Knitting the Blues

What You Can't See In This Photo Are The Two Bags Of Ice Under the Laptop Fan Thingie That Are Keeping My Computer Running!

Santa left an iPod Nano under the tree for me last year (or this Christmas, however you want to look at it).  A BLUE one!  I just love Santa.  It took me ten days to find the the "just right" protection and belt-clip combintation before I would take it out of the box.  No scratches on that baby, no way.  Just in time for my computer to start being a little pain in the neck.  It just shuts down with no warning.  None.  Just goes dark.  I used to have a little time before that happened, but now it only runs for a minute and then-OFF.  So, I am sitting it on ice so that I can back up the things that had not been backed up yet and get some books loaded to my iPods (I'm loading them both in case I have to wait for any length of time, although at 16G I am having a hard time filling the new one) then the laptop goes to the laptop hospital for surgery or whatever it needs.  Pete keeps telling me to just get a new laptop, but he says these things as if we just have the extra cash lying around with no other place to put it.  (Does he know something I don't?  I doubt it, that is just the way he is.)  I'm trying to get the most out of this thing that I can.  Besides that, there is the research and effort in purchasing a new laptop.  I am not so thrilled with this one that I would just get another, and all of my girls have macs and seem happy, but whenever I try to use them I get frustrated and think that I am too old for that learning curve.  I'll just fix this one for now, I'm sure I can get another year or so out of it.  Scratch that.  I'm not tempting fate by uttering those words.

So, what's on your iPod?  I have books, books, books, music, music and podcasts.  I fell off the book wagon during December, favoring my Christmas music.  Now my queue is long and I'll have plenty to listen to while working and driving. 

Did I mention, way back when, that I finished Outlander?  I'm hooked!  My plan is to spread the series out to every third or fourth book I listen to so that I don't get totally immersed in Claire and Jamie's lives to the exclusion of reality.  I do that you know.  Get so involved in a book that I start thinking the characters are real and my friends.  Then I look around at my family and life and wonder who the heck they are where the hell all that came from?  I don't think they take it personally anymore....

Five.  What books have swept you away to another world?  I can add them to my list!

New Year's Resolutions: The Two Lists

A little story for the New Year:

I was fortunate to spend time with an enigmatic man named Robert during a very special period of my life. Robert taught me many things during our days together, and this time of year reminds me of one particular interaction we had.

"Now that you are becoming more aware," Robert said, "you need to begin to set goals for yourself so you don't lose the momentum you have built."

"Like New Year's resolutions?" I asked.

"That's an interesting idea," he smirked. "Let's do that."

By then I was used to his cryptic responses, so I knew something was up because of the way his eyes sparkled as he let out an impish laugh.

"Tonight's assignment is to make two lists," Robert continued. "The first is a list of all the New Year's resolutions you WANT to keep, and the second is a list of all the New Year's resolutions you WILL keep. Write the WANT List first, and when you have exhausted all of your ideas, then write the second list on another sheet of paper."

That night I went home and spent several hours working on the two lists. The WANT List felt overwhelming at first, but after a while I got into writing all the things I had always wanted to do if the burdens of life hadn't gotten in the way. After nearly an hour, the list swelled to fill the entire page and contained nearly all of my ideas of an ideal life. The second list was much easier, and I was able to quickly commit ten practical resolutions that I felt would be both realistic and helpful.

The next day, I met Robert in front of the local food Co-op, where we seemed to have most of our enlightening conversations. "Tell me about your two lists," Robert said as the familiar smirk crept onto his face.

"The first list contains all the things I SHOULD do if I completely changed my life to be the person I always wanted to be. And the second list contains all the things I COULD do by accepting my current life, and taking realistic steps towards the life I want to lead."

"Let me see the second list," he said.

I handed him the second list, and without even looking at it, he ripped the paper into tiny pieces and threw it in the nearby garbage can. His disregard for the effort I had put into the list annoyed me at first, but after I calmed down I began to think about the first list in a different light. In my heart, I knew the second list was a cop out, and the first list was the only one that really mattered.

"And now, the first list." Robert bowed his head and held out both of his hands.

