The holidays, in all their glory, are upon us! And, during this great season of giving we are bombarded with an overload of mostly unoriginal, slightly annoying Christmas ad campaigns... then there was this....

Try not to smile. I dare you!

HELLLO, HELLO! It's been a while. It feels good to be back. At least, I'm pretty sure I'm back... My boss and I finished a grueling, life consuming, five week trial on November 11. We walked away victorious (SUPER YAY!), and I've spent the past two weeks attempting to assimilate back into my quotidian routine. It's been rough. My sleep schedule is more than abnormal, and my motivation level almost never peaks above negative. Would you believe, I only knit TWICE, during the five weeks it took to defeat Goliath? True story. 

Of course, knitting was one of the first activities I needed to resume in order to feel remotely myself. So, I embarked in aggressive fiber therapy as soon as I got home. I think it's working. 

I've had a sweater worth of Ella Rae, color 601, in the cubbies for about a year. It's an odd color for me. A purchase that I retrospectively classify as a "blackout buy"; you know, when you walk out of the yarn store with a whole bunch of stuff you don't need and don't remember purchasing. All fiber folk experience this phenomena, right? It's probably a side-effect of being high on dye fumes, or something. Anyway. The color has grown on me. 

It's not escaped me that, from certain angles,  I might look like an ear of corn. If there's one place it's potentially acceptable to resemble harvest crops, it's Illinois.  We love us some sweet corn. I digress. 

It's also likely that I've turned a blind eye to the color because I so COMPLETELY love this pattern! 

The pattern is White Pine by Amy Christoffers. It's written beautifully and is a lot of fun to knit. 

I have yet to wet block, since I was in such a hurry to wear this super cozy, perfect for layering, splendid addition to my wardrobe. It fits pretty well; ideally, I'll block a bit extra positive ease into it. Overall, I'm declaring this a victory.  

Pattern: White Pine by Amy Christoffers
Yarn: 5 skeins Ella Rae Classic Marls, color 601
Needles: Signature Circs. Size 7
Notes:  I followed the instructions for size "36. However, I did not increase after the waist shaping. I'm not busty and hate when things are baggy in the boob area.