As promised, Mom came down to spend Christmas with us on Thursday afternoon. We had a nice day together on Friday. We ran a couple errands… Mom wanted to help us pick out new fabric to cover our kitchen chairs with, and to buy the Maeve Binchy book I just finished for herself. She also wanted to take us out to a late lunch. We ended up at King’s Seafood in Orange, and had a fabulous meal. After we got home we got out all the stuff needed, and decorated the Christmas tree.

Then Mom called Dad.

Poor Mom. Dad wanted to know where she was, and she just said she was at home. But she felt horrible about it. It eat at her. She was withdrawn for quite a while after that call… Until it got to be too much for her, and we talked about it. She had wanted so badly to spend Christmas with us, but she really needed to be with Dad. She didn’t know what to do. We told her that since she needed to be with her husband, then that’s where she should be. I got on the phone to the airline, explained things, and they changed her ticket to 9:00 on Saturday morning. Then I called my uncle, and he arranged for a friend to pick her up at the airport. Though still quite emotional, Mom felt a lot better after that. Since we suddenly weren’t going to be together on Christmas morning, we opened our few presents to each other that night, then bundled Mom off to her room to pack and get ready for bed.

We all got up quite early on Saturday, got Mom to the airport with plenty of time to spare. She had a good flight. Found her ride. Got home. Went to see Dad. And she felt a lot better. I talked to her again on Christmas, and she was busy making cookies to take to Dad. She was going to spend most of the day with him. She felt so much better. Good.

Poor Mom’s been through so much the last couple of years what with Dad being so sick and all. It was just too much for her to be away from him at Christmas. I’m glad we sent her home. Dave and I were fine by ourselves. And she felt better being home, and getting to see Dad.

On the stitching front: nothing whatsoever happened over Christmas.

On the knitting front: I got this fun book, A Treasury of Magical Knitting by Cat Bordhi, for myself Mom so I can make her a moebius scarf for Christmas. I was really hoping that the book would arrive while she was here, but no such luck. Since I was placing an order anyway, I went ahead and got a little more sock yarn (blue Essentials), and the Almost Argyle pattern. The cone of yarn is one I already had, but I included it here since that’s the yarn Mom picked out for her moebius scarf. It’s a charcoal chenille. Yum. Soft. I must insert a note here. I made a first attempt at Cat’s magical cast-on method for the moebius… I can do it. I know I can! But, I need much longer circular needles. Yeow. 32 inches is just not enough. When I held up what I’d done for Dave to see, and demonstrated what I’d need to do next—or, rather, tried to demonstrate it—he agreed. New needles are a necessity. Very glad I did the mini test with yarn other than that chenille. The chenille will make a lovely and soft moebius, though it was good to easily see what I was doing with the other yarn, while not having to worry about the yarn itself.

Also on the knitting front: I finished my wrist warmers! Since I can’t seem to be able to take a picture where you can see both of them while I’m wearing them, here they are on the floor. I wore them all morning, and they’re divine.

Also on the knitting front: This…

Became this…

I haven’t worked on this Amble sock since early October, not even to finish off the toe. I found I didn’t really like the way it looked (though I loved other people’s Amble socks), and I hated knitting it. Now my pretty purple Opal sock yarn is free to become something that I’ll enjoy more.