I purposefully handed him the first list and held his gaze for several seconds, waiting for him to begin reading the page. After an unusually long silence, he began to crumple the paper into a ball and once again tossed it into the can without looking at it.

"What did you do that for?!" I couldn't hide my anger any longer.

Robert began to speak in a quiet and assured voice. "What you SHOULD or COULD do with your life no longer matters. The only thing that matters, from this day forward, is what you MUST do."

He then drew a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to me.

I opened it carefully, and found a single word floating in the middle of the white page:

"Love."

Swiped from Daily Om.  The author is Daily Om co-founder Scott Blum.  Check out his website for a free download of a book (either text or audio).  Outside of this story I can not endorse anything else he has written because I haven't read anything else.  If you like it, great.  If you don't, don't blame me, I might not either!

One.  I know it!  Right!?  Here I am on the first day I can live blog free and here is a post.  Whatevah!

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”~Winston Churchill

Well, here it is.  The eve of a new year.  There is always a lot of introspective examination of the year finishing up and hopeful looking forward to the new year, resolutions to be broken made and regrets transformed to retries for the new year.  We do like to make a lot of these milestones, don't we?  A while ago a friend and new knitter called me because she had dropped her marker off the needle of a circular project she was working on.  She couldn't find the beginning or end of the "row" to place the marker back on and wondered about there not being an obvious place to make a change.  Isn't there a beginning and end spot that is somehow important?  Similarly, I was playing Trivial Pursuit and was asked the question, "How many grooves are there on a 45 rpm record?"  

The thing is, on both the record and the knitting project, there is only one beginning and one end to each.  The knitting is one long spiral row and the record has one spiral groove.  No obvious spots where rows begin or songs end.  One long spiral to the end.  That is sort of how I view this milestone of the new  year.  A man-made markation in a life that our brains need to mark history but not necessarily time.  The days just keep coming, one after the other with only our imposed importance on them.  The earth itself doesn't know this is a new year's eve.  Neither do the deer in the forest or the dolphin or my cat.  This is one reason that I totally agree with Claudia's view on resolutions.  Myself?  If you read this blog at all you may have surmised that I already put a lot of pressure on myself and I certainly don't need to make a list that is likely to lead to failure and self-criticism.  (I know, I did the Ten on Tuesday thing to have a post and stick with the agenda, but I don't make these lists for myself as a rule.)  I'd rather wake up in the morning and have a resolution for that day.  Why make a promise to myself on January 1st when I have no idea what new and wonderful thing January 2nd might bring.  Or what hindrance to my plan.  Getting attached to that resolution list can lead to disappointment and stress.  I've been working on my attachment issues lately and adding a list of things to hold onto wouldn't exactly count as progress on that front.

So on this last day of blogging for 2008, I have only one resolution that I will definitely stick to.  I firmly resolve to BLOG LESS!  

A lot of people have been looking back over their knitting projects over the last year and showing off displaying the total on their blogs.  I looked at mine, and so can you on my ravelry project page or in the Finishing the Blues 2008 photo album.  I was not that prolific a knitter this year.  What surprised me was that less than  twenty-five percent of the projects were for me!  That makes it sound as if I am some unselfish and giving person.  Let me tell you, it is total coincidence and don't think for one second that I am not thinking of the knitting I plan on doing for myself with every giving stitch.  Another little resolution?  Continue to think of all the knitting I want to do for myself.  heh.

There was some not-for-myself knitting that I haven't done yet.  I made a promise to Pay-It-Forward last November and while I haven't forgotten, I also haven't knitted or made them.  I intend to keep that promise before another year goes by.

I also have a couple of little giveaways that I haven't followed through on, but I have plans for them.  I really haven't forgotten those either, I just haven't gotten it together.  I won't set myself up by setting a date, but I will follow through on that as well.

Still reading?  Waiting for some blog wisdom after a year (actually, 14 months) of daily posting?  I doubt there is any wisdom in my experience to give.  I set a challenge for myself and looking back, it doesn't seem as hard as it seemed while I was doing it.  I am looking forward to those days when I am too tired to come up with something and I get to just go to bed.  I will be happy to post only when I actually have something to say and not try to come up with some lame attempt, although sometimes those posts turned out to be the most fun or the most well responded to.  Funny that, so maybe once in awhile I might just have to sit down with no idea and start writing.  I enjoyed the challenge that just the writing gave me.  I have no plan for the next year of posting except that I won't be posting every single day.  When will I post?  That remains to be seen.

