Re-entry

Twice during the years I lived in San Antonio, the Medical Library Association meeting came to town. After each, we heard how San Antonio was one of the most popular venues and that it was one of the most requested locations when members were surveyed about were they would like to have our annual conference.

I didn't get it. Partly, of course, because when the conference is in your town, it's a lot of work. But partly because, although I had visited a lot of nice cities that I had enjoyed as conference hosts, I couldn't imagine liking one that much. I liked going somewhere different every year and seeing places I might never otherwise have a chance to visit.

Until now. Yes, I would go back to Honolulu every year!

(Caption here.)

More of my photos are here and there's a group account here, where you can see that we were actually working, too.

My entry back into the real world was made somewhat easier when I spotted this this afternoon.

My Texas friends will recognize a shrimp truck. Yes, a shrimp truck in Iowa City! It comes up from Galveston about once a month, always on a Monday afternoon. Usually, I'm at work and don't make it, but today was a holiday, so I stopped for a pound of shrimp. I used to worry about the freshness of the shrimp from roadside trucks in San Antonio -- after all, we were 100 miles from the coast -- but for some reason, that doesn't bother me at all here, 1000+ miles from the coast. I'm just happy to see it!

I boiled about 1/3 of my shrimp to make this calorific Lemon Pasta (although I did use light sour cream) with added shrimp.

It made enough to feed an army -- or me for the rest of the week. Luckily, it's really yummy. Next time, I'll make a half recipe. With it, I had a glass of a nice inexpensive Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, which apparently helps the world every time I drink it! I believe I need another glass....

Hawaii

Okay - this place really is gorgeous! We're staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and our conference is at the Convention Center. Even the Convention Center is gorgeous!

More pictures to come...

Did I tell you I was going to Hawaii?

Yes, the Medical Library Association's annual conference is in Honolulu. We'll be staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. I leave Friday, before the crack of dawn. The meeting is over next Wednesday, and I'm staying a couple more days after that, just for fun.

I'm trying to finish up all those things that have to get done when I'm going to be gone from work for 7 days. Knitting is not one of those things. Also, I'm still working on the baby blanket, and although I'm definitely making progress, I'm so bored! And since I've told myself I can't work on anything else, I seem to be ignoring it. It's too big for travel knitting, so I'll be taking the Bougainvillea socks and the newly-cast-on Gale, which I think will be fairly repetitive -- good for working on while listening to presentations. And maybe Stonewall, too. (I'm definitely on an Anne Hanson kick right now! Too bad she didn't design that baby blanket!) Because, yes, even though it's Hawaii, there will still be meetings and such to attend, not to mention looooong plane rides on either end of the trip.

To tide you over until I have Hawaii pictures, here's my niece Sarah, celebrating her triumphant performance as an Oompa Loompa in her middle school production of Willy Wonka

and here's a froggy who was sitting in my front yard a couple days ago. He's camera-shy, though, and hid under this plant when I got my camera out.

Unfortunately....

I stole this meme from Helen (get well soon, Helen!). You google the phrase "Unfortunately, {name}," with your name inserted, then post the first 15 hits. I'm giving you 16, because #16 was interesting. And I'm also giving you a bit of commentary on each. None of these Jannas are actually me, so there must be more of us out there than I thought!

Unfortunately, Janna Callan and Jemma Konuralp at British Swimming have informed Barnet Copthall that all links to UptheBeavers, and even mentions of its name, must be removed from the main club’s website. (Oooh! Drama in hit #1 - but, really -- UptheBeavers?)

Unfortunately Janna has been plagued with IT issues and currently is not able to access her telephone. (This is actually the same Janna as in #1.)

Unfortunately, Janna was not one of them. (From the rest of this blog post, I gather that this Janna is a total incompetent.)

Unfortunately Janna hurt her ankle right before the event started... she made the best of the situation by doing press and behind the scenes work for the event. (This one’s a snowboarder!)

Unfortunately Janna, who was at best nervous about diving though willing to try, had a rough go on our first dive. (Another athletic Janna!)

