I haven’t done much yarn stuff in the past few days,  I’ve just finished these mitts:

They’re so soft and warm!  I may yet add that crocheted trim on the top, it just depends on how much time I have.

Boy has it been busy!  Shopping for Christmas presents, hanging out with school friends, studying with school friends, studying by myself, shopping for my Ireland/England trip, and baking for Christmas parties.  You may say, “studying?  Why, it’s the holidays!” but I’ve got to study hard the whole time because I’ve got my comprehensive examination that I have to pass to graduate coming up on January 7.  I think it’s stupid to give us the test before we’ve even finished all our classes, much less to test us over those classes that we won’t have completed until May.  But what can I say, that’s just another of the growing list of annoyances and griefs that my program is giving me.

The shopping has been much more fun, although I admit I’m waaaaay over budget.  I’ve dipped into January’s money already.  I just hope my loan money comes in before January 5th so that I can pay rent and bills.  At least I didn’t make everybody gifts — that probably would have been more expensive than just buying them the things I did.  Of course, my parents got some really good presents because they’ve been so good to me and they deserve awesome gifts, and I didn’t skimp on my boyfriend, either.  I guess the real hurt has been the necessity to buy lots of items for my trip.  Here are some of my new things:

Since I live in South Carolina, I have minimal winter gear.  Therefore a sweater with some wool in it was required, along with some wool socks.  I also had to get another pair of pants because I only have  2 (I just wash them a lot, but I won’t have access to a washer on the trip).  A neck pillow for the plane and a bag to take as my carry-on were also purchased.  These things pictured here were actually purchased for me by my wonderful mom, but trust me, I’ve had to buy quite a few other things, including more socks, a sweater/popover,  and lots of other little things that have just added up.  I hope that I will now be fully prepared for the cold weather.

Also, I have to say thanks to Patricia from DaniellaJoe’s Blog — I won one of her lovely giveaway packs!  It’s the first time I’ve ever won a giveaway, and I just love the items!  I think the package is actually at the post office already, I just have to go pick it up on Monday.  So thank you so much, Patricia, you’re so generous!

So everybody knows, I’m leaving on my trip this Tuesday (the 18th), and I will not be returning home until the 29th.   I doubt that I will be able to blog much, if at all, while in Ireland or England because I’m not taking my computer.  My phone could do it, but it would probably be really complicated, and there’s a good chance I won’t actually be knitting/crocheting much while there anyway.  I’ll be busy taking pictures, exploring towns and cities, and like I said earlier, studying for my exit exam.  This will probably be my last post until January.  I will be back though, I promise.

I wish you all the very best of holidays!