One thing I have really appreciated and loved has been the daily influx of comment email.  The friendships and connections that have been made or kept thriving through the conversations that the blog has inspired are a treasure to me.  I am not so good at the responding to those comments and emails which makes me appreciate even more that most of you still come back and talk to me when I don't always talk back.  Hopefully blogging less will give me more time to answer those comments.  I make no promises, only to Do or Not Do.  Not try.  heh.  Thanks Claudia!

So, I feel like I deserve a prize for making it throught the year and I definitely got the prize in a huge dose.  The satisfaction of a job well finished and the relationships sustained and previously mentioned.  So while I won't be receiving more of a prize, I did, sometime back, promise one.  So many of you have come back every day or almost every day and left some word of encouragement and I'd love to give each and every one of you a gift.  That not being possible, I have a present or two floating around in my imagination that I will give to commenters to this post.  Leave a comment to this post by Monday morning and I will randomly choose  winners from that group.  Just a little thank-you, I could never repay all you have given me.  Thank you so much for hanging in with me.

Don't forget to congratulate the other year long bloggers (I know I'll forget somebody, but here goes): Sandy, Norma, Nora, Lucia, and Jennifer.  Now for the big question:  Who will do it for 2009?  Come on!  I need the entertainment, and I'll be sure to encourage you along the way!  Step up!

Edited and added:  I have been sitting here for about twenty minutes, trying to hit "publish" and let this go into the ether of the internet, but I really do feel some hesitation and mixed feelings.  It is true, I will be glad not to post every day, it does seem strange to have the year end.  I'll admit to being a bit tearful at the whole thing.  I am really surprised at that.  Okay.  Now I will let it go out there!

If only so this post is not photo-less, I managed to swipe a picture of Yutaka's sushi feast.  Imagine the best sushi you have ever had.  Got it?  Now imagine it twenty times better.  There, you almost have it.

Happy New Year!

ZERO TO GO! T-MINUS ZERO AND NO MORE COUNTING! Thanks again for making it a great year! I hope this next one is as accomplished and even happier!

Ten On TuesdayOr NotSomething Like It, Though

This week's Ten on Tuesday is something like the Ten Best Moments of the Year.  I have dreaded this post all day.  Do I go global?  National?  Entertainment?  Personal?  Make it a joke?  All of these thought plus a migraine were making my head feel explosive!  Then, in the nick of time, my good friend and fellow year long blogger Vicki came to the rescue.  And just like last year at this time, I am copying her idea again.  Thank you, Vicki!  I love you for this (and for a lot of other reasons as well).  So, here are the first sentences from the first posts of each month along with a photo from that month of my choosing.  The photos probably don't have anything to do with the sentences and Vicki's photos are way better than mine, so read my post before you head over there and read hers.

January:  But we got off just in time (the boat and the year)!

February:  Some stuff. You know.

March:  I mean! Whatever you think about Freddie Mercury or Queen, you can't deny the charisma.

April:  Ten Things You Would Fix In Your Home (if you had the time and money).  AAARGH!

May:  Everything took longer than expected today and having plans with the family to go here, running even shorter on time I had two choices: Blog or run.

June:  Today we are having the big graduation/going away party for Gillian.

July:  Ten Favorite Sports to Play or Watch.  I was sure this one was going to be so hard.

August:  This thing called summer!  I love it.

September:  Photos from the museum in Oak Bluffs.

October:  Well, you can blame only yourselves for this.

 

November:  Well, I could write a whole post on how this day is the 336th day, in.a.row! that I have posted something to this blog. ONE YEAR!

December:  Yippee!  I'm 21!

ONE TO GO!!!!!!!! What if I blow it on the last day? Can you believe it? I can't. Or maybe I can. I'd better not count my chickens just yet. But when I set my mind to something..... Pete is wondering why I don't set my mind to making a million bucks or something, I'm sure.

Just Another Manic Monday (woe oh oh!)

