A contented day.

Family celebration of Christmas today, part of it was happiness that none of us were "on call" for work, nor felt an obligation to sidle off to work for a bit.  We ate a reasonable (vegetarian and gluten-free) brunch, complete with snacky bits of cheese and multiple desserts.

Most of the gifts we exchange are donations to favourite charities.  I had token gifts for the family: dark chocolate covered apricots for my parents; socks with the Hot Wheels® logo for my brother, who owned and played with many as a boy; compost for my sister-in law, who directed it to a local farm; National Parks water bottles for my younger niece and her partner; and for the elder niece, a hat:

When I mentioned to my mother on Tuesday that I was struggling to find a token gift appropriate for my older niece, my mother suggested a warm hat because my niece's job includes working with students in a community garden, and it's been cold.  I sent a message to my niece asking for her three favourite colours, because I know she has a black coat and didn't want to make a black hat, especially on short notice.  She responded that evening.

Then I had to dig to find enough yarn in her choices of black, green, and pink.  I found a skein of handdyed yarn in pink with bits of black, and some leftover green.  I decided to use a pattern I've knit many times, doubling the pink/black to get the correct thickness.  I started on Wednesday morning, and spent the evening watching holiday videos and knitting.  I woke early and managed to finish with plenty of time to wrap the gifts and arrive at my parents' house with time to help set up.

The hat fit, it's soft enough to suit my niece, and she's happy to have it when the weather gets cooler again.  Today was unusually warm, especially for Christmas Day.

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 gave
him 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.

Christmas Adam.

Some people joke that since Adam came before Eve, December 23rd could be called "Christmas Adam".

    <rimshot>

Today has been a day of my own, which is not usual.  I am celebrating a slightly belated birthday by having a "jammies day", with no obligation to go outside, so in theory I could stay in my pajamas all day.  I did put on clothing for Torah Study, because most of us are on-camera, and also to get the mail.

I've had great things arriving, whether gifts from friends, or cards and letters.  It's nice to get something other than ads and bills.  I do receive some magazines - mostly fiber arts or cooking, or from the universities from which I have degrees - but mostly my mail is uninteresting.  It's nice that some people still do cards and letters.

Part of my activity for the last couple of days has been to write cards.  Specifically, I am writing thank-you cards for sailors, which a friend of mine in Honolulu distributes as part of her social worker activities.  I'd asked a couple times for recommendations about text, and finally one of the prolific contributors replied to tell me that she looked online for sites with sample text.  I did a hunt and found a couple of sites, using their examples to create my own text.  I'd stocked up on cheerful-looking, or just elegant, thank-you cards at a dollar store, and decided to write as many as would fit into a Small Flat Rate Box, given the distance to ship and the weight of such things.

In a way I am honoring my grandmother by doing this, because she was a fierce supporter of our military, and her second husband, my step-grandfather, was in the Navy.

So those will go off to my friend, as will the final two gifts for friends in Connecticut.

These look much better when on a head, trust me!

When it was clear the hats would not be finished in time, I quickly made some spiced molasses snowflakes to include in their package as the eighth Channukah gift.  I thought the hats would arrive in time for their traditional Solstice woods walk, but nope.  Work has been very busy for me.  So sometime before Twelfth Night, they will have new hats.  The green one is the Joshua Tree Hat from the National Parks series, because the recipient loves to hike in national parks, and I am including a printout of the New York Times' recent article.  The other is Stephen West's Honey Striped Hat done in a single yarn, so it looks like a turtle shell, because the recipient is nicknamed "Turtle".

Now to spend the evening eating roast beef and ice cream (sequentially, not together!), and crocheting or knitting, and reading.  I am up to 15 books read and reported this year according to Goodreads, and I would like to get to an even number.  My current bedside book is thick enough that I am pretty sure I won't finish by the 31st, plus I've been hoarding a seasonal mystery for just this week.  Time to open it!

Helping Others.

'Tis the season, after all.

