And so this is Christmas.....

Christmas isn't really my favourite time of year. Actually, that's not exactly right, I quite like Christmas; I dislike the commercialization of Christmas.

Moving on.

I don't knit many Christmas gifts, I decided years ago that I'd knit for birthdays instead. Otherwise you end up with far, far too many things all coming due at the same time. I want to be able to relax and spend time with family at this time of year, I don't want to be stressing myself out over finishing knitting gifts. Besides, my family hasn't really exchanged Christmas gifts for years, most of us get something for the kids but that's about it. We made this change years ago as it was starting to seem sort of pointless to buy gifts for each other, if any of us want or need something we go and buy it. And none of us like the whole idea of searching for the perfect gift for everyone. Much less stressful this way.

I do usually knit something for my Niece and Nephew here in Canada though.

My Nephew is getting a hat.

When I asked he said his favourite colour is now green. So I made him a Sockhead hat in bright green, I just hope he didn't mean that his favourite colour is dark green. I modified this one to make it non-slouchy. I wasn't sure how he'd like slouchy so I went more head fitting.

Pattern: Sockhead Hat by Kelly McClure
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Macaw
Needle: 2.5mm

Green hat.

My Niece is also getting a hat.

This is a Wurm. It certainly looks like a warm Wurm. No modifications to this pattern at all, just made a small size for her. He favourite colour is still pink, I went with a dark pink.

Pattern: wurm by Katharina Nopp
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport in Rouge
Needle: 3.25mm & 3.75mm

Pink hat.

My Wee Niece will be getting a tonne of things when she comes to visit next summer as I object to the cost of international shipping. At least, I do while she' still too young to notice; we'll see as she gets older.

Unrelated to Christmas knitting, I finished a pair of socks for myself.

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: ONline Supersocke 100
Needle: 2.0mm

Having finished those I started a pair for my Dad for his birthday in January. I fished the first one in no time. Unfortunately the second ball of yarn, although it's labeled the same dye lot, looks completely different. I'm going to have to improvise something here. Toes knit with the second ball of yarn are the most likely. I'll just have to see how far I get with the second sock and go from there.

In other Christmas news

My office Christmas party was held at the Banff Springs Hotel. And everyone got to spend the night. Cross that off my Bucket List. "Wow" is all I can say about that place; it's amazing.

There were trees everywhere. Here's just one hallway.

A hallway of trees.

And two Father Christmases were guarding the entrance to the breakfast room.

And the party was wonderful too. Kudos to all those in the office who planned it.

In other completely unrelated news

Soccer has been fighting an antibiotic resistant ear infection for about two months now. Yesterday we made (yet another) trip to the vet and it looks like it's finally cleared up. I'm keeping him on a preventative treatment plan for a few weeks to make sure it doesn't come back.

He seems to have figured out that the phrase "poor Soccer's ears" means he's going to get something unpleasant put in his ears. Yesterday when I said it he immediately lay down and put his head down. If his shoulder joints worked in such a way that would allow him to do so I suspect he'd have put his paws over his ears.

Here he is at the vet; this is also about what he looked like last night after hearing "poor Soccer's ears". At least he didn't run away and hide. Poor pup.

Soccer at the vet.

He also has a growth in his eye. Not sure how well you can see it below but his right eye is swollen and a bit red. The growth has been there for years, apparently it's not uncommon in dogs although he is the first one I've had that developed it, and it didn't really seem to bother him until this whole ear infection fiasco. I suspect he initially irritated it when trying to scratch his ear. Now it's weeping constantly which is causing a rash to grow there, the vet says it's a bit like diaper rash on a baby, and it won't go away because the area is constantly damp. He's now getting eye drops to control the infection as the vet and I are both reluctant to put him under anesthetic to remove the lump due to his age. He's 11 years old now and that's pretty old for a dog which could make anesthetic fatal. Unless there's no other choice I'd rather he didn't have to have surgery.

Soccer still at the vet.

Oh, and if you think there's something odd about his left eye you're right. It's partly blue. Not uncommon in Catahoula Leopard Dogs.

He also lost weight during this whole fiasco. This is actually a much bigger concern for me than anything else as he's been so consistent in his weight for the past 10 years. Plus, he's always been a rather lean dog, he just doesn't have a lot of weight to loose in the first place. I really, really hope it was just because he was on such powerful antibiotics for his ears and he'll regain weight over the next few weeks. I'm giving him a lot of high calorie foods to help with that. I'll take him back to be weighed in a few weeks and if he's still down then I'll have to see about blood work to see if we can isolate what's wrong.