Catch up ...

It was absolutely gorgeous out for a couple of weeks. Throw all the windows open kind of beautiful weather.

There's a bunch of stuff I could have sworn I blogged, but it's not here. I think I just talked to a lot of people about it and never actually blogged it. Ditz.

Rose and Cassandra turned three with much ado. When I left their birthday party on Saturday, Cassandra took my face in her hands, gave me a very wet kiss and said, "Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. We had cake!" It was nice to talk to Cory at the birthday party, too. The last few times I've seen him, he's either had a friend with him or has been feeling oogy, so we haven't talked much.

For a few years while Mona was living out east, we gave each other an afternoon for Christmas. Actually, we had the afternoon before Christmas ... had lunch and spent some time in the wonderful creaky-floored bookstore. Life happened and we've done other things for a few years. This year, we gave each other an afternoon, but it got bigger. Mona, Pete, Rose, Cassandra, Mary, Cory, Ernie, Linda, Mom and I spent a few hours at the bookstore. We didn't all arrive at once, so there was more than one flurry of hugging and kissing at the entrance. We showed each other our favourite books, had storytimes in corners, laughed and talked and had a great time. Some of us bought books to exchange with each other for Christmas and some didn't. Mom, Mona, Mary and I all arrived with bags of stuff for each other ... you left this at my house, I cut this out of the paper for you, here's your house hat reknit, will these fit the twins, etc. On the way out, there were people sitting on the floor, Rose and Cassandra were lying on the floor near the door, drawing on entry forms for some draw the bookstore was having, hugging, kissing, putting on of boots and coats, swapping of books and general mayhem. It was great!

Brandon's still out of town, but not as homesick on this leg of his trip. I miss Tuesday dinnerandamovies and I miss yackin' on the phone. All this will change when he gets back. We'll look after serious business like tie-dying yo-yo strings. No, really.

I spent a day raveling all of the knitting I'd been working on for Billy, winding it onto the swift and balling it on the ball winder. It was an interesting exercise. Since I knit with intent, it felt like releasing all that intent back into the wild. The swift and ball winder part was great fun!

I'm off to the APs later to see if I can figure out what's wrong with their e-mail setup, and tomorrow, I take the wee car in to have its winter wheels put on. She has a name, the wee car. It's Epona.

Stuff and Nonsense ...

Daylight:

Length of day: 7:59
Hours of dark: 14:45ish
Sunrise: 8:23 am
Sunset: 4:22 pm
Start of twilight: 7:42 am
End of twilight: 5:03 pm

Current weather: Light snow. -12°C (10°F), -18°C (0°F) with windchill, humidity unknown%, wind NNE 9.6 km/h (6 mph.), barometer unknown in. Hg

Forecast:

Tonday.. Periods of light snow. High -10°C (14°F).
Tonight.. Cloudy periods with 40% chance of flurries Low -20°C (-4°F).
Wednesday.. A mix of sun and cloud. High -11°C (12°F).
Thursday.. A mix of sun and cloud. Low -21°C (-6°F). High -12°C (10°F).
Friday.. Cloudy. Low -21°C (-6°F). High -14°C (7°F).
Saturday.. Cloudy. Low -20°C (-4°F). High -13°C (9°F).
Normals for the period.. Low -15°C (5°F). High -5°C (23°F).

For me alone ...

There are thousands of ice crystals dancing in the sunshine outside my window. I don't think they're hitting the ground ... just swirling about, kept aloft by the sheer joy of being so beautiful.

Fuzzyfeet ...

I got a call from a good friend about a part-time work-from-home gig organizing monthly luncheons and an annual meeting for a group of economists. I wouldn't be willing to take the position unless they're willing to just about double what they're paying now, but I sent a résumé.I figure I'll never know unless I ask. Besides, I've never written a résumé before, so it was an interesting exercise.

I've wanted to make a pair of Fuzzyfeet to try felting (though I believe it's more accurately described as fulling). My godmother gave me some lovely Noro Silk Garden last Christmas and I've had it in the back of my mind, mulling over what to do with it. The two ideas finally bumped into one another and voilà!

Here they are pre-felting/fulling with Mona's house hat and the first of twenty-four l'il sockies for Annailese's advent calendar (for next year) for scale,


And here they are after 8 times through the wash cycle in hot water,


They're fraternal twins. And here's a picture of a cool shadow on the livingroom wall that has nothing to do with anything.


I did the l'il sockie on a whim early in the week. The house hat has a much less impromptu provenance. It is a second attempt at a copy of a hat I made for Mona a few years ago that went walkabout. I didn't make it from a pattern, and I didn't have the original to work from, so the first attempt was too small (it's the too-small one in the pictures). It spent entirely too long in the back of Mary's vehicle with a bag of compost and got stinky, came back and got clean, then ended up in a drawer and forgotten about. Fortunately, Mona reminded me about it recently. I counted stitches and cast on that many and a few more, knit the ribbing, didn't like it, ripped it, cast on and knit it again, still didn't like it, ripped it, cast on and knit it again, knit the hat, didn't like how the decreases turned out, ripped the top third and tried something different, liked it even less, ripped the top half and tried something different, wasn't quite happy, ripped the top half again and tried something completely different, still wasn't quite happy, ripped the top third and reknit it for the last time. If I'd had any sense at all, I'd've written down what I did.

