A dozen stripes.

While out walking during the last few weeks, I found that somebody has been decorating a few of the baby trees in a Charlie Brown manner:

 

And some of the bushes are looking festive:

Today was my last long walk of the year, managed between the overnight storms and the incoming storms.  Sun came out and I was quite warm.

I stopped at my parents' house to pick up leftovers of the vegetables I made to accompany yesterday's soufflé.  I riffed on a holiday recipe I'd seen; since I didn't have rosemary I left it out as well as the maple syrup, since I thought they would balance each other and just maple syrup would make this too sweet:

Butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and onion.
After roasting for 20 minutes or so (stirring halfway)
I added fresh cranberries and pecan halves.

The soufflé was at the top of the dish but of course was deflating by the time it reached the table.  It still tastes quite good.  The vegetables reheated nicely.

I am up to Day 12 of the Advent-Plus-Channukah Shawl I am making up as I go.  I am now doing the stripes for the full half ball, instead of stopping at about two inches, so the stripes are uneven and taking longer than if I cut the yarn after about 2.5 inches:

It will be an "office shawl" so I don't entirely care.  Of course, I've now seen a blanket pattern that I could have done, one strand at a time, but I am not going to pull this apart and start over!  Maybe next year.

As you can see, I finished one of the "pocket hats" or "Zoom hats", and the other is now into the second leftover bit of yarn.  I am going to try to focus on finishing items as the year finishes.

Happy Celebrating.

I should have posted this for the First Night of Channukah yesterday, but I was busy with family.

Axial tilt is the reason.

I've seen a reminder that "axial tilt is the reason for the season" - or the seasonal change, if you want to be specific.  Happy Solstice, y'all.

Artist uncredited at the source where I found this.

We're in the yearend crunch at work, so life has been very busy the last week.  I did get to my parents' house today to help them set up holiday decorations, including a small train, and forgot to take photographs.

I did remember to get a progress photo on the three current projects (the one for my friend is in time-out temporarily), and as you can see I remain well behind the date on my shawl:

Same orientation, roughly, as last week.
The purple hat in the bottom right is almost ready for decreases.
Hard to see the progress on the other hat, which has 120 stitches
around, but I'm almost done with the first leftover of yarn.
Shawl is now on December 7th, and yes, the stripes are wider.

I was please with how today's weekly soufflé came out - nice and high:

Busy (and COLD) week.

I went to Chicago for a conference, and the temperature was around 18°F one day and not quite to freezing the next, so combined with the inevitable windchill it felt like -15°F.  Unlike last year, when it was warm enough to go out without a coat, this year I decided to stay in the hotel for the duration and not look at the lights or go to the Art Institute on Thursday evening.

It was a good conference but work was crazy-busy, so staying in my room and working was the best answer in the evening.  I enjoyed seeing people in person and my parents where thrilled to receive a bit of Garrett Mix as a gift when I returned.

I took a "pocket hat" to work on, and also some yarn for a gift but struggled with the pattern, so I am going to pull it out and try something else.  When I got home I returned to the "Christmas-Channukah Advent Shawl" as I'm ten days behind and need to focus and catch up if possible.  Because it's a bit bulky and has a stitch pattern, I started another "pocket hat" to take to the opera today.

"The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson"

I call these "pocket hats" because they are small enough to carry in a pocket (or purse) when being made, and of course fit well into a pocket once finished.

Top left: shawl, almost ready for Day 6 to begin.
Bottom:  Almost-at-decreases hat.
Top right:  Newly-started hat, ribbing completed.

I finished a book and started another, but haven't made much progress.  Yesterday was my usual day at my parents', this time helping my father clean out and organize his closet.  Luckily we're mostly done in the garage as it was cold here (but quite a bit warmer than Chicago!) and we didn't want to work out there.  Then I ran errands, including picking up a load of towels at a local shop (sale, discount coupon, store credit) because a church backed out of getting items for a group of senior citizens for the holidays, and a local community group stepped in.  Within 48 hours people had pulled together a huge carload of gifts of the kinds wanted: hats and gloves and scarves, blankets and towels.

