O Christmas Tree

So Monday The Greatest decided it was time to return to his wood shop.  During the summer, in the 115+ degree heat it is too hot to be in the garage.  Hanging out there for more than ten minutes is a recipe for heat stroke.  He works with a lathe making beautiful hand turned items, but even if he had wanted to hydrate and brave the death trap that is the garage, the wood could not take the stress.  It cracked and splintered with the friction of his tools.  It was simply too hot.

Oh the joys of living in the desert.

But our temperatures are down. Finally.  Mid nineties last week.  Upper eighties this week.  It was time to return to the garage.  Time to create.  Time to do something he enjoyed for a change instead of all the things he has to do.

There was just one little snag.

Over the summer I acquired the most awesomest of awesome free cycle scores.  A 12 foot pre-lighted Christmas Tree.  This is no tall, skinny tree.  This is the mother of all 12 foot Christmas trees.  When I went to pick it up I had Sweet Pea with me, and our Expedition was nothing but tree.  Tree in the back blocking my rear view mirror. Tree on the floor.  Tree in the seats.  Tree in the front passenger seat blocking my view of all traffic from the right.  Nothing but tree.  And her sweet little face peering between the branches.

I should have taken a picture.

Oh, the missed photo ops.

This tree is ginormous.  I brought it home and realized I have no place to store a tree of this magnitude. My house lacks a basement.  Which is so stupid.  Basements are really useful.  I think there might be an attic, but I'm scared of attics.  And even if I didn't have my great fear of attics, I don't know where the entrance to the attic is.  In my defense I don't know where the entrance is because I'm scared of the potential attic in my house, so I've never bothered to learn how to access that death trap in the ceiling, if said attic even exists.  (Yes, my house does appear to be full of death traps.  No wonder nobody wants to come visit.)We keep the holiday decorations in my craft closet, and that puppy is already filled beyond capacity.

Whats a girl to do?

Enter the unused portion of the garage that is his wood working studio stage left.

Hey, if I can share my craft closet with ALL the holiday decorations he can share his wood working studio with one measly Christmas tree right?

Yeah, no.

Not unless I want the entire tree covered in sawdust.

Knitting, with its quiet needles, and lack of sawdust is a vastly superior past time compare to his wood working with the loud power tools (which carry the potential for serious bodily injury and/or death) and sawdust.

I'm just saying.

So lacking a place to put this ginormous, mother of all Christmas trees, we decided to just go ahead and put it up.

Why not.

The Greatest began Monday afternoon.  He thought it would be an evening's worth of work, but it would be worth it to have his space back.

Here's how it looked when he stopped at about ten pm last night.

We are currently on day three of Erecting The Tree 2012.

This tree needed some love.  All those pre-lit lights?

Yeah, no.

Not a single strand worked when we plugged it in.

The Greatest happens to be a little ocd about his Christmas lights.

I'm not gonna lie.  The man is the Christmas Light Whisperer.

He has carefully gone over every strand.  Replaced every burnt out bulb.  Lovingly fluffed every smushed branch.

I think he was Father Christmas in a former life.

Five-ish feet done.

Seven-ish to go.

I on the other hand have sat on the couch and watched him.  I've lended a hand when needed, but mostly the great Christmas Light Whisperer wants to work alone.  So I've stayed out of his way and I've knit my sweater.

I don't think I have enough yarn to actually finish this sweater.  I am knitting a size larger than the pattern suggests because I want some positive ease.  If I knit my actual size instead of the larger size I would probably have enough yarn.  I also think if I went up a needles size and down a pattern size I would end up with a fabric I like better (this fabric is pretty dense) and have enough yarn to finish this sweater.

But I can't stop knitting it.

I don't understand it.  I have no aversion to frogging.  I've already frogged this yarn from two other nearly completed sweater patterns.  Fear of frogging isn't the problem.  But I can't stop.  I'm obsessive.  I'm on this collision course of knitting disaster and I just have to see how it all plays out.  Can I knit fast enough to knit the sweater before the yarn runs out?

The answer is pretty much no.

But I can't stop.

I might need help.

Send chocolate.

Or more yarn.