Hey!  Last three days of blogging in the year and while I had thought there would be soul searching and deep and insightful writing on these last few days, well, no.  I mean, the thoughts might be flitting around in my brain, but the will to turn them into intelligible written word is not.  Somehow I think the world will go on without my brand of wisdom today.  I'll probably share it another time, so be sure not to miss it, it will be good.

I have a couple of things to say about my strictest of eating plans these last several weeks.  While I am feeling so sorry for myself and thinking a life eating only vegetables and lean proteins sounds so boring and sad, I have to say, you don't know what you are missing.  I didn't either until I started eating everything in sight over the holidays.  Cookies, cake, candy.....  They all went in.  Then I found out what I was really missing, but not noticing.  First up?  Those aches and pains that I was calling old age?  They are back this week.   I hadn't even noticed that I could get up and walk without having to warm up.  Same thing in the morning.  The ringing in my ear.  I hadn't missed that either. Until it came back.  Back pain, chest pangs, little heart flutters, big ones too-forgot about them until they returned.  The bloating after eating?  Wow, that came back with a vengence.  Eww.  Then, one thing that I had noticed was my level of fitness had improved.  My running and other cardio work?  I was pretty sure that all my training had finally proven fruitful, but this week my runs have been back to the old feeling of running though sludge.  Hard to breathe again, hard to move and not nearly as fast.  Apparently sugar and flour slows me down.  Along with butter I suppose.  Then there is the new, leaner me.  I used to think that at my activity level that I could eat whatever I wanted, within reason, but there were always spots of roundness (fat) that were so stubborn and I pretty much thought that they were just a part of me forever.  Well, they aren't a part of me anymore.  I have never been so lean.  So I am back to the veggies, salads and lean meats and feeling a little be less sorry for myself.  Only a little, though.  I love me some good sugar.  And not so good, too.

Ben's sweater is coming along with the usual unacceptable growing pains.  For once I would just love to cast on for something, knit, knit, knit, block, seam and give.  Well, you might remember that I was worried about having enough yarn so I got some additional, and although it was a different dye lot I was going to make it work.  If you recall, I was going to knit the fronts and sleeves and then decide what to do about the back, and I did.  In a rare moment of letting go I decided to just knit the back in the other dye lot, saving the one skein I had left for the bands a collar.  All was good.  Or.NOT!  The new dye lot is also apparently a different yarn altogether, smaller gauge, more wraps per inch, the whole deal.  So, I have restarted the back with the original yarn and have a lead on another dye lot that I am pretty sure is more like my original yarn in thickness.  AHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Hear that?  That is the universe taking aim ensuring all kinds of stress to entertain you.

Did I mention that it takes a few days for those cravings to go away everytime you give up the sugar?  I really want some fudge, mine was so good this year.  I threw it away this morning.  Along with cookies and cake and candy.  I do still have some really dark chocolate in the house.  Where did I hide that stuff?

After temps in the sixties yesterday we are expecting two snow storms this week.  "Yay!" I say, or at least I usually do.  It does make it a bit more difficult to get my training runs in, but I'm working on it.  I am up to 8.5 miles on my long run and have six weeks to add those five or more miles.  The weather could make that close to impossible, but the cold I love, the snow I love.  The icy roads when I need to get that run in?  Not so much.

Let's see, what else?  Oh, the Picnic Afghan.  No, I didn't cast on for it yet, but I did spend some time figuring out just what I would need.  Something like 68 skeins of Rowan Denim.  At the  usual price of $6.25 that would be a pretty pricey afghan.  I could get the yarn from an ebay seller for about $4.80, a savings of about one hundred dollars.  OR I could use Elann Den-M-Nit at $3.25 per skein, saving me something like $200, but they don't have the darkest blue in stock.  Dawn's afghan uses only the mid and light denim blues of Rowan,  I wonder if the Elann yarns would contrast enough?  Another project that will sit in the thinking stage for longer than I want it to while I obsess over it.  Meanwhile, I'll order a few balls of the Elann to check it out.  Can't hurt (well, except for my wrists, arms and elbows.  And shoulder), can it?

Two to go.  You'll miss this blather when I'm gone.  Ish. 

Whew! For A Second There I Thought Typepad Was Going To Thwart My Push To The End Of The Year!

