Back from the blogging void...also known as "real life." 'Tis the season, eh? Theoretically, the last week of work before the holiday break is supposed to be languorous and quiet. WhatEVER! We've been so busy at work. I guess it's a good thing and a bad thing. Busy means lots of revenue. But busy also means...I haven't gotten anywhere near I need to be on my Christmas knitting. I'm sad to say that I think my dad's Irish Hiking scarf will not be made in time. I'm going to be pushing it just to finish my mom's Feather and Fan scarf in time. 30 minutes a night just isn't enough time. And what's up with parties in the middle of the week? Damnit...don't you people appreciate the fact that I have knitting to do? C'mon...how many Christmas cookies do you think I need? (Ok...I need A LOT of Christmas cookies. I'll give you that.) That said, I have one old Christmas FO to share. The Christmas HiP. In Aurora Bulky. (click on the thumbnail for the whole deal.) The yarn was on super sale and they only had 3 balls of red and 2 of green. But the colors were so Christmas-y I had to get them. I quickly realized that the pretty staggered stripes of the pattern wouldn't use up all of the yarn...and I needed to use all of the yarn in order to make the scarf as looooooong as I wanted it. Hence, the funky attempt at a transition between colors. Well, it's definitely long. I actually haven't taken the time to measure...but considering the approximate length of each step gap I figure I have at least 84" of scarf there. That's a lot of scarf! And the Aurora Bulky is very warm. Thankfully it's not too heavy (considering how much yarn is there) and it's nice and soft. It actually looks quite fun and seasonal when worn. My biggest complaint is the curling. Pre-blocking, this thing was a twisty tube. Post-blocking...well...it seemed ok. But after one day of wearing...it curled right back up. Gah! Granted, I steam blocked it instead of wet blocking. (Where the hell am I going to lay out a scarf this long to wet block???) Alison warns you about the curling...but I have to say, I'm a bit dismayed that she wasn't lying. So when I get a break, I'll wet block this sucker until the curl is beaten into submission. In the meantime, I'll just walk around with the Tube O' Christmas around my neck.