So... How Many Days 'til Christmas?

I was meant to finish mittens over the weekend, but I got ahead of myself and started Christmas gifts.

See, I was starting to get really nervous about whether or not I'd finish the most important one and we had several hours in the car for our trip so I jumped in: meet Kernel, a gift for my mother-in-law. I'm about 3 repeats into the body, only 20 more to go plus the edging. I'm surprised at how fast the repeats are working up, but at the same time really happy about that because it means I actually have a chance at finishing the prayer shawl my mom requested last week. I told her not to expect it at Christmas, but I'm really hoping to have it complete by then!

These are the mittens I kind of ignored. I did finish the ribbing and the thumb on the first mitten and got a good start on the second one. I'll finish them soon now that I feel so much better about the scarf situation.

And while we were in Wichita over the weekend my mom and  I had to act as a cover for the surprise birthday party for my sister-in-law so we took her shopping while the boys set up for the party. We had extra time to kill and I mentioned that I'd read about Twist in Wichita and she thought that was a great idea! I *heart* that shop!!! It happened to be yarn hop weekend so it was a little crazy in there, but there was so much more selection there than my LYS and the girl who helped me out was absolutely amazing talking to me about beads. Why beads? Because I finally found just the yarn I want for the Shipwreck Shawl [Rav link]. I think I might be up for it very soon. I have one more lace project planned ahead of it and then I think I'll feel confident enough to go for it.

I may have told Brian we are moving to Wichita.