Nobody Loves Me Better...

...than ME!! I should be completely ashamed of myself with the number of items I have purchased for my own Christmas stocking.

I should be.

But I'm not.

See, everything I buy past about December 1st, unless I absolutely need-to-have-to-gotta make use of it right this second, goes into my Christmas stocking. I'm a stocking nut - my mom is a champion stocking stuffer, and I inherited the gift. So, an example:

The Mama-E sock yarn I bought? Stocking. The Yarn Pirate Christmas-y sock yarn ("Hawthorne") that I bought to replace the skein I just destashed because I liked the Christmas-y one even better? Stocking. The DPNs I bought last night at the LYS? Stocking. The sterling silver stitch markers I ALSO bought at the LYS? Stocking. (Uh, both sets.) Mack's adorable stitch markers that look like baked goods and backyard-barbeque food? Stocking. (Her stuff is SO CUTE. You must purchase.) The sock yarn I bought today on The Sweet Sheep? All four skeins, and a bit of Mama-E fiber? You guessed it - stocking. (And that's just the stuff from this week. I mean it - if I buy pens, candy, nice soap - anything that's not completely essential in the month of December.....stocking.)

What can I say? I spoil me rotten.

But hey, I buy all that knitting-related stuff so I can spoil OTHER people rotten. It's what I like to call "The Circle of Gimme". Only one skein of that sock yarn is actually intended for me...the rest will be knit into gifties. As stressful as it is, I like knitting for Christmas gifts - it frees up a bit of extra money that I'd otherwise be spending on store-bought stuff that's not as special. (Lest you should think I hit the lotto - I've gotten in on a lot of good sales and customer-special deals this week, and I'm spending mostly destash-cash. So I actually, for once, earned the splurge!)

So, with all that spending going on, I've updated my sidebar, adding some of my new favorite places (in no particular order), and I've given my Etsy faves their own little spot.

You know what I did over the course of this year that was absolutely brilliant? I saved gift cards. When I get gift cards, I have a tendency to run out and spend them on myself immediately, as God intended - this year, I saved several for Target and Pottery Barn and managed to get a lot of Christmas shopping done. That's been a huge help in allowing me to buy more yarn get more and/or nicer gifts for people this year.

There's going to be a lot of secret knitting for the next few weeks - maybe even a month. I'll have to come up with something to blog about, or just disappear for a while. (Don't bet heavily on disappearance - I'm too much of a loudmouth.)