Christmas knitting.

Hey, how about I finally share the gifts I made for Christmas? :)

These plain socks were for my mom, of course, who loves pink! I picked up this yarn back in March at a fiber festival, and it's dyed by one of my favorite somewhat-local dyers to me: Unplanned Peacock Studio. {Ravelry project page}

Two more pairs of socks, these for my sister-in-law and her future baby boy who's due in April! I couldn't resist making matching socks for them. :) Hers are plain socks, the baby ones are from this pattern. The yarn was so pretty that I wished I could have kept it for myself: Junkyarn in the Luna Lovegood colorway. {Ravelry project page}

The color doesn't show up well here, but this lavender small shawl was for my mother-in-law. It's the Multnomah pattern, but for some reason this one turned out a bit smaller than the two I'd made previously. The yarn was from HauteKnitYarn. {Ravelry project page}

I made these zombie mitts for my other mother-in-law. I love how this pattern turns out, but I'd forgotten how tedious all those cables are! They're made with KnitPicks Hawthorne Kettle Dye. {Ravelry project page}

I also knitted my first colorwork sweater, this sweet one for my niece! It's from the Strange Brew pattern, and I used KnitPicks Stroll Worsted (my go-to for making washable sweaters for her!) My colorwork was a little loose but I'm so happy with how this one turned out. {Ravelry project page}

I seem to have accidentally deleted the picture, but I also made a hat for my father-in-law that you can see here. 

What I Read: January

January was an okay reading month. I read a total of 8 books, including 5.5 audiobooks (ha, more on that later). I really liked a few of the things I read, but some of the others were just okay. As always, click on the titles to read my Goodreads reviews.

The Two Princesses of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine. This a reread, but it's just so good! Ella Enchanted was always my favorite growing up, but I love this one too. There's something so magical and timeless about most of her books.

Mary Poppins Opens the Door, by P.L. Travers. (Audiobook.) More of the same as the first two in the series, ha. Looking back it will be very hard to differentiate between the different books in this series! They're all so similar! Overall a quick, pleasant listen on audio.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain. (Audiobook, not pictured.) I enjoyed this so much more than I expected to! Several parts actually had me laughing out loud. I had never read it before, but I used to watch the Disney movie Tom and Huck a lot as a kid, so certain aspects were coming back to me as I listened. I liked the whole atmosphere, and I found the kids' superstitions to be hilarious.

Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell. (Audiobook.) I've owned a copy of this ever since I was a kid, but for some reason I never read it! I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was simple, engaging, and interesting to listen to.

The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine. Sadly, this was no Two Princesses of Bamarre! This one felt unnecessarily long. I did enjoy the second half more, but it just seemed like she was trying too hard or something.

Echo, by Pam Munoz Ryan. (Audiobook, not pictured.) I'd been wanting to read this one for years now, and it was so, so good! I loved how the main stories were intertwined and how everything came together in the end. I wasn't expecting it to be historical fiction or to be so focused on WWII. It was just really well done! The audiobook was great, too.

Mary Poppins in the Park, by P.L. Travers. (Audiobook, not pictured.) Again, more of the same! These stories are from the previous three books, and while some of them were good, it was nothing amazing.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. I don't know why this one is generally considered to be so much better than Tom Sawyer! I had such a hard time getting through it. Almost halfway through, it was taking me so long that I switched over to audiobook and that was much better. The plot was so random and long and rambling. I liked the beginning and end the best, but I enjoyed Tom Sawyer so much better.