Eight nights of light.

It was a stunning beginning to the holiday as we learned of the terrorist attack in Bondi Beach.  And the terrorism continues throughout the world, with synagogues and other Jewish buildings receiving bomb threats, as so many of them have in the last two-plus years since the attacks of October 7, 2023.  Of course these attacks didn't start then, but they have tripled and multiplied even more than that.  It's as if the attacks let people feel empowered to bring their anti-Jewish views and intentions into the streets, the gathering places, the eyes of the world.

And there is the other side, which are people coming together in support, to do good deeds to overcome the evil that is happening, to show that just as the candles each evening overcome the darkness of the night, so too can the goodness in the world overcome the darkness that threatens to wash over us.

One of the observations in my rabbis' Hannukah message to the congregation really resonates with me:  "Perhaps, the miracle of Chanukah is not that there was enough oil for the menorah to last eight days, but rather, that on the first day, when they saw how much oil was left, that the Maccabees had enough faith to go ahead and light it anyway."  This is something I've often thought as well: the miracle is that their faith held despite everything that had happened to them.  In many ways, that is how it feels to be Jewish today.

These are the videos I posted this year:

If Lin-Manuel Miranda Wrote a Hanukah Musical - Jared B. Goldsmith

A 'Wicked' Hannukah - Six13  (and the Maccabeats' one seems even more applicable this year)

I'm Spending Chanukah in Santa Monica - Tom Lehrer (because it's Tuesday) performed by Honest 2 Betsy and Ravi Round the World

Puppy for Hannukah - Daveed Diggs

Happy Hanukkah - Matisyahu (it's a live session so the audio isn't great)

Dancing with the Stars' special dance, the first time they have celebrated Hanukah, plus Celebrating Channukah on the International Space Station

Burn - the Maccabeats, one of my favourite Chanukah videos

On the eighth day, two with 'eight' in the name, Ocho Kandelikas (in Ladino) and Eight Nights, One Heart

Again this year I bought the ChemKnits Creations Channukah box for myself:

Some days came with stitch markers or a little light.  On the bottom photo, it is Day 1 on the far right and across to Day 8 on the far left, plus the bonus skein at the top.  This way each of the miniskeins is 10gm and the extra is 20gm to give a total of 100gms in fingering or DK weight.  My favourites this year are Day 7 (sadly, sold out) followed by Day 5 and the bonus skein.  Now to figure out what to make.

Almost three feet a day.

After finishing the scarf I took with me on the trip last week, I pulled out a skein from a stash I have there (purchases when the local Joann stores closed) and started a scarf.  This is what I knit in about a day - it's slightly past because I continued on Monday before I left, but I marked where I stopped on Sunday night and this is what I knit in a day:

   

Of course, I was doing a lot of sitting and knitting as we went to a play and then out to supper, and I wasn't driving, plus it is the very basic garter stitch on only 24 stitches on US#8 needles.

After returning home I finished the hat I'd left behind, which is the 100th hat for the community center afterschool collection.

Hat #100 is on the right; on the left is the next hat, which
starts the collection for next year.  There is a lot of the
colourway of Hat 100, apparently they are show leftovers.

I'll get them washed and tagged and ship the box right after Christmas, because there is no reason for them to go into the holiday craziness.

Now they can be shown.

Almost every year since it began (when I was living in Dallas and attending the shows was easier) I've gone to see "The Beulaville Baptist Book Club Presents the Bur-Less-Q Nutcracker".  It's fun and silly and the male lead does everything from en pointe ballet to tap to handing out pickles to the audience.

A few years ago a friend I took decided that she'd enjoyed herself so much that she wanted to give thank-you gifts to the cast and crew, so she made everybody a facecloth.  (She actually made several more than were needed, so people could choose.)  I decided to make some fun soaps to give them also.

We've continued the tradition (one year I found some solid lotion bar kits and made those, but haven't had enough of the compound since) every year, and when I wasn't sure I'd get back for the production I left the soaps with my friend on an earlier trip.  It's fun and the cast and crew seem to love them.

This year, I finally decided to make a very fiddly design with a mould I was tempted to buy a few years ago.  They came out well, but I promised to keep the photo secret until after they were distributed:

In addition to the gingerbread people - of course scented with
"Gingerbread Cookie" - I made snowflakes of "Fresh Snow" and
little gold-speckled crowns (three designs) in "Woodland Elves".

I also found a kit to make a knitted pickle for the male lead (who also writes and choreographs the show - and yes, everything gets freshened each year, just like traditional Christmas shows often are), and will post a picture of it when I return home as I will finish it whilst traveling.

In addition to the knitted pickle - which he LOVED - I found
the lollipops, since there are some running jokes about both
lollipops and pickles.  Turns out he'd heard of these but not
found any.  I said they could sell these as concessions.