Some Jews give to a different charity on each night of Channukah.  My congregation sent out a Hannukah Wish List, and I contributed for the video operators for Zoom services, since I now attend remotely and want that to continue.  So it's a bit selfish 

Many Christian people are doing a Reverse Advent, based upon images like these:

  

Reminders also come out that if you donate boxed mac-n-cheese, it's good to donate canned or boxed milk that people can use to make it.  Some people suggest adding a can opener, but you never know whether it will end up with the people who have cans to open.  And many places can use diapers (adult incontinence items too) and feminine hygiene items.  Also cleaning supplies, laundry soap, things like that to help people when all their money has to go to housing and transportation.

Of course there are Angel Trees (at my congregation we instituted Jacob's Ladder, from the story about Jacob seeing the ladder to heaven and the angels going up and down, with the same purpose but avoiding the pagan-Christian association of a tree), and I decided that I would contribute to the one hosted in the local community hall.  I took my laptop so that I could check prices and availability of items, and ended up with five tags:

• A man who asked for a package of black pens.  I chose several different types, and noticed he wears size 6X-7X shirts, so I bought one of those also, a proper one with button front and collar, since I would guess he usually gets just T-shirts.  I hope it fits.
• A man who asked for brown dress shoes.  Unfortunately he's not my father's shoe size, but I found some similar to the ones my father wears.
• A man who asked for a new shirt, also a big guy at 3X.  I bought three for him, different styles and colours, no white T-shirts among them as those are pretty common and somebody who asks for a shirt should have a proper shirt with buttons and a collar.
• A man who asked for tennis shoes - I found a nice pair in blue.
• A man who asked for either a specific type of coat, or camo thermals.  Those proved surprisingly difficult to find in matched sets, so one is a green camo top and solid green pants, and the other is grey/black camo set.

We'd collected a bunch of toys and games and stuffed animals for the local Toys for Tots collection, but they closed those before Thanksgiving, with little notice.  I didn't find out until the local organizer sent out a "too bad for us" message.  Then somebody checked around and the Durham Rescue Mission was happy to take the toys!

Finally, somebody announced a collection of toiletries and such for women and children at the Good Samaritan Inn (also part of the Durham Rescue Mission services), and my mother and I cleaned out the stockpile of toothbrushes (since my parents use electric models and don't need the ones given by their dentist) and soaps (I collect, it seems, and can share) and other items and dropped them off at the pickup house.  They also wanted coats, but I whittled down my closet before moving and don't have ones to spare.

Plus there are so many charities asking for assistance.  I am somewhat choosy in the ones I like, mostly ones that help the hungry, or women and children who have been abused, or people who have been rejected by family for their sexual orientation (which often overlap to the other groups), or a couple sheltered workshops and homes for persons with disabilities.

Still need some holiday treats, or want to plan for a future holiday or birthday?  The latter two run bakeries and ship almost anywhere.  All made with love and skill and VERY yummy.

Silly Plays and Shipping Gifts

Last week was busy:  I was in an online production of "Peter Pan" on Wednesday evening, playing Nibs, one of the Lost Children.  Thursday I went to Chicago for a professional meeting, and Friday I flew to Dallas for two days of holiday shows.  I hoped to get out of meetings early and possibly catch a fourth show but that was not to be.  And I considered seeing a show on Thursday evening in Chicago but was enjoying talking to old colleagues and others that it wasn't possible.  Well, I had a surprisingly good evening of being social.

The plays we saw in Dallas are "Santa Claus Versus the Martians", based upon a 1964 film, "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians", which appears on many lists of "Worst Movies".  This is the sixth outing of the play, which parodies the source by playing it as straight as they can, with as low a budget as possible.  It's great!

That evening we went to the latest edition of "The Beulaville Baptist Book Club Presents: A Bur-Less-Q-Nutcracker!!!" which is very silly and also a lot of fun.  It has has been nominated for or won "The Nutty", the annual award for best production of The Nutcracker in the country, several times.

The third show was "Little Women", which a friend directed and for which she'd made all the knitted items the cast wore.  Each one was in keeping with the character and several told a story of the character's development through the play.  She plans to give each item to the actor or actress as their from-the-director gift after the show, and is making hat and fingerless mitts for the crew out of the leftover yarn.  My friend promised to send photographs, because of course we (I went with a knitter friend) could not handle the costumes!

I knitted some, and mostly visited with friends, and ate a lot of Tex-Mex food.