Unfortunately, Janna lost her balance on the last log and failed to snatch the flag. (This one is involved in what appears to be Argentina’s version of Fear Factor.)

Unfortunately, Janna was the lucky winner today. (This is an excerpt from a book called Janna’s Werewolf. I was unaware that I had a werewolf.)

Unfortunately, janna has almost no dancing ability. (This could describe me, but it's not me.)

UNFORTUNATELY, Janna and George and their family stayed behind, but FORTUNATELY, Janna said she would rather keep track of her kids at the park than at the mall. (This is from a very long blog post, with the words “unfortunately” and “fortunately” in every sentence. I didn’t read the whole thing.)

…unfortunately Janna said that she fears her skills aren’t up to doing justice to it. (This Janna’s an insecure artist.)

Unfortunately, Janna was again denied by her clogged ears and had to postpone. (This is the same Janna who was nervous about diving.)

Unfortunately, Janna Goodrich almost completely forgot the help-the-poor talking points in this article (vie Coyote), and revealed her conflicted feelings in her hurt-the-rich efforts. (From a Libertarian blog. Again, not me.)

Unfortunately, Janna was out sick. (And because she was sick, she missed a poetry slam.)

Unfortunately, Janna had never learned to read the old language. (From a Buffy fanfiction site.)

Unfortunately… Janna rolled the eyes. (This is, I think, also from some kind of fanfiction, but most of the page was in Polish, so I’m not sure.)


So there you go -- it appears that many Jannas are athletic, which is definitely not me!

A little bit of knitting

The last few weeks (maybe months) have been overwhelmingly busy at work, and taking up time at home, too, leaving little time for knitting or anything else. Finally, on Friday, I found myself the passenger in a car going to a meeting in Des Moines, 100 miles away, so I pulled out the baby blanket.

The meeting itself provided a bit more knitting time. Unfortunately, just before we were about to leave, for another good 90 minutes of knitting in the car, I managed to break the cable on my Denise needles, right below where it attached to the needle. Luckily, I had another cable the same (long!) length, but it was, of course, at home.

Yesterday morning, I had a little more knitting time, while waiting for my car to get new stabilizer rod links (I don't really know what they are or why they cost $300 to replace, but my car is running better and doesn't creak like it did). Instead of taking the baby blanket, which really is beyond the easily-portable size, I pulled out Hedera, and got a bit past the cuff of the second sock.

So that's about it on the knitting front. As I said, work is really busy, with a new librarian (probably the last one we'll be able to hire for a while) beginning tomorrow and lots of decisions to be made about how to deal with the inevitable budget problems next year. Luckily, one of the busiest times of year, "evaluation season," is over, and that new librarian should be a lot of help to me, once she gets settled in. Hopefully, I'll soon have more knitting time than I've had in the several months.

This 'n' That (because I use "random" way too much!)

I wish I had an FO to show you, but I don't.  There's been a little knitting but not much.

I'm finally on the fourth color, Azalea, for the baby blanket.  You can just barely see it, down there at the edge.  This is such totally mindless knitting. Since I really like my knitting to entertain me, I'd really like to get this over with!  

I pulled out Stonewall and did another couple pattern repeats and also finished the gusset on the first Bougainvillea sock. And I frogged my barely-begun Woodland Scarf. I like the pattern, and will put it back in my queue, but I think I want to use the yarn (Malabrigo Sock in Stonechat, which is actually considerably darker than that picture shows--my photo of it in Ravelry is closer) for Gust instead. I really need some sort of hand-knit shawl to keep at work for those days when my office is cool. Right now, I have a store bought almost-blanket-like thing, which is really embarrassing for a knitter!  It needs to be dark and not too lacy, so I think this combination of yarn and pattern are perfect. I don't have enough yarn for the large size, but should have enough to make the large width at the petite length. I haven't cast on yet, because, really, it would be embarrassing to have THREE Anne Hanson patterns on the needles at once!

I also got a new bag for my knitting accessories -- a box bag from Caro at Splityarn.

