My days are different for a while

Our son is finished with his finals. He has to write a paper for his ethics class for extra credit. When he turns that in tonight, he will be totally finished with this semester. That means there is a change in my schedule. He lives at home and commutes to college (which we love), but I have to get used to having someone here during the day time hours. It is no longer quiet, the tv is now 24/7 cooking shows, which means the lad is 24/7 hungry! Last year this time, the lad had his wisdom teeth cut out and could not eat much between his pain pill induced stupor. It is nice to have him here, but come the middle of January, I will have to get used to the quiet all over again.
We had our big Open House Christmas Party Saturday night, so the house still looks great. This week holds finishing my dishtowels (1 1/2 to go), making a few more gifts, working on "In the Pink" and getting ready for a family trip.
Friday, a friend called to see if I wanted to go Yarn Mart for some buttons for her Mock Ribbed Ascot. I was thrilled to go. I needed a button for one, too. Here is mine. It really is a great button!She did not find what she was looking for so we took a detour to Handworks Gallery. Nancy found her buttons and I found me a Christmas present. Am I the only person who buys herself a yarn indulgence for Christmas? The Schaefer yarn rep happened to be there and I told her I loved the Trenna lace weight yarn that they made exclusively for Little Knits. I told her that I wanted to splurge some day and try the Andrea 100% silk lace weight yarn. She happened to have some hanks in her car. This is the one that followed me home. I will have to design a shawl for her. She is a smoky ash color with a hint of lavender. I already had some beads at home that I knew would be perfect for her. This will be my New Years Day project.
I love the color! I made myself NOT get the autumn shades of this yarn. She had some lovely choices. This is a new line of colors called Subtly Solid Botanicals. I love the slightly variation of the shades in the yarn.
I got in an order of weaving yarn from Webs. These cones of yarn are a 6 ply rayon and can be used to weave or knit my Sampler Table Runner that is in my "I Can't Believe I'm Lace Knitting" book. I love the cordovan. It reminds me of my Raisin Knitpicks Gloss lace weight that Denise sent me. They were 4.00 a cone and each has 2850 yards of weaving/knitting yumminess!This is a photo of the Jojoland Traveling Shawl. The colors are just gorgeous!

Knitting progress: I am 1/2 finished with my second sock from my Socks that Rock yarn. I am still weaving on the warp of dishtowels on my loom.
Traveling Shawl progress--It will be in PA today. Check out our blog here.