Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Knit

I had a very nice Christmas this year, despite the kids enthusiasm for opening presents at 5am. I'm not an early riser by any stretch of the imagination and get quite cranky when awakened that early, Christmas morning or not. Thankfully, after opening presents and having breakfast, I was able to take a long nap and wake up feeling much more pleasant. Of course by then, half the day was over. But that's what the holidays are for, right? Sleeping a lot, relaxing and having a good time doing as little actual work as possible. Am I way off in that assumption?

One of my favorite gifts this year was this book. I have been wanting it for a while, but couldn't justify buying it for myself with Christmas right around the corner. And I really hoped that I would find this under my tree on Christmas morning. And thanks to my mom and dad, I did. It came with an instructional DVD too!

A couple years ago, I became obsessed with the idea of knitting lace. My mom, mother-in-law, and two of my sisters-in-law have since received knitted doilies from me and I have another finished to keep for myself. (The largest of which ended up being 33" in diameter. Seriously, it's huge.) I love lace, always have. Doilies are beautiful and everything, but you'd look pretty odd wearing one around town. And now that I have this book (along with a couple "hint" notes from my mom inside), I can make myself (and my mom, apparently) some beautiful lacy shawls to wear too.

There's just something special about hand-knit lace, in my opinion. It is intricate and delicate and takes hours upon hours to complete. If someone gives you a lace garment or doily that they have knit themselves, you know that they put a lot of thought and work into it. You know that it wasn't just a last minute thing. Hand-knit lace gifts mean someone holds you in very high esteem. And knitting something lacy for yourself is the highest of knitted indulgences, one I plan on experiencing soon.

Now the only problem is, which pattern do I knit first? They are all so lovely that I'm having a difficult time deciding. Perhaps the best way to go is to start at the beginning of the book and just work my way through it. For now, I think that will be the plan.