I had looked at this cheery pink bag numerous times, so when she announced that she would be donating 10% of her April Sales to the National Brain Tumor Society in memory of her dad, I decided it was time to purchase it. It's really cute, nice-sized, and very well made. Go buy one! ;-)

Red

Last night, I pulled two current, non-baby-blanket projects out of my bag, and realized that although the yarns are very different content, they're practically the same color.

Here's my first Bougainvillea sock, lying on top of my Stonewall scarf. Not only are they the same color, but they are also both Anne Hanson designs!

Bougainvillea is being knit out of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in cranberry (color 45ns), while Stonewall is knit from A Piece of Vermont Merino/Tencel sock yarn (no longer available, I think) in Long Time Gone. I just love the not-quite-solid, sort of weathered-looking red of both these yarns.

My dinner tonight was also a study in red: Tomatoey Spiced Chickpeas, in a red Fiesta Ware bowl. I strongly recommend the recipe -- quick, yummy, and great as leftovers, too. It's really good over rice, although I forgot to make the rice tonight. (It was prettier with the white rice under it, too.)

If you make the recipe, don't leave out the mint -- it really adds a sort of subtle taste that's not really minty, but really adds to the flavor I think. I did leave out the parsley tonight, because I forgot to buy some. Also, I used diced tomatoes instead of whole ones.

One last red thing, although this one makes me sad. I appear to have broken my little red Nikon Coolpix camera. I'll have my brother look at it this weekend (he's handy for stuff like that), but I'm not hopeful.

Photoless Post of No Real Progress

There hasn't been much time for knitting this week -- work has been incredibly busy, and has spilled over substantially into my free time. Nevertheless, I have managed to work in a little knitting failure.

Remember this? It's Helen's Lace from Lorna's Laces in Blackberry, special ordered from my LYS for the Fountain Pen Shawl (that's a Ravelry link, because I'm lazy). After knitting about 10 rows with the recommended size 6 needles, I knew my gauge was too loose, so I ripped out and started again on size 5s.

Finding the best size 5s took a little work. My KnitPicks are in use and my favorite, pointiest size 5s, from Jenkins Woodworking, that I used for my sister's Honeybee stole, have developed a rough place at the join on one side, making moving the stitches over the join pretty annoying. Plus, they are made of a dark wood, which is problematic with dark yarn. I found a pair of bamboo circs in my stash, and although the cord was sort, they seemed almost pointy enough.

I finished the 20 "Lace Beginning" rows, and got 10 rows into the first repeat of the body. By then, I had done two nupps and discovered that the bamboo needles weren't quite pointy enough for the p5tog (two of the five are yarn-overs, making those stitches really tight). However, a size 1 dpn was very handy in getting the nupp done, and really not too fiddly.

However, I still wasn't crazy about the fabric I was producing, and wondered if I should go down to size 4s. I had pretty much decided that was a crazy idea when I dropped a stitch that went down through a decrease. After pouting and whining to the cats about how hard it would be to fix, I ripped everything out.

Now, off to find size 4 circs....

There has been knitting!

Since I got back from vacation, life has been hectic! First of all, you know what it's like when you get back to work after a week -- even if you've been keeping up with email, it's usually crazy. Then on Tuesday afternoon, I had to go home to wait for the power company, who decided that I needed a new gas meter. And I left work at about 2:30 Thursday to attend an all-day midyear board meeting for the Midwest Chapter of MLA on Friday, in suburban Chicago. So, basically, I had three days at work.

There wasn't a whole lot of time for knitting until Friday. A couple hours into the meeting, I decided to break out the knitting. The Artful (Baby) Afghan is really, really mindless knitting, perfect for meetings. While I can't knit in meetings at work (long story - it's not really entirely forbidden, but I've decided that smart thing is to not knit), this wasn't work, so I got quite a bit done.

This afghan is knit from the center outward. I've got just a couple more rounds of the light blue, then I'll move onto the Azalea (skein in right front) then Violet (left front - in reality, it looks more like periwinkle to me). I'm enjoying knitting with the Cotton Ease and can imagine using it for a sweater of some sort for myself. (Note that most of the colors I'm using aren't listed on the Lion Brand site.)