Just before going I mailed several Hannukah packages, and friends are sending photographs as they open and see the goodies.  Because a planned gift wouldn't be ready in time, I quickly made some snowflake-shaped ginger cookies (using an old recipe from a cookbook I collected) and since it was a big batch, some of the Christmas gifts went out early.  I also made sugarplums, which are dried fruit and nuts (pecans, in this case) ground together, then rolled in sugar or dipped in chocolate.  I did the former.  I also dropped several wrapped gifts for people at the Durham Rescue Mission through an Angel Tree program, and since this year's Toys for Tots pickup ended before Thanksgiving (but we didn't find out until afterwards), they DRM was thrilled to receive toys to distribute at their holiday party.

MASKS - of course I keep wearing them, especially with the travel and being out in crowds.  And I add a quote or fact appropriate to the date.  Because I wore one every day whilst traveling:

Noam Chomsky - born on December 7, 1928.

James Thurber (difficult to find a quote that fits
on a mask!) - born December 8, 1894.

Adm. Grace Hopper - born December 9, 1906.

Ada Lovelace - born December 10, 1815.

Rita Moreno - born December 11, 1931.

I keep not reporting on my Resolutions, probably because I don't think I am getting anywhere.  I seem to be in another reading slump - or maybe it's just because I keep picking up long books?

Not much to show.

At work we had a virtual department retreat, so for two days were mostly in those meetings.  I had a presentation first thing on the second day, and no guidance other than the topic, but apparently people liked it and didn't say "but what about ....?" at the end.

So most of the other days were making up meetings and so on with business persons.  So not much time for other things, especially since most of the yarny projects I have are fiddly and need attention.

This weekend my parents needed things done, which we scheduled around football games.  Key was the Michigan-Iowa State game, and the outcome means we will definitely be watching the Rose Bowl.

I've been getting Channukah packages packed to mail, and trying to finish a couple hats, which aren't going to be done in time, so luckily the couple is mixed and celebrates everything from Thanksgiving to Twelfth Night.  The hats will be done and appear before then!  No photos - could be spoilers!

Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities.  I know many persons with disabilities of all kinds, including family members, and when in law school clerked at the Legal Clinic for the Disabled.  We have a long way to go in terms of accessibility, but progress has been made.

Not a long post this week, because I'm tired, partly due to a late game last night, and partly because today included several hours of clearing half of my parents' garage.  Being the youngest, I got to move boxes.  Mostly of books.  You know the saying?

          >  Friends will help you move.

          >  Real friends help you move bodies.

          >  The best of friends help you move books.

I love my parents.  💕

A constellation of gifts

It was a hectic week, and next week will be also.  I am going to San Antonio for the Association of Corporate Counsel's Annual Meeting.  It's been a long time since I visited the city - I think my Cousin Amy was still alive, or maybe I've been there once since her death.  Strange since I lived comparatively close when I was in North Texas.  My other has other cousins there also, and my parents planned to come with me to visit them, but things came up and they cannot.

One thing planned for the social part of the meetings is walking around and taking a tour of Missions National Park.  It wasn't formally planned, but I mentioned it as a possibility, and the next thing I knew, about twenty people from all over the world said they want to join.  I called the park to be sure this wouldn't be an issue, and the ranger confirmed they can handle any crowd that comes.  So we go!

I am trying to figure out what projects to take - a cowl that I struggled over starting finally is on track, and I think I need at least one other item.  Knowing the way I pack, more like two.😁  I thought I had ones ready, but keep changing my mind.  It's probably why I have things started and not getting finished.

Except that I made, and am wrapping and labeling, a flight of snowflake-shaped soaps (which look a bit like stars in the photo) to take as gifts to friends in the Dallas area:

Two different scents: Peppermint (blue/white) and Cannabis Cashmere

I also finished the crocheting of the little pink jacket, so it just needs final finishing and buttons:

Buttonholes are big enough for these - hurrah!

Otherwise, the week has been busy with work and scattered with packing and planning what to take, and organizing walks, and answering emails from people who want to meet - tonight I have to finish either eating the fresh foods, or figuring out how to store them until I return.  Luckily the event on Tuesday happened as scheduled, so the blueberry bars I'd made (subbing in gluten-free flour, which was very much appreciated) for the originally-scheduled date (postponed due to storms and damage) are now out of the freezer.  They were very well received.