Update on the knitting shown in my last post:  I finished the scarf yesterday and am leaving it here, as I usually donate scarves to Warm Up, America! at DFW Fiber Fest.  The hat is at home; it was close to being finished when I left and I didn't want to do the last bits while traveling.  I'll finish once I return home and then wash and pack the hats and ship the box.

Five in (about) one.

Last night was a "wintry mix" event with all sorts of things, including the Triangle Fiber Guild holiday party, cancelled or postponed.  So errands didn't happen.  That meant I had five or six to accomplish today, and at most a 90 minutes timeslot in which to achieve them.  Could I manage all the errands in an hour?

Not quite, but I tried.  Part of it was maximizing the route:

• First to the library, to return a book and drop off a couple jackets for the Welcome Baby collection.  As I did and turned to leave, I heard a happy "thank you, dear!" and over my shoulder responded "Absolutely!"  The guard and I then wished each other a happy day.
• I thought that if there was a close post office I could shave a bit off the route, and the car's navigator claimed there was, but after following the directions I didn't see one.  It could be that the gas station or another shop on the strip mall next to it had a postal kiosk or a courtesy station, but I wasn't going to spend time looking.
• Instead, I headed to the Durham Rescue Mission to deliver a duffel bag of mostly clothing, plus a lot of unused wallets that could be likely holiday gifts.  I wanted to be sure they would arrive as early in the month as possible, and we'd just located them during a drawer-cleaning.
• Then to the post office, and the automated machine was available and working!  Package was quickly postage'd and in the big rotating slot.
• Off to Kohl's to pick up another couple jackets, the result of rolling Kohls Cash credits.  While waiting for the item I realized I'd forgotten to grab my knitting, so I checked work email and dealt with a few things.  Which is how I noticed that a meeting was just beginning, less than an hour after I'd left.  Ooops!  A new addition to my calendar.  I joined, apologized, accepted the bag of jackets, and headed to the loggia where a bench waited in a sheltered spot.  Luckily the call was quick and I could continue on my route.
• Stop at the pharmacy for a prescription and an OTC ear-unblocking spray recommended by my PCP that I use before flying this week.  I have until tomorrow afternoon to figure out how it works.

So it took a bit over an hour, almost an hour and a half, but I think there needs to be some adjustment for the meeting and of course the stupidity penalty whilst hunting the snipe of a post office.  And a lot of extra slowness and stoppages due to construction on or next to the roads that took them to one lane in places.  So I came close.

This is the current knitting: I reached 99 hats for the big collection I've been doing (some were made by others, which I figure balance the ones I made and donated to the Blue Elves and otherwise) and stalled over the weekend for the final hat.  All the yarn was too thin, or too pink, or already used in other hats and I didn't want to make one more for this year, or........  So I started the scarf:

I knitted the first ten inches of the scarf in a knitting group
online gathering on Sunday.  Garter stitch moves quickly.

Then yesterday, a box arrived that included some mystery skeins, and one immediately spoke to me about turning it into a hat!  So I am doing that and may have it done before I leave tomorrow.  If not, it will be quickly finished when I return, then THAT box can head out too.

Some people may ask why I used hand-dyed yarn for charity work instead of cheap acrylics.  Well, I can afford it; the purchase helps a small business indie dyer; I get the pleasure of making something with the yarn; and somebody gets a warm and unique hat.  Wins all around!

Thirty in 30

It was a bit of a squeaker, and more than once I didn't expect to make it, but before I went to bed last night* I finished the 30th hat made in November.  Here's the list:

Some days I managed to complete two, especially the crocheted ones of worsted weight (#4) yarn using a USI-5.5mm hook.  I tried a number of patterns as noted in the details.  Here is a photo of 28 of the thirty hats:

Why are two missing?  I donated them to a Blue Elves collection, and too late thought I should have donated a couple that I made earlier so that I could photograph all thirty together.  The ones I donated are a flower one like the one in top left of the photo, and a striped one similar to the one in the bottom left.

Some of the hats look very narrow because they are knitted in ribbing all the way, so they are very stretchy.  Top right are the two "Giftable Beanie" hats, and the flower one next to them is Red Heart Flower Power yarn, following the accompanying pattern through Row 4 and then instead of changing it to a square, just working as a hat around and around.  On the bottom are two Triangle Granny hats, using yarn that I think is scraps of the rainbow yarn shown in six of the knitted beanies, but choosing which colours to put into each hat.

Next to each other, at the top, are the two hats using new-to-me techniques.  The blue-striped one in top left is another top-down knitted beanie, practicing how to start without a hole.

I counted the total number of hats and I am much closer to one hundred than I thought!

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* It might have been slightly after midnight, but not much.  I misjudged the yarn and had to frog to get enough to finish the top.