First Cold Snap of the Season

It's here, certainly only the first of several this winter. An Arctic cold front, when at 1 in the morning, you don't mind looking like a Guindon cartoon. It does make the walk to the mailbox somewhat entertaining — you get to waddle AND make alot of noise. week week week week ... nothing there but frost, the streetlight and frozen tracks from the mail truck:


week week week week ... back up the driveway and it was a little less cold for a moment. This ratty little thing,


which spends its summers getting banged around in the garage, is my favorite Christmas decoration and makes me smile every time I see it. My very own Charlie Brown tree.

In one of those happy little time warps, I have a bit of time to plink away tonight on my new love, my Gaelic Mist sweater from A Fine Fleece. My very large swatch, a k a the first sleeve, is almost done:


I do not know what the temperature is right now, but I do know that it is the perfect temperature for knitting. Think warm thoughts and purl back. ...

For One of My Favorite Children

Hi punkin. I saw this and thought of you.


Love, Mom

Meet the Disco Girls

We eat. We drink. We laugh. We get put in a back room at the restaurant. I swear I saw a short straw in the waiter's shirt pocket on Saturday when the Disco Girls gathered for a Christmas brunch and free-for-all.

It's always fun to see everyone again. This year, in light of everything sad and wretched at work, it was even better. We hit it all: whose kid is driving (mine!), whose kids are in college (Nancy's), who's been burning up her passport (Carol!), who's been writing another book, traditional (Peg) or online (Sherrie). Did we switch candidates during the campaign? Where were we on Election Night? Sharon's pictures of her six months in England made the rounds:


Ask Judy about the pink acrylic mink on her collar. Rarely seen in the wild, they are even more rarely seen around the necks of women of a certain age. I'm just sayin' ...



This year's roll call: Carol, Becka, Peg, Sharon*, Sherrie, Sue, Nancy, Judy, Dana and me, sitting at a left corner of the table, like the well-trained left-hander that I am. It also made it easier to photograph these lovely bits. I declined, lest the petit fours became petit forever on my hips.



Oh yes. We always pass the hat for our favorite charity. I'm pleased that we've made the world a better place by one llama, a goat, some chicks, some bees and a portion of a knitting basket. Pass it on.

*thanks for organizing again -- you're grand!

Dumb. Struck.

No, not the throngs waiting for the yarn shop to open. It was just after midnight this (Friday) morning in Albertville, along Cty. Rd. 37, (top) backed up for nearly a mile onto I-94 (above). Shoppers headed for the outlet mall. At! Midnight!

Full disclosure: I saw a nice coat last weekend and thought I'd go back tonight and pick it up, take advantage of the night owl 20 percent off. What the heck. I'm up and wide awake anyway. So, I trundled the dogs into the car — let's go for a ride, boys! —and off we went. I knew it would be busy, but [insert hysterical laughter here] clearly I had no idea! As I drove past the mall itself, I thought there had been a bad traffic accident, what with all the flashing lights — it was traffic control! For blocks and blocks. In the middle of so-called nowhere. I didn't get any pictures of the people overflowing the sidewalks, laughing and having a good time balancing bags and large cups of coffee.

Pick a reaction, any reaction, or any combination:

Boy, I am way more clueless than I thought.
This is pretty funny.
This is somewhat appalling.
Good for them, enjoy the adventure.
What are all these people doing out at midnight -- for shopping?
What recession?
Where are they all going to park? (the main lots were already closed)
Poor Thanksgiving.

But I still want that coat.

Going to the Dogs

Actually, it's me and the dogs! For the weekend, anyway. Mr.D and my two favorite children left yesterday after school to visit Mamaw in Ohio for Thanksgiving. Seeing as how we didn't make it out during the summer, we felt it was important that they get to spend this holiday there. The prospect of a weekend with mom is not having much effect. Look how excited the pups are, one with his bone, the other on his skankie blankie:


Here on the homefront, there's work, dinner on Thursday with my parents, sister and brother, a bit of barn time, some peace and quiet and of course ... knitting! Remember this, once destined to become a Little Rivers wrap?


It came out of the frog pond when I cast on a couple nights ago for the Gaelic Mist sweater out of A Fine Fleece. I hope to make some headway on it this weekend. I'm also grinding out a sheet of stockinette, which will land in the FO collection as a felted pillow. The yarn is some Mooncake, a Malabrigo knock-off that I bought during a going-out-of-business sale over the summer. This project's weakness is also its strength: sometimes very brainless knitting is just right. And you know what? I'm already planning a second one, out of a lovely soft white, perhaps with some needlefelting.

Speaking of projects, here's one. A Debbie Bliss baby sweater, out of Dream in Color Classy, worsted weight superwash. I posted it on Ravelry last week, but here it is again:


By the way, seeing as how tomorrow is Thanksgiving. What are you grateful for?

Do You See What I See?

I have no idea why the photos are in black and white, but at least they're a bit out of focus. I'm on a streak. Let's call them 'arty':

Look Who Came to Visit!

Tomoko!

Unfortunately, she left this morning on her zillion-hour flight back to Tokyo. But she was here for a week — and we did our best to see that she had a good time.



We rode, too, of course. Not many action shots – those are in Tomoko's camera! – these are blurry, but useable. Who took them, anyway. Honestly.





Niamh was he only one who might have been happy to see her go home – Tomoko rode some of the starch out of her. heh-heh-heh.