Okay. I'm going to be completely honest here...I'm not really into the Christmas season. I used to be very into it...a little too much, some might say. The past few years have been tough to get through, but this one hasn't been difficult at all really (at least as of yet). In truth, I haven't really been noticing what time of year it is very much. We've watched some Christmas movies, music has played in my car and in our home, we cut down a tree, there's a wreath on our door (inside, so we can smell the wonderful pine scent) - all of this and still there's a void where the feeling of the season used to be.
With this lack of interest this year, I've had a difficult time finding gifts for people. Earlier this week I decided that I would try my hand at knitting again. I've successfully knitted wrist-warmers and scarves, but that was about 4 years ago.
I learned to knit from my friend's Grandmother. We visited her one afternoon, fixed her a cocktail, and had her teach us. She hadn't knitted in 10+ years herself, so there was a bit of learning curve for her as well. Luckily I've retained a lot of what I learned from her that day (over 6 years ago) and I'm in the process of knitting a gift for someone. And it's turning out quite good, if I do say so.
Whenever I knit I find myself thinking of Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas by Jim Henson. There's a scene where one of the muppets is knitting. Her hands (paws, really) are just moving back and forth, and sometimes that's all it feels like I'm doing. That is until I start to see something taking shape. "I did that!" That's what I kept saying to Peter last night.
Here is a scene from Emmet Otter - one of my very favorite Christmas movies.