lifelong knitter

A New Year (ALMOST)

The Red Thread of Destiny socks, Take Two.

Last year at this time, I was knitting a MONKEY, to send to labrainy, and getting ready to go on my Big Train Adventure with Daughter bird.

We had not yet met Rachael, or Ann in person, and I was incredibly restless.

Oh, what a difference a year makes!

I learned a lot about myself in this time of the Monkey. Swinging from branch to branch, exploring the jungle, returning to the Zoo and no longer able to tolerate being caged, I'm ready for the next Lunar Year to begin later this week.

It is MY year, the year of the Rooster.

Time to Rise and Shine!

Magic in the Mail

I was having one of THOSE days....dreary and bleak, feeling so cranky and annoyed with myself that I ripped out the ENTIRE sock I had been knitting on size 1US needles...with the delicious red koigu, because SOMEHOW I dropped a stitch somewhere and without any natural light to speak of, I couldn't fix it and OH WOE IS ME....why can't I do anything right during the WINTER?
RIIIIIIIIP.
Before I undid anything else, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't picked up my mail in awhile.
I was STUNNED to find the gorgeous hand made needle keepers pictured above (notice, please, the FABULOUS Black Kitty fabric in honor of SaraCAT....) with a lovely, LOVELY card from Julie. RAOK.

AND...seeds for some of my favorite flowers...a preview of SPRING (which I am so desperately craving right now) from Wendy G...another RAOK.

I took a deep breath. I cried (just a little) about my sweet Sara. Felt a little better...Started re-knitting the Red Thread of Destiny Sock. Listened to the ice and sleet rain down. Said some extra prayers for Driving the Boy to the MALL. I had been extra nervous, hypersensitive about the drive. My Spidey sense was on full alert. Why it prompted me to check the MAIL.....

We had a LOVELY time together, and on the way home, a Very NEAR Miss with a jack knifing tractor trailer. Danger! Excitement! Chocolate Chip Cookies! The Boy was thrilled, of course.
As the Rear edge of the trailer swung dangerously close to my driver side mirror, I said *HOLYMARYMOTHEROFGOD* and put all of my Defensive Driver Training skills in gear. From the back seat came the breathless...*HEAL US AMEN!*

Random? I think NOT.

Let's check with those engineers about that algorithm.

Thank you from the bottom of my frozen little toes for your Acts of Kindness.

May the BLESSINGS be reflected a thousand fold.

Oh, and ANN? It was a fully loaded USPS truck. One of the BIGGUNS.

eeeeeeeeeps. If any of you wish to know exactly how well the Real Time 4WD works on a
Honda CRV, in extremely ICY conditions while in rush hour traffic, about to be squeezed between
a tractor trailer and a concrete barrier, with your precious child in the backseat, We're here to tell you, PERFECTLY.

Back Home Again

From a marvellous trip to Maggi's for the knit night and Birthday celebration. I had great travelling weather both ways, and hardly any traffic. Got to have lunch with the Amazing MaryB of comment fame, and might I just say that the quilts (of her own making) in her office are the most stunning Art pieces I have seen in recent memory. WOW!
Thanks for the lunch and the tour, Mary,
tell those boys of yours I'll chip in to get that blog of yours
up and running....
MWAH!

On my way home, as I cleared the cell phone Dead Zone,
I got the sweetest message from my Daughter Bird...
another A+ on an Arthur quiz,
a song in her voice.

Darn that Groundhog, though.
I don't WANT more WINTER.
I want Spring, and sunshine and thawed earth to play in
and warmth on the back of my neck.

Instead, the forecast is for a Wintry MIX of snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Which would be fine, I guess, if I were staying inside to knit and read and bake bread or something,
but the Boy bird and I have a date to go to His Mall this afternoon,
which is an hour away on treacherous roads.
Extra safe driving prayers, PLEASE, if you have any to spare.

Speaking of reading and knitting, I've been doing lots of BOTH, which is one of the few things remotely
positive about it being cold and dreary outside...
Finished The Shipping News in two nights of of Delight,
up next in the rotation is the Time Traveller's Wife.

Next pair of socks on the US1 needles are called the Red Thread of Destiny which, while working on them in Public, lead to a recommendation of TR Reid's Confucius Lived Next Door....

Giggling, now. Thanks to a certain Red Haired Silvia, the Wonderful Weasley sweater has been rechristened the G Spot and the joke fest has begun.

Poetry Mitts

These are for Maggi, whose birthday is today.....
Happy Groundhog/Birthday!

Hopefully by the time this posts, I'll have already gifted them to her, and not have ruined the surprize.

Specs:
Koigu KPPM
size 1US bamboo dpns

Basic Women's Fair Isle Fingerless Gloves
from
Carol Rasmussen Noble's book
Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves....

Seemed like just the thing for writing poetry in this wintry weather...
hope she likes 'em!

I've been working on the Weasley

All the live long day....

Rowan Felted Tweed

from the *authentic* movie pattern,
but changed the initial to something more my STYLE....
because I simply cannot leave well enough alone.
sigh.

The flash makes it look more holey than it actually is,
but hey,
I promised pictures of what I'd been KNITTING
so,
There You Are.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a Special Groundhog Day event....

MWAH!