Horsing around. (Memories)

I could have uploaded the previous post earlier, once I decided I was done with it, but have been traveling again (family) and didn't.  So these come close together.

Facebook reminded me that seven years ago I finished this:

There was no pattern, just a photograph.  Somebody I knew (our paths no longer cross, due to pandemic cancellation of the activities when we would usually encounter each other, and not being Facebook friends and so on) commissioned it from me based only on a photograph.  So I had to figure out how to make it.

She reported at the time:

[The horse] had a peaceful night out of cat range and will go to Old Lyme to meet his new person in a couple of hours. Right now he is still on top of the jelly cabinet looking down at me. Baby boy (fill in a name) will love it when he starts exploring. I think the large animal and horse vet mom will like it also. She just has to put it away for awhile so it does not become a dog or cat bed.

I hope the horse has been well-loved in that time, whether by the now-named boy or others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another memory came up earlier in the week:

Chemo caps for my cousin Pat in Chicago Bears and Chicago White Sox colours.
On top of a baby blanket my mother "commissioned" as a gift for someone with whom she works.

Sadly, Pat lost her fight with cancer a few years later.  I was told she was buried wearing one of my hats.

Midmonth - UFO Completed

The Omega Shawl is complete!  I didn't do the lace at the bottom - I tried it and really didn't like it.  So the bottom is just three ridges of garter stitch, to blend with the borders.  It's light and large and two inches longer (because I did extra of the stockinette part) than the pattern indicated, so I think it's just fine and I have a UFO converted to a FO.

I decided to celebrate by trying a new pattern:  Fae Elf Mitts.  I used oddments of wool yarns:

 

Since they are very long on me, and I am not a fingerless mitts kind of person, and I did these just for fun, I asked if anybody in my circle wanted them.  A fellow knitter, somebody I met in the group I joined when I first moved to Connecticut, spoke up first.  I dropped them by her house this afternoon, and she's quite happy with them.

Last night I did a flurry of holiday baking and this afternoon a round of deliveries, all surprises, to friends in the area.  I made Caramel Latte Muffins and Apple Cider Muffins (subbing fizzy cider for the beer), both from Pampered Chef mixes that I purchased during a friend's online party.  I don't need more gadgets and things, and figured the mixes would work well as food gifts and potluck contributions.  I also made Peanut Butter Wreaths (think peanut blossom cookies but rolled in red, white, and green mixed sugars, and with a white chocolate disc in the middle instead of a kiss) and Grinch Cookies which are just tinted sugar cookies (I made mine from scratch because I don't have cake mix on hand) with a red heart on top.  I forgot to take pictures but one of the giftees posted one with her thanks:

Apparently some sampling occurred pre-photo.

I've also done some reading.  I've gotten into the habit that after Thanksgiving I shift to some light holiday fare, and it was the same this year, so they were all quick, inconsequential reads.  I did a few more chapters of The Agony and the Ecstasy before setting it aside for seasonal tales, and then I found Tuesdays with Morrie which had fallen behind the laundry sorter that's on the other side of my headboard.  I am almost done with it and decided to save the last bit to finish on Tuesday, so it's packed for my trip.  My parents lent it to me so I'll return it as soon as I read the last chapters.

Mid-Month Resolutions Report

As noted, one UFO finished!  The other two are packed to go with me to visit family over the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully one, if not both, will be done before I return.

The cardigan is now a pullover, and I am on Round 25 of 26 of the yoke.  I probably won't pack it for the trip, due to size (and to focus on the UFOs) but I should be on the stockinette before I leave and that will go quickly once I return.

That will just leave the cheese soufflé to make, and my parents sounded interested, so I might make it for them.

Endings and Beginnings

New Year's Day posts usually review the successes of last year's resolutions and setting new ones.  I didn't do a post on Wednesday because I was busy and sad - MakeHartford closed, and we were doing final clean-out of the space.  Well, I was; most of the work had been done the previous weekend, and I was freecycling as much of the remaining shelving and cabinets as I could.  This meant being in the space to meet people or otherwise arrange for pickups.