Three Red Scarves

 I finished the last of the red scarves very late last night:

This used up an entire ball of A Pound Of Love in "Cherry", plus a small ball of brighter red that I bought when it was clear that I couldn't get a full third scarf.  In the end, I had less than 3" of the Cherry as scraps!  I do have a bit more of the brighter red (it's "COLOR/COULEUR # 15705", no name) but not enough for a single additional row.  I'll use some to tie on the washing instructions and put the rest into the box of scrap yarns.

These are closeups of the stitch patterns:

Bavarian Stitch - crochet

"Hot Frosty" or broken rib (K3P1+K1) - knit

Simple 1dc1sc repeat, worked from center - crochet

I have made not enough progress on the Advent/Channukah item, because I was focused on getting these three scarves done.  But I made some progress:

I planned to use three stitch patterns but did not like the transition from #2 to #3.  So I frogged the third stripe and now I am using just two, seed stitch and single moss stitch.  I also realized that some of the minis are longer than other minis, and decided that rather than have wildly uneven stripes, I will end each one somewhere around the 2½" width.  So I will have bits of leftover yarn, which may get added later, or put into another project.

Tonight is the holiday party for one of the local fiber groups I have joined.  They are collecting the red scarves, hence my deadline of today.  We are having a potluck and I made Grinch Cookies:

Simply dye a basic cooky dough green, roll into balls, flatten
slightly, and add a red candy heart before baking.  These were
made with a gluten-free cookie recipe, but you can use any.

For the white elephant gift exchange, I made a few stitch markers and packaged them with a hank of yarn from a mystery yarn purchase.  I love the dyer but notice this has a lot of mohair, which can be an issue for me.  I have kept all the other mystery skeins!

Later:  Party was small but fun enough.  We played a game of pull a question from a bag and answer it, which generated some interesting discussions.  The person who received my gift was very happy to have it, and I scored a Bonne Maman 2024 Advent Calendar, which I am very happy to receive!  I'm not opening it yet, in part because I scored sugarplums from Andy's Orchard and am very happily eating those.

{Also:  This is my 350th post.  A piker compared to many who have posted daily for years, or decades, or even those who posted weekly from The Beginning.  But more than I expected I'd have.}

Thankfuls.

Unlike the last couple-three years, I didn't do the Thankful Thing, where every day you list something for which you are thankful.  I was traveling at the beginning of the month, and after the election things were a bit fraught, and work kept me busy, and my parents, and so on.

I was thankful on Thursday that the family got together, and the food was well-liked and met most of the dietary requirements (probably a little too carbs-heavy), and we were able to visit.

Yesterday my dad and I did what I think is the penultimate day of garage boxes, although there are a few along the sink wall in the back, but they are out of the way and don't count for this part of the exercise.  Besides, many of them hold records, not books, and that's a different adventure of sorting.  I was able to get the car packed in time for Mom to make one delivery to the Friends of the Library, and four more boxes await delivery on Tuesday.

I'm almost to the end of the fourth foot of the second red scarf, and need to add the extra length to my hat, especially now that it is cold, but instead I have started a new project:

Some people on one of my lists were talking about advent projects, usually designed for a package of miniskeins of yarn and doing something every day.  Others are, for example, a stocking where you do part of the pattern every day.  One pattern that several people liked is a scarf where you pick a skein every day, knit a tube with a circular needle (so it goes fast, and I supposed you could use a loom or machine also), and when it's done you have a double-thick scarf.  I debated doing that, for simplicity.

Then I decided to have a bit of fun and make a stole-type shawl for myself.  This is just a long rectangle.  Some of the advent patterns do this with a solid between the miniskeins, and I debated trying to figure out some yarn in my stash that would be enough to carry along with the random colours.  I couldn't find anything that I liked well enough, in a thin enough yarn, with sufficient yardage.

So the current plan is to work with the yarn doubled, and every day do a half-skein, and when one runs out add the new colour.  It may or may not work - and I can always frog and try something else.