Thank goodness, after several attempts to log in, here I am.  With nothing to say.  We had a busy day of socializing, a brunch at my house to celebrate my mom's birthday, my brothers hanging out to watch the last Patriot's game of the season, then off to the annual sushi night at Cyndi's house.  Yutaka really outdid himself this year, and the food was fabulous.  Honestly, the best sushi I have ever had anyplace.  As if that wasn't enough, the company was quite bearable, we had a great time.  Then there is that moment, at 11:15 p.m., on the way home, not a photo of sushi taken that I panic and realize that as tired as I am I still have to post.  So here it is. 

We went out.  We had sushi.  It was great. 

 Three to go.  The end.

Oh, alright. I do have one other thing that popped into my consciousness today.  This afghan (ravelry link).  I must have it.  I really have that "I want it now and I am obsessed with it already" feeling about me, but there are problems that just come along with that way of thinking to begin with, and then the sheer size of the project which can put a damper into any grand schemes of immediate gratification.  The other problem is Margene.  I can feel her head shaking from here.  As much as I can just about feel my wrists and hands and arms aching over the knitting with the Rowan Denim.  I know I could make it out of another yarn, but really.  In my mind it would always be the "almost was" the afghan I wanted and not exactly what I wanted.  In my delusional attachment to this afghan, in this yarn I have already worked out some coping schemes.  The best one (have somebody else knit one and gift it to me) won't work, I don't think.  But, maybe if I only knit one square, maybe two each week and keep myself well-rested and strong and hydrated I could get through it in about a year.  It's a plan that might work.  Fortunately I don't have any Rowan Denim in..the...house at the...moment.........wait!........maybe there was some left over from this skirt...........

THREE TO GO!  Have I cast on yet or not?  You'll have to wait and see.......

Christmas Eve with Teddies and Tea

Filled with warm drinks and cozy memories and as cuddly as teddy bears in woolens.  That is what I hope for all of our quiet Christmas Eves.  If not that, then just what you want. 

Seven to go.  See my teddies?  I love them, and no, I didn't knit the sweaters, they came that way.  They stay out all winter long.  We are sharing Holiday Tea from Harney as we decorate some and get ready for church.  While it is no Maui holiday, I'll take it.

And Hey!  I was off by a day because I did 'twelve to go' twice!  So when I had ten up it was really nine!  I'm glad I caught it before the 31st.  Heh, that would have been a funny one.

Alright. I will.

I had a post, but I decided to save it in place of YouTube Saturday.  So for tonight I have nothing.  I could tell you about the snow.  Alright, I will.  It snowed today.  We are snowed in.  Love.It.

I could tell you about the cleaning of the game sewing room.  Alright, I will.  I cleaned up the game sewing room.  Now I can find my sewing machine and people can play pool.  My zipper foot is still missing though.  Looks like I'll have to buy a new one.  Such a bummer because the one thing that I keep totally organized and neat is my sewing stuff.  I cannot imagine where the heck that thing went.  We all know that it will turn up the second I I buy another.

I could tell you that I was knitting today.  Alright, I will.  I restarted the Ben sweater.  Oh, that was after I blocked the neckwarmer I made for my mom.  I had a skein of yarn left from the Wedding Shrug, had my favorite dyer change the color and knitted it up toot.sweet.  Too dark for photos and I cast on so fast that I forgot to photograph the yarn.  I am loving the Ben sweater, but I wonder why the designers at Sirdar think a sweater for a 1-2 year old should be 16 1/2 inches long.  Doesn't that sound long to you?  I think I'll be adapting that.

I could tell you about the little party that Erin had here today.  Alright, I will.  Erin had a big holiday-do planned for tonight, but the weather had people cancelling early on, so I told her to turn it into an afternoon party and if anybody wanted to stay the night they could.  She baked and planned and cleaned and kids came and went.  Movies were watched (Batman and Horton Hears A Who-loved that one) and food was consumed, laughter and parents getting lost in the snow on the pick up end of the deal.  We are down to one for the sleepover, and she moved in a few days ago because she still has no electricity at her house.  She is welcome to stay, but as I told her, I am NOT paying for her college education.

