I have a lot of stuff that I need to move out of here. Take advantage of my desperation and poor planning! Starting Friday, Jan. 2nd I am having an (almost) whole store clearance sale.

FABRIC SALE!
Select Clearance Fabrics $3.99 – $6.99/yd (reg. $8.99-$14.99/yd.)
Holiday Cottons SALE $4.99/yd (reg. $8.99/yd.)
Home Dec 54″ wide (Amy Butler and Holiday) $11.99/yd (reg. $14.99/yd.)
All other regular price fabric 20% off Jan. 2nd & 3rd ONLY!

Other Sewing and Fabric Items
Sublime Stitching Kits SALE $19.99 (reg. $29.99)
Sublime Stitching Pattern Packs SALE $2.50 (reg. $3.50)
20% OFF select patterns (excluding Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, and Lila Tueller)
30% OFF Misc. notions (Learn to Sew kits, scissors, emb. hoops, etc.)

Other Crafts Sale
30% OFF all ArtGirlz
20% OFF all books
40% OFF all Paper Crafting (chipboard, glitter, ink, paint, rubber stamps, UTEE, etc.)
20% OFF all resin crafting
Buy one, Get one FREE on all magazines!

I didn’t make as many gifts this year as I have in some years past but I did manage to get a few things done.

I haven’t managed to post about Steve’s wine making attempt this fall. Someday I’ll try to get him to sit down and help me type up a post about the process. He inherited his Italian grandfather’s grape press and it has been in our garden gazebo serving as an interesting conversation piece for a few years now. This year everything came together where he had the time, the motivation and the resources to make his own wine in the tradition of his Grandpa Vito.

A couple weekends ago it went from cask to bottle and last Saturday I helped him print up labels. Last night was our annual neighborhood Christmas Walk/Party. I made Holiday Tea Towels and used them to wrap bottles of wine to give as hostess gifts.

After the jump I’ll show you what I made for my Mom and my mother-in-law….

DON’T PEAK MOM!
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Do any of you remember when I used to knit? There was a time when this was primarily a knitting blog. No really! I wouldn’t lie this close to Christmas.

Back in October I got a desire to knit again. It happens almost every fall. The leaves turn and I require a fix of Cascade 220 directly to my veins. Last year it was this vest. This year it was the February Lady Sweater (Rav link) that caught my lustful eye. I’ve been picking (actually I’m a thrower) away at it ever since. Yesterday was my day off from the store and the temperatures were in the single digits, a perfect excuse to spend a few hours on the couch watching tivo’d episodes of House and knitting. I’m probably only a few inches away from switching back to garter stitch for the bottom border. It would be nice to have this finished so I can wear it over the holiday weekend in Michigan next week. I guess I’ll have to feed my hypochondria and spend more time with Dr. Gregory House, MD and get cracking on those sleeves.
  
Oh, and my friend Jamie pointed out at our Women’s Retreat in November when I was working on it and simultaneously wearing my Millennium Vest that I have a color theme going on. A couple weeks ago at church I was wearing yet another purple lace and cable sweater I knit two years ago…So I’m predictable. (You should see all the gorgeous GREEN sweaters she’s knit!) I honestly had a pretty turquoise or royal blue in mind when I went to buy this yarn but the LYS didn’t have enough of any one color that I really wanted so I ended up with this predictable pretty wine color.