Jananas

My bags are packed and I’m ready to go. I’m sitting on the couch at 5:30 in the morning waiting for a friend to pick me up and drop me off at the airport (I have very, very nice friends). This morning I’m flying from Toronto to Columbus, OH – its one of the few flights that makes good use of Aeroplan Miles and generally has seats free. I’m meeting Jason in Ohio. We’re planning on spending this afternoon eating some good food before grabbing dinner with his parents. We’re dropping stuff off there so that I have warm-ish clothes when we get back in December). One of our friends is going to pick us up at Jason’s parents’ place this evening and drive us down to Cincy, where we fly out for Bangkok, Thailand tomorrow morning bright and early. eeep!

I’m admittedly a little nervous, but it feels good to finally be getting in motion and, well, just going. We’re going to be in southeast Asia from October 8th returning December 9th. I’ll be returning to Canada December 16th, just in time to crash and burn before the holidays (thankfully I’m done all my major shopping – one less thing to worry about). I’ll be updating the blog as we go so that friends and family can stay up to date on our travels, so check back for updates!

Catch you kids on the flip side.

We’re leaving for Asia on Wednesday and will be coming back mid December. This creates some logistical problems around getting Christmas presents ready in time. In what may be a record setting feat, I’ve completed all of my major Christmas shopping already. All that was required was a little bit of forethought and a tiny bit of planning (as if I needed more answers for behavioural interview questions). For my own family, I’ve gotten major presents taken care of. I know that I have a week when I finally get back to Canada to deal with stocking stuffers and other goodies.

Jason’s family is a little bit more of a problem. Mostly because I have to mail their presents down to them, but won’t have enough time given crazy Christmas mailing rushes to get their presents down once I get back to Canada. Because I leave early Tuesday morning this means that I have to have their presents mailed out by tomorrow. I spend some time this morning finishing up some knitted goodies and wrapping presents. And yes, it did feel weird to be wrapping presents in October.

I want to share two of the presents I made with you dear interwebs (mostly because the surprise won’t get ruined for these ones!). Jason’s father had made a semi passive aggressive comment about the fact that I hadn’t knit him anything yet. In my defense, Jason’s father is a blacksmith and barter-enthusiast and hunter, and just generally isn’t into pretty scarves or hats or otherwise not quite practical things. After some soul searching and lots of browsing on Ravelry I decided that I’d make him some big woolly socks (so that his toes stay warm while hunting). Not that I’m a really a fan of hunting, but I’d rather make something that someone will use than not. Excuse the photos as I was modeling big manly socks on my rather average sized lady’s foot.

Last year I made Jason’s mother a neckwarmer in a dusty rose shade that suited her quite well. I was trying to think of something that would work both in colour and in theme/usefulness while keeping in mind that she doesn’t wear hats, etc. My friend Jess gave me some lovely variegated sheep shop yarn #3 that had some dusty rose and otherwise generally seemed like it would work well. I paired it with some black alpaca that Jason’s sister gifted me and voila, a Christmas present! I found this lovely pattern on Ravelry – Squirrel and Oak Mittens. It was my first time working with colours and I’m glad to say that it really wasn’t as scary or terrible as I’d imagined it to be.

Sadly, they look a little wonky lying flat. But they fit like a charm! The other side looks just as lovely and the pattern continues so well over the thumb that you can barely see it on the left mitten. Plus, I really like how the variegated yarn looks in the mittens.

So that’s the story of how I finished my Christmas shopping before October, including all handmade gifts.

Growing up my dad had a copy of “The Dune Storybook”, which is based off the Frank Herbert series and the 1984 movie. During the 80′s I was too young to know about either of those, but I have very definite memories of reading the storybook. I was walking home one day this week and our local used bookstore had a copy in the window, so of course I picked it up. I think that the salesperson was actually a little surprised by how quickly the transaction went. Essentially it was ‘price?’, ‘$xx’, ‘awesome, give it to me’. And, done.

I’m stoked to have this little piece of my childhood. Even if no one else understands or cares, its important to me.

I read it to myself over the last few nights (not that its a difficult or lengthy read, more that I’ve been sleepy). The only thing that would have been better is if Jason had read it to me.

There’s nothing quite like sleeping cat face to make my day a little brighter. Look at those whiskers!