Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Meow!
Archives for December 2009
Today’s Achievements
December 23, 2009 By
I wrapped gifts:
I got to the lace portion of Ishbel:
Lucy was a big help:
Unpinned and Ready for Action
December 22, 2009 By
The Talisman shawl has been released from bondage! Here it is, being worn by Gwendolyn.
A couple of you asked when the pattern would be available. I’m working on it as we speak. 🙂
And a couple of you were spot-on about what my new project is:
Ishbel, by Ysolda Teague.
Yeah, I don’t knit a lot of things by other designers, but this is my Christmas break knitting. 😉 I’m not designing, just happily following a pattern.
I am using a lovely lovely yarn from Dragonfly Fibers called Dragonsock:
The colorway is called “Green Riptide.” It’s pretty much heaven in a skein for a lover of all things green, like me.
I bought two skeins of it when I visited Fibrespace last month, with the thought of using it for a shawl or shawlette. So I’ve got 780 yards, which is plenty for the larger-sized Ishbel.
I’m using a U.S. size 4 needle and am loving the fabric that makes on the stockinette section.
In other news, I went into work today. The government was offering unscheduled leave for today, but today was my last day at work before my holiday leave — I’m off until January 4 — and there were a few loose ends I needed to tie up. The commute went fine as the streets around me are pretty much clear. The only issue was the train station parking lot. Black ice on asphalt in the dark makes me extremely nervous. I crept along and got to the sidewalk without any slipping or falling, so all is well.
And now I’m home, home, home. Not that I’m happy about that or anything.
Just for fun, here is a photo of a chair full of stuffed animals.
Or is it?
A Free Day
December 21, 2009 By
I was pretty much gobsmacked yesterday afternoon when OPM announced that the federal government in the D.C. area would be closed today but hey! I’ll take it!
Here’s the view from this morning:
The sun was coming out. Yay!
Things are looking good down on the street. I went out and ran some errands. The streets were fine. The parking lots, not so much. Very icy.
I also finished this:
My Talisman Shawl. It sure doesn’t look like much in that photo, does it? The pre-blocked dimensions are 48″ by 24″.
Blocking achieved this miracle:
After blocking, it’s 64″ wide by 34″ down the center back. Knit from one skein of Wollmeise, with just 14 grams leftover.
Here’s a close-up of the lace pattern:
Here’s what I started today:
Care to hazard a guess as to what it is?
Miss Lucy slept through the blocking of the Talisman Shawl today. I’m sure she’s kicking herself that she missed out on helping me. But I turned the heat on this past weekend and she’s been happily sleeping through the most exciting events.
Snow Day
December 20, 2009 By
It started snowing here Friday night. When I got up yesterday morning, this was the view out my window:
By late morning, there were white-out conditions from my view on the couch:
Looking down at the street:
Our building engineer and his crew kept shoveling the walks all afternoon:
And at least one foolhardy soul took a car out:
I spent a few entertaining minutes watching them push said car.
I spent the day doing this:
And this morning the sun came out!
I could hear snowplows through the night — they did a great job of clearing out.
Lucy is feeling frisky today, so I gave her an early Christmas gift — a straw ball sent to her from Anne Marie in Philly.
Boy, does she ever like it!
It’s very lightweight and moves well when she bats at it.
And there is a second ball, for when she bats this one under the fridge or something. 😉
Thanks, Anne Marie!