So I gathered together 33 miniskeins and balls, marking the 25 days before Christmas and the eight days of Channukah that follow this year.  Instead of working them singly, which would require a pattern (or be too boring) and not give enough interest for me, plus possibly very abrupt colour changes, I decided to work the yarns together:

Crochet cast-on, so the ends will look more similar.

Since I have two of the goldish-tannish colour, which as the top photo shows isn't solid like the others, I decided to divide the brown that was also wound into a ball in halves, and use this for the starting and ending.  Other than this, whatever colour comes next will be randomly selected.

If it doesn't look good, I will frog and may crochet instead, for speed.  We shall see!

Three films.

In the last week or so I've managed to watch three films about dementia of various types.  This wasn't planned; they just happened to be scheduled by online groups in this timeframe.

One is Still Alice, about a woman with familial early-onset Alzheimer's.  Not a story in my family, but I have a friend who has been diagnosed, as has her sister, so it's something of interest to me.  The online service had some issues but I was able to watch the film, and in joining the discussion suggested that caregivers might want to read Her Final Year, which helped me deal with decisions I had to make.

The other two films focused on performers whose work I admired and enjoyed.  SPARK is a film about Robin Williams and his battle with Lewy Body Dementia.  This is the disease that felled a woman I considered one of my godmothers.  She was diagnosed during her lifetime; he wasn't until after he died.  It was interesting to watch, and heartbreaking.

The final film focused on a performer on whom I had a crush: Gene Wilder.  Remembering Gene Wilder is a biography that gives a fond overview of his career, addresses his marriages, his relationships with co-stars and Mel Brooks, and explains how, in the end, his mind faded with Alzheimer's.

The uncle for whom I was responsible had some form of dementia in the end, so I am interested in the various forms it takes.

Things finished today:  Another book (so I am at 23 of 18 for the year) and a scarf for the Red Scarf Project.

Bavarian Stitch, based upon this pattern.

One of the local groups is collecting at their holiday party on December 9th so they can be mailed to arrive by December 15th.  I should have at least one more done by then, maybe two.  The next one is knitted and I did two inches during tonight's online group get-together.

Final Dozen.

I was going to post midweek but ended up sick on Wednesday, with a sinus headache that morphed into a migraine.  I took two naps that day, and lots of OTC medication, and kitchen medicine in the form of chicken soup, wasabi chips, and hot sauce.  

Not my bottle.

I got my head in order enough to participate in "Lady Windemere's Fan" that evening (luckily, I had a small part as a gossip at the ball, channeling my inner Anna Russell on the line 'Who is she?') and before then to drop off five hats and five scarves to the Twisted Knitter collection:

The five scarves are all my basic C2C, made from a now-discontinued red/white/blue Premier Candy Shop yarn.  I intended them for Knit Your Bit but since they are not currently collecting, this is a good substitute.

I knit or crocheted three of the hats while on my trip earlier this month.  The top left hat is based upon the Airegin Hat pattern but adjusted because the yarns I had are thinner than the pattern requires.  The yellow hat below it is the Granny Beanie, and the other yellow hat is based upon it but working the rows in the one two below, so it closes up the holes.  Because I used the majority of the multicoloured yarn on the first one, I spaced those rows out further on the second, because I have lots of the gold.

The brown hat is based on Barley Hat, out of a ball of Taos I received in a local fiber group's holiday swap.  The white-and-grey was worked from leftover acrylic yarns, Premier Sweet Roll Silver Swirl.

I didn't have this set finished in time to deliver it on Wednesday evening, because of the play, but I finished during my "offstage" time and delivered it Thursday morning, just in time for the deadline:

So that's the last dozen for this collection.  Up next are the Blue Elves and Red Scarf Project.

On Friday I finally felt better.  Yesterday I had my usual Saturday at my parents' house, helping my father to sort books (we finished a carload in time for Mom to deliver it to Friends of the Library, instead of having to wait for Tuesday), then after this week's soufflé Dad decided to clean out his bureaus and closet a bit.

This week's soufflé was especially tall.

Today I got to do chores of my own.  This evening I am watching a film about Braver Angels.  In this fraught post-election atmosphere, they are probably very much needed.