This weekend, I've been working on my Bougainvillea sock again, and have gotten through the turn of the heel on the first one. The pattern continues down the heel, which I just love.

That's the back of the heel in the lower right corner. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Cranberry -- one of the the not-quite-solids I'm currently crazy about.

Oh - and it snowed again yesterday -- I'd say we probably got about an inch and a half. Most of it is gone now, so I guess it really is Spring!

Back from Spring Break

I really meant to blog while on vacation, but I didn't. I also didn't take a whole lot of pictures.

I went to San Antonio with my mom, brother, and 12-year-old niece for Spring Break. I got to see lots of old friends (knitting and not), go to some of my favorite places, eat some of my favorite food, and shop at a "new" yarn store. What could be better?

The first whole day we were there, I got to see "my knitters." I have to say that although I've met lots of nice knitters here in Iowa, I haven't met a group that matches this one!

Around the table from the left: Kim, Claude, Enid, Michelle, Debra, Mary, Amy, and Courtney.

Hiding behind Mary is Jody.

This is a nice segue, because another thing I did was spend some time with Jody's cat Gracie.

Isn't she cute? She's also a little devil. She's the first real "attack cat" I've ever met. Simon occasionally hisses at someone he doesn't know, but Gracie attacks. If I were a thief breaking into Jody's (very cute) house, Gracie would probably scare me off!

To return to knitting -- I visited the Yarn Barn's new location. It's very cute, and carries some nice yarn.

At the back is two skeins of Shibui sock yarn (colorway 1797 a.k.a. red), in front of that is a skein of J. Knits sock yarn in Palm Springs, and then in front of it all, a skein of Hand Maiden Camelspin in Rose Garden. And off to the side there, in that little striped bag, is a set of Lantern Moon size 1 ebony Sox Stix. (You can never have too many size 1 DPNs!)

I did non-yarn related stuff, too, although I didn't take pictures of it all. A lot of it seemed to involve food! Like -- eating lunch with former co-workers. One day, about 25 people got together at Thai Taste (best Thai food in San Antonio, and sometimes it seems like there's as many Thai restaurants as Tex-Mex in SA), and another day, there were just three of us at a Tex-Mex hole in the wall. Like -- visiting my friend Pat in her gorgeous new house. (I can't believe I didn't take pictures!). Like -- going to Gruene (say "Green"), eating at The Gristmill, and visiting Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas.

The whole family went to the King Ranch Museum in Kingsville, then on down to Corpus Christi and Port Aransas, where we ate at another favorite, Snoopy's, right on the water. Then we went on down to the beach, where it was chilly but it was the beach!

Obviously, it was a busy week, but I had a great time. I also kept forgetting that I don't live there anymore!

Yum!

Remember how I said I had to make the Fountain Pen Shawl? And how I said I might even spring for some Helen's Lace to make it?

Guess what came in today?

That's Helen's Lace in Blackberry. Home Ec Workshop ordered it for me, and it is beautiful! I think I'll wind it up tonight...

Knitting!

Several days ago, I promised actual knitting content. Well -- it's here!

I finished the Nereid mitts, and are very happy with them. They're longer than most mitts, with the hand part coming almost halfway up my fingers, which I like a lot - my hands are frequently cold.

These took longer than they should have, because I reversed the pattern on the second one. To do that, you can read the chart backward, or flip it over in your Photoshop-type program, which is what I did. Then I replaced the K2tog TBLs with plain K2tog's. The pattern on the second one doesn't look as smooth as the first one, and I'm sure there are further modifications I could have made to make them better, but I'm happy! The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Pink Blossom -- I think I'll buy more and make a pair of matching Pomatomus socks!

I also started a baby blanket for a co-worker and his wife, who are expecting a girl in June. My suspicion is that they are people who would not be inclined to dress their little girl in pink daily (unlike me!), so I'm limiting the pink.