I could tell you that I talked the two of them and Pete to watch White Christmas again tonight.  Alright, I just did.

I could tell you that I fell down on my no sugar deal and had cookies.  Alright, I will.  Erin made my favorite Christmas cookies and they were taunting me.  They are cranberry oatmeal crisps.  I just couldn't stand it.  Then some really yummy Lake Champlain chocolates came in the mail.  I had a bite. Or two or three.   Really defeats my purposes for putting myself through this, but whatever.  They were too yummy.

I could tell you that I finished decorating and the tree and house look great.  Alright, I won't, because that would be a lie.

I could also tell you that I have a fresh photo for today.  Alright, I will.  Sort of.

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Twelve to go. I wish I could be snowed in all day tomorrow. Maybe then the house would be decorated.

In My Own Little Corner......

Thursday and Friday. 12/11-12/12: Ice Storm
Saturday 12/13: Brrrr. Sunny, highs in the twenties.
Sunday 12/14: From 14 degrees to 43 degrees in mostly cloudy skies.
Monday 12/15: At 11:30 pm it has dropped to 60 degrees, a record high for this date! Add to that a high wind warning that is dropping loose branches down on power lines putting more people in the dark. My fingers are crossed, for all the good that does (makes typing difficult and I have a hard enough time!).

Forecast for the next few days:

Tuesday 12/16: Cloudy and highs in the thirties.
Wednesday 12/17: Snow.

That's New England for you. Just my little corner of it though. I could drive forty-five minutes in any direction and find a totally different weather story. Kuh-razy. Schools remain closed here, some until January. I think Erin has her fingers crossed, our district is calling day to day. Seems fun now, but it will hurt in June (or July) when she is heading in on those warm summer days. I hit a sale at the mall today and the place was packed. I wonder if people are just trying to get warm and hear the hum of electricity or if they are actually buying. Driving home from the gym this evening sent tingles of unease up my spine. Driving through neighborhoods that are totally dark, save a house or two with a generator is just eerie.

Have you seen the holiday Honda Accord commercial? The couple heading out to visit someone that will be so surprised to see them and will "freak." Portrayed driving over the river and throught the snowy woods there is a shot from the inside of the car showing the couple holding hands and my mind immediately is all like, "WHERE THE HECK IS HER KNITTING!?"

Sixteen to go! Stay tuned! We could go from blizzard to beach day in twelve short hours!

M is for Mohair?

Oh, to just get "M" out of the way!  Maybe I should have posted "M" as Mindblock.  Or Meditations on "M".  (See that last period?  In the instance that the "M" is in the quotation marks, which is appropriate to placement of the period?  Inside the quotes or out?  I've done it both ways, waiting for some english teacher or grammar geek to call me out.  I love grammar, but do not know what is the correct period placement in that context.  Discuss.  Back to the subject at hand.)  How about Mental case?  Oh, wait!  I should have gone with ME, ME, ME! as this is what my blog is all about anyway.  Or Mine.  Anyway, I'm going with the saga of the Mohair (and silk) that is presented to me in the discontinued Rowan Kidsilk Spray.

Mohair and silk.  Anyone that has knit with Rowan Kidsilk Haze has an opinion about it.  Not that easy to knit, depending on the project, you cannot deny the beauty of the finished product.  This yarn yields a lustrous cloud whose deceptive light weight is warm and cozy.  My Birch shawl is around my shoulders most days and evenings as I sit knitting, blog trolling or television watching.  I have it on right now, next to the fire, with Patriots playing.

The photos of the yarn above are Kidsilk Spray, the same yarn as Kidsilk Haze, but a space dyed variety in lovely colors.  When it was first released I purchased one ball of the blue (above right) to check it out.  And then it sat.  I dug it out while looking for my Kidsilk Haze stash, I have the urge to knit a few different garments with it.  When I found that Spray I knew just what I wanted it to be.  But.  I only had one ball.  No problem.  There is little you cannot get on the web, so I went a-searching.  Missing a ball band I went to look at my Ravelry stash page and found that it was color number 573.  Looking at color cards (click on the color cards), it looked as though that was correct, but in my searching every example of color 573 looked like the ball above left.  Now, you are thinking dye lot, and you are probably right, BUT! Even taking dye lot into consideration that is quite a hefty difference.  