Accounting.

I finished a book and read two others on the trip.  One was a thick mystery I picked up from the ship's library and stayed up late to finish so I could leave it in place; the other was a slim mystery I took with me and read mostly on the trip home, finishing this morning.  So Goodreads tells me I have finished 22 books out of my 18-book Reading Challenge for 2024.

I did buy a little yarn on the trip:

The purple is a yak-wool blend that will make a lovely hat and mittens or gloves to go with my blue-teal coat.  I wore the coat to the shop and we tried to match but nothing was close.  A few yarns were within a shade or two, just enough that they looked odd, but the purple really glowed.  The other is an intriguing-looking yarn that I will use to make more charity hats.

I finished (except for a bit of sewing-up) four charity hats, and am mostly finished with one similar to the yellow hat, plus have started a scarf to match the wedge hat on the right:

This is after I finished a hat for myself on the flight over, and wore it often.  I need to make it a bit longer and will post a photo once that is done.

I also made a collection of gingerbread (lebkuchen) to try:

The black bag came from the Basilika St. Michael in Mondsee, Austria; they are using it to raise funds to repair the roof.  The others from a Vienna shop that also had a stall at the St. Stephen's Cathedral Christmas market, two of their several types.

Like many people, I am nervous and a bit frightened about what the results of Tuesday's election means for much of the country.

Taking care of business.

Leaving in a few hours, and my laptop was approved to travel outside our geo-blocking, so I can keep up with work.  Yes, it's a vacation, and I won't stress to participate in meetings while gone, but tracking through email and not returning to an overfull inbox and missed deadlines can be restful.

Of course I made sure to vote before I leave.

The other night I took a quick break from work and delivered nine hats plus one hat-and-scarf set, plus a scarf a friend had knitted, to the Twisted Knitter collection point at our community center:

Some of these are in acrylics, others are sock yarn leftovers, and others are hand-dyed yarn from Always Be Kind Yarn, Forbidden Fiber Co., and UP North Yarns.  While it may seem absurd to use an expensive yarn for this purpose, the dyers are paid and appreciated; I get the fun of using the yarn; and somebody gets a nice warm hat!  I tag them with washing instructions, of course.

Off to the airport in an hour, for my next adventure.  I've packed yarn for more hats and a scarf.

Many Memoria.

It's been quite the week in terms of memorials for people I liked and loved.

On my morning walk today I found a huge, very red leaf.  Yes, it's as big as my face:

In past years I would press and dry it and send to my grandmother, who missed the autumn colours while living in Hawai'i and Florida.  I am wistful that I cannot send this one to her.

As I mentioned in the previous post, last Sunday was the memorial for an actor I knew:

It was a lovely celebration of his life, his creativity, the love he had for his children, and the theatre, and all of his friends.  I was more on the periphery than many, but still welcome and glad I attended.  I donated to Gideon's Feet in his honour.

Yesterday was the funeral for my honorary uncle, whom I referred to sometimes as my godfather, who was one of my mother's lifelong friends:

In his honour I donated to St. Anthony Hospital in Chicago.  It was one of his most heartfelt interests, to ensure that people received quality medical care no matter what their financial status.

In the afternoon, in Honolulu, the celebration of the life of a friend's mother:

There is an undergraduate scholarship fund at SMU in her name, and of course I contributed.

I am very glad that I could attend both via Zoom.  For Uncle Peter's, of course I was with my parents.

Yesterday I also learned of the funeral for my friend Jo, who lost her battle to cancer earlier this month.  I met her in the SCA and we bonded over movie nights (her husband is a reviewer) and knitting and other crafts.  This is one of the last photos of her, from July, before her doctors determined that her body didn't have the wherewithal for another assault on what she called "Voldemort":

It's been a week.  Remember to say "I love you" often, and hug people when you can.

There and There Again.

After getting home from the meetings in Nashville, I was home for the weekend then had to pack and leave on the Monday for department meetings at our headquarters in Irving.  While in other times I might have stayed the intervening days, I chose to go home when the meetings ended on Wednesday evening and come back on Saturday.