Our President arranged for us to merge with other spaces in Connecticut, but I have yet to accept any of the offers (given my longevity, it would be a free year at the new space of my choice) although I probably will later this month.  I just need a little time.  And to organize the things I culled from the space, mostly fiber and paper arts supplies, and the infinity mirror class supplies, and other oddments.

I did get to several yoga classes in the last week, since work was quiet and I had the time.  I tried a Restorative Yoga class and decided it's more meditation than yoga and not for me at this time.  Good to know, as I'd been curious about those.

I'd planned to do more cleaning and organizing of my own home, but kept losing time to being at the space.  In the end, I am glad that things went to good homes, but I feel I'll being doing catch-up at my own home.  I already have some donations to make to the local thrift stores, and will probably do a run this week.  I've had discussions with people about whether to itemize or not; last year my donations exceeded the standard deduction, not by a lot, but enough, so I was glad I kept detailed records of what I donated.  I'll probably keep doing it out of habit.

I haven't made further progress on last year's resolutions since my September post.  The remaining UFOs are still unfinished, although I did make progress on the "Omega" shawl.  The sweater that I was going to take apart and reuse turned into a nice scarf, which I finished last night:

I did get the pantry somewhat organized, although I am now re-organizing it to turn the bottom shelf into storage for supplies and equipment from the makerspace.  I got a small microwave that I can use to melt soap for melt-and-pour projects, and the two crockpots we used to dye yarn.  All of these are technically foodsafe so can be stored and used in the kitchen, but now I don't have to put my own items to double use.  I also have the toaster oven we used for polymer clay - NOT food safe and well marked to indicate this.

I didn't get rid of the china cabinet.  Still need to do that, either through a yard sale (at a friend's house, we're not allowed to hold them in my condo complex) or donation to a local charity.  While at it, I have one or two other items of furniture that can go.

Much of November and December I spent making items for family.  My grandmother's annual vest was joined by two shawls, since she really likes shawls these days:

The vest is Lion Brand Ferris Wheel in Buttercup; I knit a tube to the underarms then back and forth.  The green shawl is Lion Brand Cupcake yarn in Peas and Carrots (slight playing with the yarn to pull out the white and use it for the edging) and the other shawl is Caron Cakes yarn in Buttercream, which she chose when we were out and about one day.

And DNiece#2 asked for a hat with ridges to mimic the hat she has been wearing while portraying Thomas Cromwell in a course at college.  Here's the hat:

She wanted more of a beanie style.  And maybe a scarf.  And mittens? I offered.  Why not.  I got the hat and mittens done for Christmas:

DNiece#2 was surprised to find out how the mittens fit, and realized she's been wearing the same ones since about third grade, and now they barely cover her hands to the wrist.  I am still working on the scarf (based on a Hufflepuff house scarf - hence the yellow stripes on the wrists of the mittens and inside the hat, to tie the set together) and I think I'll whip up another pair of mittens to send with it.  A few years ago I did a hat and scarf for this niece in blue, her favourite colour, and I have a bit of it around in a similar yarn, and mittens work up fast, so - obvious!

RESOLUTIONS for 2020

I was thinking about this, and then read an article about doing micro-resolutions: a small one each month, something you can focus on and achieve, but which doesn't seem so daunting because you commit for only 28-31 days.  The author also talks about resolutions to add things to your life, not just take things out of it.

I'm going to do easy things.  First up, resolution for January:  Finish Scarves.  I've started a number of scarves for charity, and this month I would like to focus on getting several of them finished.  Of course, I also have to finish the scarf and mittens for my niece, but I want to try to not start anything new until I get a bunch of the charity scarves done.  I keep starting new ones when the old ones are too big to easily carry around, or if something fiddly happens, and I need to get focused and pin some together (rolling them to be a smaller item) to make them more portable and thus get them finished.

I've started this by frogging one, which I realized wasn't too skinny but would be very, very long if I use all the yarn, so I am going to make it wider.  Luckily it's garter stitch and the kind of thing I do easily on planes and in movies and while standing on line everywhere.

