Almost destroyed the house last night

So, even though I have a ton of other stuff to do like reading and writing for work and present making (which is now mostly done), I got a little panicked late last night when I couldn't find my swift in all the packed boxes. I found my ball winder, but without the swift it's not so useful. Here I am sitting with a bunch of new beautiful yarn, that I really shouldn't touch given everything else I need to do, but I really want to wind it up so I started looking in some of the boxes, and then some other boxes and then... It took all of my newly gained maturity (hah!) and restraint not to rip through every unpacked box leaving the house in a shambles until I found my swift, but I resisted and went to bed.

This morning, I sweetly (double hah!) asked Mark to help me find the swift today even though I promised promised promised not to wind any new yarn or start any new projects until I have finished the holiday stuff, his slippers, our bathmats and various other tasks that really should come first...sigh!

As it turns out, Mark has super powers, or maybe he wasn't deliriously tired when our apartment was being packed up, so he knew which box it was in. We carefully unpacked (how mature of us) and immediately found both my swift and sock blockers. Yay Mark! Unfortunately, I now have to show more mature restraint by not balling up the beautiful new yarn and casting on new projects, as I promised. Fortunately, my restraint is aided by the fact that we are leaving for Raleigh, NC in the morning for the holiday.

As part of my break from knitting, I repaired the beaded necklace I made my sister-in-law Sandy last year and made her matching earring as part of her present for this year.
I'm also going to make her a pair of sock with this if she wants,
or the yarn of her choosing, if these colors don't appeal to her. I thinking of making her a pair of Monkey socks or the slipped stitch pattern I really like...hmmm.

I also made a matching pair of earing for my sister-in-law Jenny to match her necklace from last year. The colors of her necklace are my favorite of the three I made last year. Sorry that this pic is a little blurry, but these were hard to photograph without proper equipment.
It feels good to bead again and it certainly is much quicker than knitting, but knitting is more portable and cozy feeling.

Lastly, I have to felt these.
Unfortunately, my new awesome energy efficient front loading washer can be opened during the cycle, but not all the time, so it's too risky to try to use it for felting...sigh. Hopefully Serita, my mom-in-law, won't mind when I felt them in her washer (in a pillowcase, of course). I'm excited to see how they turn out.

More to come from the Holidays in NC, New Years in Blacksburg, and then 5 days in Puerto Rico. If all the travel doesn't kill me, the trip to PR should definitely relax me some.