our family has many traditions for christmas. we decorate the tree and house over the thanksgiving holidays. we take hubby's mammaw out to eat and around to see the christmas lights the weekend before christmas. for years i got the boy a chocolate advent calendar. we go to christmas eve services at my church.
one tradition that started with my folks, that i carried on to my kids, was the game "hide the pickle". my mom had a glass pickle ornament, and she would hide it in the tree branches for me to find. i never got an extra present for finding it, it was just fun trying to find it.
when the boy was old enough to understand, i played the game with him. as he grew up, i hid it higher into the tree. i never waited until christmas to hide it - he found it not long after the tree was up. last year he tried to hide it from me and hubby, and made us hunt for it.
this year, we chose not to put up the glass ornaments becos i was afraid the kiddos would tug at the branches and break them. thus, no glass pickle.
i remembered the christmas ornament kit i got from knitpicks last year, and they had a pattern for a knitted pickle. so thanksgiving holiday, i set out to knit a pickle. it sat for several days until last night, when i noticed it sitting abandoned on the buffet, and i resolved to finish knitting it.
knit with knit picks palette on size 1.5 DPNs, the pattern is pretty simple and straightforward. after increasing for several rows, there is a 11 row pattern that is repeated three times. about every third row of the pattern is either increased or decreased in stitches, creating the bumping appearance of a pickle. then there are several rows of decreasing, to taper the top of the pickle and create a loop for hanging. very easy. the yarn, i wasn't too fond of. a bit splitty and especially slippy on my signature DPNs, it's why i quit knitting the pickle in the first place. if i ever knit another one, i'd look for another yarn that wasn't so splitty.
so far the boy doesn't know the pickle is there. i wonder how long it will take him to find it? it's not well hidden.
we got a bit of a snow surprise. i knew we were suppose to have snow squalls, i just didn't know the squalls were going to sit over the river valley.
the snow started as flurries in the afternoon, then started to lay when the boy came home from school. by the time UPS delivered the kitchen island, there was nearly 2 inches of snow on the porch:
by 9 pm we had about 4 or 5 inches of snow:
the boy had a two hour delay for school. i don't have to say what i thought about that. :P
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