Current list, done from memory, and all plain garter stitch unless noted:

• Browns - Bernat Super Value Stripes in Beechwood and Caron Jumbo in Chocolate Variegated on the sides.
• Patons Lace in lavender and Porcelain, held double (the fiddly one, because the yarn sticks to itself).
• Red Heart Fleece Hugs in Jungle - crocheted corner-to-corner.
• Stitch Studio Sweet Dreams in Creamsicle - the frogged one.
• Premiere Serenity Chunky Big Ombre in Walnut.
• Caron Chunky Cakes in Trifle (red/white/blue).
• Leftover Ferris Wheel from my grandmother's Christmas vest, crochet.

I always have at least one in the car, easy to grab when I run into shops or the post office.  At least one should come with me on a business trip next week - I will have to convince myself it's small enough, and I don't need to start a new one!

I'm going to try to read (or finish, as I'm partway through one right now) at least one book a month.  I'd love to read more, but since work requires me to read all day, my brain gets tired of processing words.  I'll report as I finish.

Where did the summer go?

I intended to update the blog over the summer, but I was out and about and kept forgetting.

RESOLUTIONS:

I have now finished all the books in my Resolutions post!  I'd previously reported about finishing "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles", and since then I finished "Dreams in the Golden Country" (I almost finished it on the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, but couldn't, and finished it earlier this month instead), "Rookie of the Year" (which I did indeed finish while at summer camp), and "The Whisperer", which was better than I expected, although with an unsurprising ending.

I have also finished an additional book, "Shopping for Buddhas", a Lonely Planet book from the late 1990's.  I started it at camp after finishing "Rookie of the Year" and since it's not seasonal I continued until the end.  An interesting light read, definitely viewing Nepal through the eyes of an unschooled but sympathetic American.  I feel as though I have read more, but it may be that I read a lot of articles and such, not proper books.

I finished one of the three shawls I listed, the one of handspun (two different skeins by related but different spinner/dyers) purchased at DFW Fiber Fest:

I tried to get a closeup to show
all the wonderful colours.

Very simple basic triangle, with four rows from one skein in stockinette, and two rows from the other in garter, which helped disguise the differences in spinning.  Although they looked very different in the hanks, the yarns blended so well people sometimes though it was a single skein.  The yarn is incredibly soft and this is both light and warm.

I finished another UFO shawl that I located after creating the resolutions post. It's a basic pattern (based upon one I got in a holiday gift exchange an number of years ago) from a single ball of Taiyo Sock purchased on an excursion with two friends a number of years ago, and which languished a lot.  I took it on a whirlwind trip I had to make suddenly in July, when I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time to think and not a lot of space for packing.  Here it is on a long layover:

Yes, it has since been finished and worn.  Another basic triangle, this one with an eyelet row at every colour change, until those got very skinny and then at every other colour change.

I have made several other shawls, all for my grandmother.  She is always cold, and mentioned that shawls are "the thing" right now, and since they are simple and fun to do, I whipped up a couple:

Crocheted Shawl of Red Heart Dreamy Stripes, and knitted shawl
(Wailea pattern) in Lion Brand Cupcake, colourway "Tundra".

She liked them, so I made three more that I delivered at my last visit, but I forgot to take pictures of those.  One was a rarity for me, using the actual yarn and pattern together, but it came out nicely and my grandmother likes it a lot.  The other two were basic crocheted patterns, both different from the one in the photo.  She likes all of them, and even shares them with friends, but only for the duration of a meal or concert and then makes sure to get it back.  I think she's showing off a bit.

October is coming, which means the KnitTalk list has its annual "Aftober" of completing projects, and I plan to finish the "Omega" shawl (also on my Resolutions list) next month.  I have a lot of travel scheduled, and it's still small enough to be a briefcase project.

SUMMER:

I went to camp.  A friend teaches at a camp, and she has a small cabin of her own during that month, so can host guests.  She gets one day off per month, and we go exploring.  Last year, it was to a local glassworks museum and a small hike.  This year, we went to a local town and wandered through secondhand shops and a flea market, then stopped at a chocolate shop that also carries non-chocolate items.  We got some really cute things for her family and my grandmother.

I visited my grandmother; we wandered around flea markets (one has a pickle-on-a-stick-snack-as-you-shop stand, and you get any of the pickles they have on offer - mine was garlic half-sour - or you can buy quantities to take home) and attended a concert and drove around looking at stuff.  And clouds, my grandmother loves looking at clouds.