I'm making the Artful (Elegance) Afghan, which you may have seen on Chris's blog. (If you buy the pattern from the Lion Brand website, beware that, even though PayPal is listed as a payment option, you have to use a regular credit card for patterns, even though putting $2.50 on a credit card seems crazy!) I was going to use Wool-Ease, because of its washability and, um, cheapness, but my Michael's was out of most of the colors. Right next to it, though, was the Cotton-Ease -- also washable, and not scratchy -- and I just loved the colors, so I went with it. Luckily, knitting with cotton doesn't usually bother my hands.

I'm using fewer colors than called for, obviously, so I spent some time last night figuring out how many rounds of each color I need to knit. In theory, you could just knit until you're out of a color, but since this is a gift, I figured I should plan a little! So far, I like it -- there's enough going on that I don't get bored, but it's easy enough that I don't have to think too much!


Have you noticed all the sales in the knitting world right now? I guess it's a sign of the times, but I"m trying to be a combination of economical but supportive (or at least, that's what I'm telling myself!)

Lexie Barnes had bags on sale (half price), plus there was a code on KnittyBlog for 10% more off, so I indulged and purchased the Lady B in Diablo, which I had looked at many times. I actually see using this as a laptop bag, not a knitting bag. And it came with the tiny bag leaning in the front!

Grafton Fibers also had their Darn Pretty DPNs in red on sale for Valentine's Day, so I ordered a couple of pairs -- I can never have too many size 1 and 1.5s!

The Word is "Hope"

I like this -- it really is me. Pessimism depresses me and although I'm afraid some people see me as a Pollyanna, I really do believe that most people are basically good.

Knitting content tomorrow...

Your Word is "Hope"

You see life as an opportunity for learning, growth, and bringing out the best in others. No matter how bad things get, you always have at least a glimmer of optimism. You are accepting and forgiving. You encourage those who have wronged you to turn over a new leaf. And while there is a lot of ugliness in the world, you believe that almost no one is beyond redemption.

What's Your Word?

A Whole Lot of Not Much

Considering that it's been 10 days since I posted, you'd think I'd have more to say!

I've been knitting -- I've done a few more repeats on Stonewall, finished one sock and one mitt, and worked a bit more on Bougainvillea (more than this picture shows!).

Nothing exciting and nothing finished.

I've got a bad case of startitis, and what I want to start is a triangular shawl. A couple weeks ago, I mentioned how I had to knit the Fountain Pen Shawl from the current Interweave Knits, and how I wanted to splurge and use Helen's Lace. One of my LYSes carries it, but didn't have any solids, so they've ordered some for me, in a couple different colors. In the meantime, I decided to start Anne's Whispering Pines -- I bought that exact cranberry yarn ages ago -- and then realized I had no size 2 and 2.5 circular needles! So maybe I'll pull out the long dormant Hidcote...

I think there's more than that done.... I guess I'll find out!

One Lace Project Finished and Another Started

I apparently have a new rule in my life that I must have two Anne Hanson projects on the needles at the same time.

On the same day that I finished the Poinsettia Cowl, Anne released the pattern for her Bougainvillea socks. I just happened to have the perfect yarn in stash -- Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Cranberry. (Not much to see so far -- maybe half an inch of ribbing.) Add this to the Stonewall already on the needles, and there are my two Anne projects! What can I say -- I like lace!

Pattern: Poinsettia
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino in Green-Grey - about 1.25 skeins
Needles: US 3 16" Knitpicks Harmony circular
Notes: Both the pattern and the yarn are gorgeous and I'm happy with the result. If I were to knit this again, though, I'd only do 3 repeats of the neck pattern instead of 4. My neck just isn't long enough for 4 repeats, although it will make the cowl warmer. And although I love this yarn -- the sheen, the color, the softness -- I have to say that the skeins are a mess. I've rewound two of them into balls and started on a third (I'd like to make a matching hat) and it's been a real pain. The 'loops' of the skeins seem to be all unaligned or something, causing them to tangle and to be impossible to place on my swift. Has anyone else had this issue with Silky Merino?

And a sure sign of Spring:

The first Peeps of the season!