This is the color I could find around the net.  On ebay, in Ravelry, pretty much everywhere I could not find an example of KS Spray that matched mine.  Actually, even the examples of KS Spray that I found claiming to be color #573 had a wide range of blues, some bright and some almost grey.  While some of that is certainly photography and moniter issues, this yarn just was not consistant.  I wonder if that is why they discontinued it.  So I purchased five balls of the above yarn from a Raverly member willing to sell and I love it and will love the sweater it is planned for, but I just know if I could find five balls of this:

I would pounce on them!

Totally different topic:  You cannot imagine how fortunate I feel these last few days.  New Hampshire is under a state of emergency with over 200,000 customers still without electricity, most of those without heat.  Shelters are filling up as people who have toughed it out for a few days are leaving their cold homes for a bit of warmth.  Most of our town is still without power, many businesses have been closed for days and while we have lights and heat, my next-door neighbors and their entire street are dark.  Why our power returned in only about 12 hours I cannot imagine.  Schools cannot open, either they are shelters, have no power, or so many streets are not passable because trees have not been removed and are still on power lines and busses and cars cannot travel them.  Two weeks is the time frame I am hearing for power to be returned to all customers.  Warnings about space heaters, carbon monoxide poisoning and fires are on the news, but anybody that needs reminding is probably not hearing them.  I am thankful to be sitting in my warm, lighted home.  Posting to my blog, watching a football game, hunger stemmed by a dinner of swordfish, ribs, rice and salad.  Now I will make a pot of tea.  All of this we take for granted as our normal and our right.  Keep that and our friends and neighbors in mind as you heat your water for coffee and take your nice warm shower.  We forget what it takes to have our daily comforts, don't we?

Seventeen to go.  I know!  I hear you!  You'll just have to wait and see what I am knitting with that KSS!  That might be my next project or another with some Kidsilk Haze that I have.  Still *M*editating on it.

Dispatch From the Sticks

Icy trees down everywhere <stop>

Power restored <stop>

Cable and internet still out <stop>

Hot showers and the hum of electricity a luxury <stop>

Posting from a friend's house <stop>

Back to regular posting as soon as possible. <stop>

Nineteen to go!  Leave it to one lousy ice storm to thwart my year long effort!  Fingers crossed for the weekend, and if you sent me an email, I haven't gotten it yet.

TWENTY TO GO!Can This Even BE True?

This will be a quick post, and I may be back to add to it later but just in case......

Our electricity is popping in and out, thanks to ice on the wires, no doubt.  In the middle of A Year Without A Santa Claus!  I'm trying to get some spirit.  If it goes out, at least I can rest comfortably knowing that there is something up on this blog for today. One day in the sixties and the next we have an ice storm.  We New Englanders have to be a hardy lot, and have long memories.  And the types that don't put away all of their warmer weather clothing.  It does the spirit no good to worry about the current weather conditions, they never last long.  I'd much rather this be snow.....

  That is what my hair looks like out of the shower.  I sing the song every day when I see myself.  heh.

  For obvious reasons, Snow Miser is my favorite.  All of that blue and ice and snowflakes!  

Ooooh, how far will they go?  I just saw an ad for the Miser Brother's Christmas (pdf. link!) a new ABC Family production.  I refuse to watch.  It is all about nostalgia for me, I guess.

I did have a post all set, well, except that I forgot to take the photos.  I thought about posting it without the photos, but if I ever get to it you'll see that without the photos it would mean absolutely nothing.

What is your progress on your holiday preparations?  Hmmm.  This is the deal here.  I have the tree up (thanks to Pete), but not decorated.  Pete put up a few of the swags and there are candles in the windows (again, Pete.  And Erin remembers to put them on every night).  I haven't gotten one.single.gift.  Not that I'm planning on much, but nada.  Nothing.  And I have no plans to change that over the next couple of days, much too lazy busy.  What would happen if I didn't get a gift for anyone?  I often wonder.  But that isn't the spirit, is it?  I'll suck it up and get one thing for everyone on my list and call it day.  Now, THAT'S the spirit. 