MakeHartford celebrated its fifth anniversary with a gathering, and show-and-tell that included a portable pizza oven and a "thermonuclear hot dog cooker", otherwise known as a solar cooker.  We had competing chocolate chip/candy cookies, and I made strawberry marshmallows, and much food and drink and conviviality was had by all.

I've traveled a lot, some for work and some for family and friends.  I've tried to get out more, especially given how nice the weather has been, so movies in the park and concerts in the park and lots of cemetery walks and park walks and other things.  Since the weather is lovely, I think I'll go do more of that today.

February, a bit late, on International Women's Day

I was going to write this in February, but am traveling and couldn't remember the current password, and it took Google several days to send a link so that I could set a new one.  So here it is, International Women's Day, and even though I didn't plan it this way, an update.

(And yes, because I have snarky male friends, there is an International Men's Day - so there.  No saying "well, every day is Men's Day, which is why they don't have one", because they do.)

A quick update on my resolutions:  I finished The Fortune Cookie Chronicles and have recommended it to someone who wanted to know the origins of some Chinese-American food we were having.  The book also talks about chow mein and other well-known items, not just the cookies.

Currently working on charity items due to a delivery deadline.  DFW Fiber Fest is not doing Knit Your Bit this year, so I am going to send the scarves I am making to them anyway, or donate them locally.  Keep Hartford Warm is doing another distribution next weekend and I've donated a number of scarves to them, and a friend's church collects for the local shelter.  I'll get back to my UFOs soon, and I am trying hard not to join Marly Bird's Tournament of Stitches make-along although I am collecting the pattern pieces for the future; I'm already working on Franklin Habit's lace scarf-along, but not in the pattern yarn - I had a special hank waiting for a project like this.

Plus I have added to my want-to-do list, especially after going to Stitches West.  I helped some friends in their booth, which cut down seriously on shopping, which is good because I wanted to save funds for DFW Fiber Fest, where they have lots of terrific indie dyers, several of whom do only-at-DFWFF colourways, which of course I have to collect.  So this is the sum of my purchases:

They had Girl Scouts doing a coat-and-bag check, and of course selling cookies.  The buttons are glass, the Princess Leia being the last one the artist had, the others going on some mitts I am designing.  the Apple Fiber Studio yarn is in a colourway called "Notorious" after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, so I had to buy it.

I had other adventures at Stitches West.  First, I kept very quiet about going, because of this woman:

Alison Hyde is a lace designer and someone who has been part of the KnitTalk list since the beginning.  She goes to Stitches West every year, and when I started talking to my friends about helping, I decided to surprise Alison.  So I had to keep a sharp lookout for her, and since I had to work on Friday which necessitated me hiding out in an upstairs corner of the conference center for some random hours, I was afraid I would miss her.

Serendipitously, as I came back into the vendor hall once things were sorted, there she was!  Alison wrote her view of it.  Mine is that I knew she doesn't hear well, so when she didn't react to me telling her my name, I just held out my badge.  In the photo above Alison is holding some bamboo laceweight that I was saving just for her.  In response, she gave me the last two Meyer lemons she'd brought from her tree, and knew there was a reason she was still holding them after distributing all the others she'd brought.  Alison also had some chocolate she'd made, but I'm allergic to chocolate so she shared with others.  And the next day, knowing I am usually in a very cold and snowy land, Alison brought a wool hate which I think will go nicely with all my winter coats - black, grey, or teal:

It's much more glorious in person.

On Sunday, I had a surprise.  Many years ago, when I went to Santa Clara regularly on business, I was part of an online group of historical reenactors from various periods, one of whom worked as a printer at Old Town San Jose.  She and I got to be friends, and then lost touch after my travel out there abated and she moved to another part of the state.  She was a tatter, and has taken up knitting since we were in touch, because I noticed a very familiar-looking person coming through the booth looking properly dazed and overwhelmed at options.

"Marjorie?" I asked.  And sure enough, it was!

She's wearing both knitted and crocheted items of her own making, and I am wearing the shawl of handspun bamboo that I'd just finished, which is vastly simpler.  We did some catching up and I ended up going to supper with her and two friends, the wife a quilter and the husband who'd spent some time in our booth considering which yarn to get to work with some other he had in stash.  They took us to the kind of place where we were the only anglos in the room, and we all ate as much as we could hold and still had leftovers going home.  Well, they did, as I was in a hotel and heading to Texas the next day for work, so didn't really have the means to keep anything.  Except some of the bread, which became a tasty breakfast at the airport.