Stuff and Nonsense ...

Daylight:

Length of day: 8:42
Hours of dark: 14:00ish
Sunrise: 7:57 am
Sunset: 4:40 pm
Start of twilight: 7:19 am
End of twilight: 5:18 pm

Current weather: Light snow. -6°C (21°F), -14°C (6°F) with windchill, humidity 67%, wind NNW 25.6 km/h (16 mph.), barometer 30.36 in. Hg

Forecast:

Tonday.. Cloudy with 60% chance of flurries. Wind NW 20 km/h (mph). High -5°C (23°F).
Tonight.. Cloudy periods with 60% chance of flurries early in the evening. Low -18°C (0°F).
Tuesday.. Sunny. High -7°C (19°F).
Wednesday.. Sunny. Low -9°C (16°F). High 3°C (37°F).
Thursday.. Sunny. Low -3°C (27°F). High 6°C (43°F).
Friday.. Sunny. Low -3°C (27°F). High 0°C (32°F).
Normals for the period.. Low -11°C (12°F). High 0°C (32°F).

Lest we forget ...

Today I light a candle for those who gave their lives, their limbs, their sight, their sanity, their loves, their innocence. Every day I light a candle for peace, that it never happen again. Blessings

Snow!

It's been mighty frosty in the mornings for a while now, but it's melted off at some point during the day. 'Til yesterday. The frost stayed yesterday, and the puddles stayed frozen all day. Then it snowed last night, just a skiff of the stuff, but it's still there this morning.

Mom and I went to get some yarn to add to the blanket I gave Ernie as a baby blanket. It's not the first time it's been added-to. The same store had the coloured duct tape that Mary wanted to build her portfolio, so I phoned her to see what colour she wanted. She decided to get three different ones and chose blue and yellow, so I was describing the colours to her to see what would work best with them. I said, "The orange sucks" and Mom said quietly, "Which is a role reversal, really." Mary went with the neon green.

I'm taking a break from the prayer shawl right now to work on Mona's toque. It's been on a back burner for way too long. Truth be told, I forgot about it until she reminded me last week. There are other things on various back burners at the moment, too. There are people out there in blogland who knit and knit and knit away at the same thing 'til it's done ... and lots of them finish sweaters in a week and blankets in a couple of weeks. It's bizarre to me. I guess I'm what they refer to as a process knitter, rather than a production knitter .. though neither really feels like it fits. When I'm knitting for someone, I knit at them, rather than just knitting the thing that I will eventually give them. If I'm working on a sweater for Rose, I want to think about Rose while I knit it, so I put it down when I'm thinking about Ernie and work on whatever I've got going for him.

Brandon came for Tuesday Night Dinner and a Movie on Wednesday again. We had butter letuce and cucumbers in yogurt/vinegar/honey salad, cornbread, and cauliflower soup with wild rice and kidney beans. The kidney beans were a bit weird in the soup. I'm going to make another batch with mushrooms instead. We watched Sideways. He's been singing me a terrible version of "My bologna has a first name ..." song over the phone and making me laugh myself silly.

Looks like Tiger's a permanent Canadian resident now. Billy says he'd like me to take him to the humane society. I find that I can't do that, nor can I send him to Miami knowing that that's what'd happen to him there.

I'm off to the APs today to see the family and oooh and ahhh over their new computer.

I met Nina when she was seven. In April, Nina had a school retreat before her grad. Parents of the grads were asked to write letters to them, to be delivered at the retreat. I was honoured to be asked to write one to Nina. I didn't want to post it before her retreat and then forgot to, so here it is.

Dearest Nina,

At seven, you were remarkable. You told me when I was to be the adult and when I didn't have to be and you made it the standard for my relationships with not only you, but your brother, your cousin, and many others.

At ten, you told me your hopes and dreams and troubles and fears. You trusted me.

At thirteen, you said you wanted to go to the Fair with me and you helped me figure out what rules would be fair for both of us.

At sixteen, you told me your hopes and dreams and troubles and fears. You still trusted me.

This year has been a little different and a little the same. We shared a roof for a while and, while the circumstances weren't the best, it was still a great experience. And when my world fell apart, there you were, being the adult, the caring friend.

At seven, you were a remarkable little girl.
Today, you're a remarkable woman, intelligent, loyal, thoughtful, vibrant and beautiful. You have a natural poise and presence. I am honoured to call you friend and look forward to seeing who you become next year, and the next and the next and the next ...

With all my love,
Lynn