Twenty to go!  Wanna hear a secret?  I think December 31 will be a bittersweet day for me.  Honestly, I shock myself.  I can't wait to have one.day.off!  I love everyone of you guys and all, but one day to not think of a post.  Like today was, and look.  I pulled off something and it wasn't that hard.  Never mind it wasn't that great, it is what it is.  Sigh.     

Windy, Wet and Warm Weather

Let's pretend for a minute that I am not still stuck on the letter "M" in the ABC-Along, and I am on "W."  What perfect timing to be on "W!"  It is crazily unseasonable around these parts today, here is hoping for a shift back to winter (the "W" I'd rather be posting about right now) soon. 

Twenty-one to go! Maybe I'll just add ABC-Along photos in no particular order or theme from here on until the end of the year. Maybe I'll leave out "M" altogether.

Blue Birthday

Blue knitting, new blue teapot (people that care about me read my blog-I also got Lululemon capris and a David Sedaris book.  Apparently they'll do anything but take up knitting), and my favorite blue sheepy mug.  That is how I wish I could spend the entire day, but I'll be heading to work now, then the gym, then home for the tea and knitting and music.  Can't.Wait.

 

I love this cast iron teapot!

Twenty-three to go!  It should be noted that Gillian called me last night excited about progress made on a scarf she is knitting.  She loves it and it is getting long!  Do I have one at last?  That would be a great birthday present!

Is It Thursday Already!?

Still in dress-sewing madness.  My main problem is that I need a lot of thinking time when I sew.  I need to ruminate on how it is going to go, the changes to the pattern that I am going to make, whether or not they will work, if it will fit.  Then I need to visualize it all going together and myself making it work.  It takes too much time.

Anyway, I'm too tired to contemplate much of anything else.  I do have some news in the form of a decision.  This really isn't something I need to blog, I just decided something and whether I tell you about it or not doesn't really matter.  And then when I tell you my reasons, well hell.  That doesn't really matter either.  Mostly, I'm sure you probably don't give a sh*t, but for lack of anything else to chat about for two or four seconds (well if I could type like Norma and the Typepad compose page could keep up-it can't even keep up with me!) I'll tell you anyway.

After much contemplation and internal debate I have decided not to participate in the NaKniSweMoDo.  Don't think that I don't want to.  The challenge of knitting twelve sweaters for myself in the next year makes my heart leap.  I have more than that many dreams in my stash and it would sure be fun to make stuff for me all year.  I was >this< close to doing it.  Then I saw my spinning wheel sitting there all forlorned and ignored.  Then I started sewing this dress and it brought back to me my fabric stash and all of the unrealized hopes in there started to become twinkles of things that might be realized.  Oh, and what about the two quilts in progress and the one I want to start?  My hibernating needlepoint canvases-in-progress are taunting me from their corner next to the sewing machine.  What about the ornaments I started a summer or two (or three) ago?  Did I mention I was training for a half marathon?  Then there are the shawls, socks (I have not knit one pair of socks this whole year!), the toys, the baby sweaters for friends, the gloves, mittens.....  Oh, and I do have a job. 

So, in a rare moment of clarity, knowing full well that I will spend the year envying the knitters churning out their sweaters and wishing I had joined in on the fun, I have decided to forego that particular crazy.  I promise I will come up with my own brand of crazy that includes all of the above mentioned passions.  Or not.  I'll just have to see what kind of year it turns out to be.

Twenty-seven to go.  I could have my own personal LoCoKniQuiSewNeeCrafRunMoDoPlus.  Did I leave anything out?

Congratulations!

To all of the brave bloggers who took on the challenge of posting every day for a month.  YOU DID IT!  And now, wasn't that easy?  When I look back on last November when I first jumped in with both (crazy) feet, it seemed like such a daunting task to come up with thirty daily posts, but I did it and kept right on going.  For me, this month flew by in terms of posting much because I am used to it.  I'll bet it wasn't as difficult as you thought it would be, was it?  I've enjoyed all of your posts, and for those who are continuing on through December, well, enjoy the ride. ONLY THIRTY-ONE POSTS TO GO!

Thirty-one to go.  So, as easy as that was, who's up for another month?  The year?