Time draws near...

First exam is done. I have a student (who has to travel early) taking an exam early right now - after this I will go home and frost my cake and package up the cookies.

But I also realized: the time is drawing near for my Christmas break. A week from today I will be on the road to Mineola to catch a train. And this trip will be....slightly better cheer....than the last one. Oh, I'm still sad my dad isn't here to enjoy Christmas with us, but at least I don't have the memorial service and lots of time with lots of people hanging over my head. And numerous people have pointed out: being there for your mom is super important right now, you can enjoy your time together and they are right. We work well together (one plan for break, in part, is to clear out the basement as much as we can).

But also.

It is time off for me. I am going to be baking cookies (and I think, Purlewe, I am taking your sable cookie with me and making either more plain-chocolate ones, or trying pinwheels - and maybe even chocolate *orange,* with orange peel in the plain half. And I might even consider doing mince tarts this year even though they are fiddly. And, I don't know? Making some candy if we get cold clear weather even if I can't eat a lot of the hard candy type stuff or caramelly type stuff any more (bad teeth).

But also, I will have projects. I think I will try digging out the long-stalled grey cardigan and take it with me in hopes of getting more done. But also, I want to pull out some sock yarn I just want to knit up and consider "best patterns" for it (though I do have several stalled socks I should ALSO finish)

But toys. There have to be knitted or crocheted toys at Christmas, because it seems not-right without them. I think one pattern I will take will be the River Otter a friend sent to me (this is a thing on Ravelry; you can buy and send patterns to a friend). She didn't know it but my twitter handle is often some version of Acerbic Otter, which is an anagram of my actual name, so the pattern was meaningful.

I may also take Eeeek! and see if I can find fuzzy yarn to make a tarantula-type. (My plan is to get all the yarn for toys at Michael's up there; it gives me an excuse to go out yarn shopping and it is less yarn to carry)

But I also spotted Blue Whale in my library again....and I kind of want to make that one (provided I can find a superheavyweight yarn in a good color, it looks like he takes about 200 yards of the main color and 100 of the contrast....I think that the Wool-Ease thick and quick would work, if they have a nice blue...)

Or maybe I want a really fancy version of a Kelpie? (I could see getting an ombre yarn in green to blue for the tail and "fish body")

(I will have to remember my "bag of eyes." *especially* if I am making Eeek, because a large part of her charm to me is the multiple, different-sized eyes, designed to mimic spider eyes)

But yes. I almost made it through the semester, just a few more days to go...