Knitting Update, December

 I finished the stockings!  I finished the stockings before Thanksgiving!  They now reside in their new home and were received with many praises.  Whew!  Looking back, I think those stockings have been my big project for 2021.  Each one wasn't really time consuming, but as an identical trio, and keeping detailed notes so that they'd absolutely be identical. . . that was herculean!

Quite by accident (as in, I wasn't looking for them at the time) I found the most perfectly colored pony beads to sew on the Christmas trees as ornaments. Not by accident, I also found gold star buttons to use at the tops of the trees.

After finishing the stockings, I didn't work on my Dad's Rubia socks until last night.  And of course I forgot to take a picture, but sock #2 is 2/3 complete, maybe even closer to 3/4 complete.  Another good few hours of knitting and it will be done.

Instead of working on that, I decided to see how quickly I could knit a new sweater for Faline.  Could I get it done in time for gifting for her birthday?  If not, it could always be a Christmas present.

Well, it got done.  Just in time to block and be dry for her party day.  I used the Viola and Sebastian pattern that I made her infant sweater out of last Christmas, only this time I did the Viola (lace) version and in a size 12-18 months.

I can confidently say that Faline loves it.  As soon as she opened the box I'd wrapped it in, she took it out, put it on (with a little help) and wore it the rest of the day.

Readingwise, I read several books in the past month:

• A Gathering of Secrets by Linda Castillo.  Another Kate Burkholder book, another thoroughly enjoyable and suspenseful read.  
• The Mason House by T. Marie Bertineau.  I loved this book, despite it's mixed reviews.  Probably I loved it because I have lived in (and am very familiar with) the area of the Upper Peninsula it's set in (although most of the story is set in the 70's and 80's and I lived there in the early 90's) and have experienced the culture, the people, the climate, the income level that it is centered around.  For people far removed from that sort of setting, it probably doesn't come across as relatable or even realistic.
• Copper Country by Kristin Neva.  Second in her Copper Island series, this is another UP book. While many of the characters are also in the first book, this one is easily a stand alone book that doesn't have to be read in order. A light read, I tucked this one in my hunting bag and read it over a week while sitting in a tree stand waiting for deer to wander by.
• Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand.  This is the third of a trilogy and nicely wraps up the story.

Currently I have Missing by Shelly Shepard Gray in my hunting bag, and in the house I'm reading Bringing Maggie Home by Kim Vogel Sawyer.