hand eye crafts

Time to block!  (My absolute least favorite part of knitting.) Late Christmas/Early Birthday present from my son.  Gobsmacked.

Yes --- we got our snow!  It snowed for over 5 hours, but it was mostly powdery and only added up to about an inch and a half.  Still, there's an awful lot of ice, and, if you've been paying attention to the news , you know that the South doesn't do well with that sort of stuff.  It isn't as bad here as in Atlanta, but we're pretty much shut down, too.  My driveway and sidewalk are iced.  But I did get to go out in the snow a few times yesterday with Rupert and Finn.  The sound of snow is divine, and the feeling of flakes hitting your eyelashes is beyond description. Rupert the Intrepid. Finn the Just-Take-Me-Back-Inside. Speaking of Deans and their animals, Hannah took Klunk out in the snow where she is.  Even though she dressed him for the occasion, he, from all reports, did not enjoy the adventure. Me, I stayed inside with the blinds pulled up and watched the snow fall.  Knitting, old movies (hello, Cary Grant!), books, hot choc...

So --- it's supposed to snow here tomorrow.  Which I did not know when I decided yesterday to put off my grocery trip until today. So, there I was, with all the milk-and-bread grabbers. Still, I won't lie --- it's quite exciting, thinking about maybe getting to watch it snow.  Evidently, it's going to start in the morning, so I can just sit here and watch it come down. Working on Iris Schreier's Reverse Chevron Cowl : (Pattern on the left, mine to the right.)  I bought the yarn on etsy;  the colorway is "Ringmaster."  Daddy was a ringmaster at horse shows for all my life, and most of his.  He was The Ringmaster.  When I saw this yarn, I just had  to have it.  And it is working up so nicely.

Once upon a time, going to a concert was 1) moderately affordable* and 2) always marked by one wearing an official t-shirt to school the next day.  If it weren't clear who was going to a show before, everyone knew then by who was wearing the CSN&Y/Fleetwood Mac/Queen/Aerosmith/ELP etc. shirts.  Or, in my case, Bee Gees. Concert t-shirts were a signal of Cool. In that spirit: *My daughter just bought a concert ticket that was in the three-digits.  Seriously.

Have you ever been part of one of Emily's swaps?  If you haven't, you have missed tremendous opportunities.  She comes up with the most remarkable ideas for them. The latest was called "The Winder of  Our Discontent."  Participants were to send a pattern of something small but warming (gloves, hat, scarf, etc.) and enough yarn to finish it, a warming treat, and a book or movie.  The twist was that one of the things had to be pre-owned. My box arrived yesterday: Black tea and sea salt dark chocolate, a novel, Hiya stitch markers and what I am calling "Today Show" buttons (half solid, half rainbow-y pattern) and beautiful smooshy (it's name, I promise) cranberry yarn and a mitts pattern.  You know I love me some mitts. So,  thank you, Marilyn! And the rest of you, keep an eye out for future Emily swaps.  Heck, just go to her website and/or her etsy store .  Good things in both places!

I was this close: to getting four socks out of one skein of Noro sock yarn. FOUR.

It hits me that I was once in the same room with HUGH LAURIE.  And I was, what? Thirty feet away from him?

. . . found out that centipedes always have an odd number of legs. . . .started my first pair of Noro socks ever: . . .finished the Frankensocks: . . .love the turban headband I made with Sister yarn given to me by the winner of the Knitters' Hunk contest. Thank you, Camille! . . . really like that the gray I'm making the Skagit cardigan with has a decidedly purple cast to it: . . .got sick.  You know how one minute you're fine, and the next you've been smacked in the mouth by a cold or the flu or whatever?  I got sick at 3:23 PM.  Tea to follow.

Why don't I have any size 17 needles?  Two pair of size 50, but no 17s? Who says cowboy boots can't be girly? Why did I have to spend my whole therapy session yesterday reliving (and re-sobbing through) Christmas? Why don't I know who I am anymore? How do I start figuring that out?

Like a lot of you, I'm guessing, I've been bundled up in my house.  The time has been used to knit and read and compute and watch movies and play Papa Pear Saga. After three non-fiction books in a row ( Wave , which was heartbreaking, and two by Clint Hill , both of which were heartbreaking), I'm about to start a novel.  Yes --- me!  Reading fiction!  It's called The Yard , and is set in Victorian London, a period which I've always been, for whatever reason, robustly drawn to. I'm almost finished with the second Frankensock, and have cast on for this: It's from Berroco, and is called "Skagit."  I'm making it in a nice dove gray. I did have a shawl underway, with some yarn a friend sent me, but had to abandon it after what I can only assume was a feline made a comfy bed out of it.  Pets, huh?

This photo applies to much of the country right now;  I hope you're all warm and safe. An iceberg that looks like Hershel Greene.  Almost worth the polar air. kmkat posted this, and I find it rather true.  How about you? The tasseled hat that I was working on with the yak/wool yarn is done.  I'll try to remember to post a picture once it's blocked and seamed up. I'm making myself a pair of Frankensocks --- socks made from leftover sock yarn.  I reach into the bag where all my leftovers are, and use whatever I take out.  It doesn't matter if the colors are garish together --- that's sort of what makes them Frankensocks. Today, it would seem, is Norman Reedus' birthday.  I first saw him years ago in a film called "Dark Harbor," with Alan Rickman.  Now, of course, he's Daryl on "The Walking Dead."  This is my favorite picture of him.  Happy Birthday, Norman.

It's finally cold here.  That clear, sharp cold that smacks you in the face when you step outside.  Nothing like what other parts of the country are dealing with, and, of course, no snow, but cold anyway. This particular cold has me wearing slippers, which I simply never do.  I've been a barefoot girl my whole life.  But these slippers are too cute not  to wear: Little sequins on the ears! The scarf that I cast on with the $$ yarn didn't work out, so I landed on a hat for it: To be perfectly honest, I don't see how what I have on the needles is going to wind up as that, but I'll stick with it a little longer.  The reason the scarf was abandoned was because the pattern had all sorts of errors, and I just didn't have the energy to sit and figure it out. This is the yarn, in the exact colorway I have.  Hope you can see its sublime texture.  And, man, will it be warm. Bought myself a little crockpot to, ideally, make some ...

I did not eat black-eyed peas and collard greens today;  my father would have wholly disapproved.  But, hey, I forgot food for Christmas --- no way I was going to remember food for New Year's. Does chili and spaghetti have any special meaning? It dawned on me last night that I had never, in my life, spent a New Year's Eve by myself.  Before I got married, I would have been at my parents' every year, and then there were all those years of marriage and children. I didn't mind being alone;  don't misunderstand me.  It was just something I realized. Today, I've knit and watched football.  If you follow that old chestnut about spending your year the way you spend your New Year's Day, there you go.  Except football isn't on all year. I'm about to cast on a scarf with the most expensive yarn I've ever used.  It's Cormo wool and yak.  (A gift, I promise you.)  If I don't keep it for myself, or think Hannah would like it, I d...