The original reason for this second trip (and I'd hoped the work one would overlap, so I wouldn't have to travel twice, but it was not to be) is the Dallas Winds concert on Tuesday evening.  When I came to the July 4th concert the friend who accompanied me expressed interest, and who am I to pass up the opportunity?  Then I realized if I came on Saturday I could see a play, then the family announced a memorial service for an actor I knew and admired, held on Sunday.  So it's a busy few days here, and I supposed it's good that I had the break at home.

During those days another friend died; she had pancreatic cancer and lost the battle.  Her husband is devastated, even with the time to prepare; they'd agreed, no official memorial service.  The same day that I heard about Jo, my (honorary) aunt/godmother advised that my (honorary) godfather/uncle had died.  He was one of my mother's longest-term friends, and became a friend to my father when my parents married.  My brother and I grew up with their children, and they looked after us a few times when our parents went out of town.

So, it's been an emotional few days, especially because I was at the meetings and so had to remain professional, give a presentation, etc.

On the up side, when I went to the show last night, a friend gave me a huge bag of scarves and mitts and hats she had made to donate to people in western North Carolina, who are recovering from Hurricane Helene.  It's getting cold out there and these will be welcome.  The friend with whom I am staying, who is also donating via a friend's daughter who is at school in WNC, gave me a scarf to include.

{Yes, my title is a takeoff on this book.}

Adventures in Nashville

I went to a conference last weekend, and the beginning of this week.  In addition to all the luncheons, meetings, continuing education sessions, and networking, I was able to go out and see some things.

Arriving on Saturday, I left my bags at the hotel and headed out to Celebrate Nashville!  It was a very hot day and I forgot to take a hat, so part of the time I was huddling in shade with everybody else.  I think a vendor was selling parasols because I saw a number of them in different colours.  I didn't find those and because I didn't have a tote bag, I wasn't interested in buying much, but I did find soaps.

I watched some of the dance performances and listened to music and ate a number of things, plus got an iced lemonade:

  

Taiyaki - traditional custard and nontraditional cheese; a "spinach filled pita" from the balkan foods truck, an alfajor and the lemonade, not from the same stand.  There were so many other things I wanted to try, but it was very hot which diminishes my appetite.  And the lines for ice cream and italian ice were very long.

While eating I discovered there was a music tent in the foods area, so sat under a tree, wound yarn, and enjoyed listening.  Eventually the festival ended and I headed back to the hotel for a nice shower and rehydrating, and to watch college football (Michigan lost).

The next morning began the first of the "Team Turtle Walks", where I led groups on different routes around Nashville, with bits of history where I found some.  It's partly networking and partly to get out and moving before spending a day in the convention center.  The first day we walked out to Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans, walking over the river where ecstatic fans had thrown the goalposts the night before, in wild celebration of Vanderbilt's first victory over Alabana in fifty or so years of football competitions.  We also walked over the bridge where John Bonjovi had talked a woman back from the edge a few weeks ago.

At the State Capitol, obligatory photo op.

Other days we did a civil rights and the law walk, on roads named for Rep. John Lewis, Rosa Parks, and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., past the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and the State Capitol; another along Broadway and around the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and the Ryman Auditorium; and the final day took us to the library:

I am holding the turtle that is mascot of our walks.

Also on Sunday I played hooky for a bit and with a friend; we have a tradition of spending time together at the Annual Meetings in what he jokes to his husband is a "Same Time, Next Year" adventure.  It was my turn to plan so we started at the Parthenon (I'd seen it the day before during Celebrate Nashville, but it was a surprise for him) and then to "Dragon Park":

Of course a photo of me with the sufferagists.

The meetings started on Sunday evening, and there aren't many photos worth sharing.  I did wear a mask every day, and some people track me down to see what that day's quote or information says.

I did get my share of swag, but didn't overdo - except that I took plenty (mostly Goo-Goo Clusters) back to share with others in the Legal Department during our in-person All-Hands meeting next week.

Items from my network's sponsor - and no, I am NOT sharing the duck!