So that was February.  March began with a trip to see my grandmother.  Saturday the weather was wonderful so my grandmother and I did a lunch cruise.  The people were really kind and helped get my grandmother (and her wheelchair) on and off the boat and we got a prime window seat.  Sunday we went to my honorary nieces' school production of "Anything Goes".  It was really good, and we had a celebratory Chinese food dinner and cake afterwards.

This weekend is the North Texas Irish Festival, and I'm back as a Performer Products manager.  It looks like we will have great weather for it - the temperatures have warmed up quite a bit from the below-freezing numbers earlier in the week.

I haven't been home since I left for California, and after this I go to Chicago for a couple of days.  Much of this has also been for work, and happily in the Dallas area so I was able to attend a Dallas Winds concert after many years of not being in town on the correct night.  I splurged on a box ticket (still quite inexpensive compared to Chicago and Hartford) and made friends with the people around me, so that a couple invited me to the special donors-only reception afterwards.  It turns out I am well remembered from my days as patron, volunteer, and donor (OK, I do still donate, just not at the same level) when I lived here, so it was a great evening.  They played about twice as much music as was on the official program, with two encores and an unannounced premiere.  I hope work brings me here on the appropriate weeks again, so I can attend more of their concerts.

Ornament Swap 2018

I won't go into a long explanation of why I haven't updated the blog for nine months, but it has nothing to do with giving birth or anything interesting like that.  Inertia, not having a very interesting life, not wanting to sit in front of the computer any more when I work in front of one all day.......

This year, I participated in an ornament swap and we all are supposed to blog TODAY about what we received and what we sent.  Tricky for me because I've been out of town.  While supper simmers (braised radishes and such, based upon a japanese recipe for braised daikon, which is in there along with celeriac and purple radishes and.....I digressed) I am getting a post together.

When I received my swap partner, I was excited and nervous.  It's someone I have known for a loooong time, so I was glad to have a friend - but she is an exceptionally skilled bead artist and teacher, and artist in other areas, so I knew that what I made would be nowhere in her league.  And here it is:

It's a very simple knitted sock in a sparkly cotton yarn with a few beads added.  I had gift deadlines, and lots of travel, and then flat-out forgot.  So while I received something very lovely:

Which included a handmade box, and handmade card, AND luminaria (because it was supposed to arrive during Hannukah, but I was traveling and didn't pick up the package until after), and TWO beautiful beaded ornaments.  Here's a better photo of them:

Yep, exquisite.  And all she got was a sock.

A couple people asked about it.  The basic pattern is - a sock.  I found a cable in Donna Druchunas' Spiegel Socks pattern that looks something like a Christmas Tree, although it doesn't show up as well as I'd hoped on the sock I knit:

That shows it just after I finished the cable, before I went into the plain foot (due to lack of time, and my hands starting to hurt from doing fiddly things in stiff cotton yarn on US#0 needles), to which I added an afterthought heel (because I didn't want to have to do math or a gusset), and yes, I made a goof but luckily this sock is not to be worn by anybody:

One handy thing I learned, since I was doing this whilst traveling, is that airplane tray cupholders are very good for corralling beads while you string them:

To summarize the materials:  Aunt Lydia #10 crochet cotton, used double, in gold (because I had to run out to get more and the shop didn't have silver) with silver (left over from a weaving class I took from John Mullarkey at last year's DFW Fiber Fest) ribbing at the top, toe, and heel.  Shown with the beads is some metallic gold sewing thread I used for attaching beads.  The red and green were knitted into the toe and heel; the pearls and blue bugle beads were sewn onto the sock:

The beads are from my stash, and are old, and except for the pearls are appropriately sparkly.

Because I don't have cardmaking skills, I included a card from Hartford Prints! which I purchased last year or the one before.  They do really lovely letterpress work and it shows a stylized Hartford skyline:

Apparently my package has not yet arrived, although it was promised for yesterday.  You can see what Karen said about the items she made on her blog.