and achieving in school, they have friends and are happy; so what else do we need. Our little, healthy family is happy and contented consequently, do we really need all the rest of that fandango.

This Christmas we will be taking time to catch up with each other and have some of that quality time which we can lose in our busy lifestyle thanks to the demands of work, school and other activities that make up normal family life in today's busy society. While we are spending time together, we will also be taking the opportunity to pass on some of our good fortune on to others though organisations such as Oxfam and Heifer.

So please have a safe and Merry Christmas with your family and friends. If you can remember someone who is not as fortunate as you are do so.

Merry Christmas from the Kota Atok family.

Finished Objects

As the coughing subsided the knitting resumed. I managed to finish off the Sasika KAL from the Ravelry Beginners Lace Knitters October KAL whoo hoo another item of the Xmas list. So while on a roll let work on getting another item of the Xmas list. After some lace feast that I have seemed to be on for the last couple of months I was looking for a change.

Ok no lace what do I have on the list - a  waist coat for J the husbeast/silverback gorilla. Yeap I need to start it soon cause it is going to be a long slog any sort of knitting for J is going to be a long hard slog cause of the dimensions of that man. People forget that even with the false legs his body is still the size of man who would have been 6'8" tall. That means we are talking a whopping 72cm from shoulder to waist, sodding gorilla knuckle scrapping length arms and the knowledge that when ever you knit for him it will take a while.

So I cast on the back well we getting along and we are cruising along. If I can get a half a ball done a day well I might have a hope in hades chance to get it done. Surprise Surprise waiting around for kids and soccer match later I am getting along and starting to make progress on the back. Back down. Ok 1/2 done 1/2 way to go. Wont be so bad it will be in 2 halves not so heavy and easy to transport. The downside has been the amount of additional material that seems to be in the Rowan Summer Tweed. For a 80% silk and 20% cotton mix there appears to be a lot of sodding extra material for a commercial yarn. This product also snaps off very very easily and so I have lots of ends to weave in.

But in about 2 weeks I had finished the sucker, if he does not wear it I will probably never knit for him ever again. The last front panel probably took the longest. I took it to work, I took it to school , I took it to xray, and I took it to the doctors. If I could get another row done every time I was waiting round or sitting round I could get nearer to that mythical finish line.

This pattern definitely had a section between the waist band and the armcycle were I thought I was in a black hole and not progressing anywhere at all anywhere and still had a long way to go.

Now what am I going to do next. Does that mean I have to make a decision?

Weekend Lace Wrap finally Finished

After some ups and downs I managed to finish the Weekend Lace Wrap there are a couple of creative adaptations which I am going to keep as I just can not be arsed to fix. I am so over this knit if I worked on this item any more I think I would have thrown it into the kitty litter. It is pretty but I am not ready to do lace again in a long long while. Lace is still my hoodoo guru.

I have cast on a BSJ on and finished it one night. I then cast on a second BSJ in rock bright colours. The news about the bush fires at home as me on tender hooks I just can not sleep as we are worrying about people at home in Oz. We are wondering if Uncle and his family are safe. We also have friends in the key area who no one has heard from. I just can not sleep.