Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit either. ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

I was eagerly awaiting December 2 to see the first yarn for Craftvent only discover it was a fuzzy alpaca base. Mohair type yarns aren’t a style of yarn I gravitate towards, and sadly, I can’t wear alpaca. Oddly, I can knit with it. I could substitute the main yarn for something I can wear, or I could knit this as a gift. Then I realized the pattern was called Spirits of the Season Shawl. The answer was clear.

The cast on called for 246 stitches. With such a sticky yarn, I made an executive decision to cast on with a substitute yarn and switch to the main color on row one. As there is no knitting police, I decided casting on 246 stitches would take long enough why make it more challenging with sticky yarn? While it is slightly noticeable now, once the shawl grows I don’t think it will be that obvious. You can check out the details on Craftvent II. Day 2 only has 5 rows, but it takes some time to knit long rows.

What’s better than doing one tea advent calendar? Two tea advent calendars. As you can imagine, I have a few different tea suppliers. Plum Deluxe is one of my favorites. I subscribe to their monthly tea membership. The calendar above is from them. The first photo shows day two teas: Vanilla Rooibos and Blackberry Toddy (I’m excited to try that one). This advent calendar is lovely since it’s reusable. If you’re crafty, you could also make this yourself with felt and simply purchase the tea fillers or whatever your heart desires.

I think the Cyber Monday deals were just too much excitement for Ernie.