Merry Christmas to ME

Do you buy yourself a Christmas present?

I don't usually aim to, but I do buy myself a lot of stuff generally.

This year, I thought I deserved a treat.  It's been a rough December at the very least.

So, I bought myself some crochet patterns!!  SO FREAKING EXCITING.

Ok, so I've bought patterns randomly during the year, so why is it special this time?

Mainly becuase I'm trying to restrict my new crochet project quota.  I've only finished one of these projects, so how can I justify starting something new?  I'll tell you how:  Christmas!

Christmas is all about peace on Earth, spreading joy and good cheer (which I think are the same thing, but who splits hairs at Christmas?) .  What better way to spread joy than by letting go of the anxiety associated with having all these UFOs over my head (dramatic huh?), and letting myself just enjoy the excitement of a new project?  If there is a better feeling in the world than starting something new I have yet to experience it.

Dudes, why didn't you tell me to stop rambling?!?!

I'm sure you'd like to see the present I have bought myself...

Drum rollll (kinda, I couldn't actually find a drumroll gif, plus I just wanted to put ponies on my blog.  Sue me)

Legendary Shawls by Aoibhe Ni!!!!

I have been coveting Venus for so so long, but all of the shawls in the ebook are so great, I thought, if I'm spending 8 bucks, I may as well spend 25 for 7 more patterns.  And that is my story.

Part of the me-present is that I am allowed to start it before I finish anything off so I will be using some of my Christmas break to learn tunisian crochet and starting this shawl!  I am going to use this 'fine silk noil' I picked up dirt cheap a while ago.

I have learned (thanks Rav) that silk noil is made up of the leftover short fibres of silk, giving it the nubbly appearance.  It's also not very strong, so depending on how it works up I may have to use my Ms Gusset pure silk laceweight instead, and wouldn't that be a tragedy ;)