Pretty Things

Look, I know it's a busy holiday week for a lot of my readers, and that includes me as well; our son Sam arrived home yesterday, while Allie will be here tomorrow, so blogging is taking a backseat for now.  But I wanted to share with you a few pretty things, just because.

First up is this votive candle vessel that my mom made:

She blended silk fabrics to create this - I've got a glass votive candle holder sitting it it, although it's illuminated by the sun shining through for this picture.

Next is this artsy bowl, also made by my mom:

I set it in this spot to get the sunlight streaming on it for the picture, but normally it resides on my fireplace mantle, next to the copper bowl that I brought back from Santa Fe last year.  I love how they looks so nice together, when she just made it using colors she liked...it just happened to go perfectly with my copper bowl.

My mom likes to play with fiber, and sends me pictures of what she's working on, and sometimes I get to claim certain items.  These pieces are really striking - I'd much rather have original, handmade art in my house than something random from a chain store, so it's especially nice that my mom is artistic and shares the wealth with me.

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The next pretty thing is a pair of socks that I finished - I loved these so much that the first day I wore them?  I kept slipping my feet out of my shoes to admire them.  That's not wrong, is it?  These were my travel socks that I brought with me to work on when I went to California last August:

Yarn is Opal Sweet and Spicy in Fruchtnougat colorway, with the toes and heels done in Cascade Heritage Solids in Charcoal.

Because I am a bit of a sock stalker on Ravelry, I'd seen some really eye-catching socks made out of Opal yarn, and was so happy when I finally found it online and in stock - I placed an order for a couple of skeins and will definitely be buying more in the future.  This colorway was so fun - it was always changing and kept my interest; these socks just made me happy to knit.  I would have finished them sooner, but I have sock ADD and had a couple of other pairs going at the same time.

Ooh, speaking of pretty things, here's a sneak peek of what I'm working on right now:

Wondering how this will knit up?  Stay tuned!