I must make this!

This!!

And even though I just told myself I wouldn't buy any yarn this month -- I don't need more yarn! -- I think I may spring for some Helen's Lace to make it. Actually, I only have two lace-weight yarns in my stash with enough yardage for this, and one of those is already committed to a project and the other in green, and I just don't see this as a green project.... But maybe Pewter. Or Charcoal. Or Blackberry!

Birds in Hand

I finished the second Bird in Hand mitten last night. Although it's still drying, I took a picture. The angle is a little weird, but the color is good (except for that weird stain on the towel they're lying on...)

Details
Yarn: Cascade 220 in White (8505) and Raspberry (7802)
Needles: US2 (2.75 mm) DPNs

It's obvious I still need to work on my stranded knitting. I'm normally a loose knitter but, not surprisingly, I guess, my stranded work seems to be knit tight. And my tight knitting has kind of messed with the proportions of these mittens. From the thumb gusset to the fingertips, these are a teeny bit shorter and a teeny bit tighter than I would like. The thumb, though, is at least a half inch too long! The cuff is also too long - something I thought I would never say about a mitten cuff....

If these were to be a gift, I would be disappointed in them. But they're for me, they'll keep my hands warm, and I've learned from knitting them. My next colorwork project will probably be Eunny's Endpaper Mitts, which, in retrospect, I probably should have done before I did these mittens!

I'm not ready to start those yet, though -- I'm working on a pair of Nereid mitts. Have I shown you these? I had some issues with actually reading the instructions, but now I'm back on track.

I've also started another neckwarmer -- you might remember that I have Stonewall and the Woodland scarf both on the needles, but I've also cast on Anne Hanson's Poinsettia cowl in Malabrigo Silky Merino in the most gorgeous blue-green (which, for some reason, they call Green Gray). I tried taking a picture, but apparently there's not enough of it yet to actually be photographed...

And one last thing -- several years ago, when I was afraid of DPNs and heel turning, my friend Dale sat me down and showed me that I could do it. We used Cleckheaton Country 8 Ply, which makes rather bulky socks, but I've worn these as sleeping and around-the-house socks ever since. Last weekend, I stuck them in a net bag with other handknit socks and washed them on the extra-gentle cycle, as I always do. When I took them out of the bag to lay them out to dry, look what I found!

Yes, both the heels are blown out! I'm not a darner, so I guess this is the end of these socks. But I don't think I'll throw them away...

1:15 a.m.

I finished binding off Daedelus at 1:15 this morning. It's blocking right now.

I'm a really bad blocker...

Details: test-knit (incredibly slowly) for Helen
Yarn: almost 2 skeins (about 1200 yards) of JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk
Needles: Size 3 KnitPicks Harmonies
Beads: Lots of opalescent seed beads and not quite as many white seed beads
Measurements: About 6 1/2 feet by 3 feet, gently blocked -- bigger than I thought it would be.

Where did January go?

I can't believe it's February already! January just flew by, mostly because I was so, so busy with work. Our nursing librarian left for a job in Arizona at the end of December and, by default, I became the nursing liaison. This is a very natural fit for me, since I worked extensively with nurses, nursing students, and nursing faculty in San Antonio, but it does mean that I now have two full-time jobs. Luckily, I have people to help me out with teaching and consults, but I'm the one answering all the calls and emails!

Last week was really busy, not just during day but also in the evening. That wasn't really because of my new duties -- Tuesday evening I co-taught a class on information resources in global health and Thursday evening, I joined several hundred other middle-aged women (and about 4 men) at Menopause the Musical at the Englert Theatre. The four characters include a Professional Woman, an Earth Mother, a Soap Star, and an Iowa Housewife (wife of a funeral director), so it's possible that our Iowa City college-town crowd -- full of professional women, curnchy-granola types, and Iowans -- identified easily with most of the characters. If you are anywhere near menopause and have a chance to see this show, I would highly recommend it! It's full of funny songs about "the change," set to tunes from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Friday evening, I spent at the mall, although not really because I wanted to shop. You see, I LOVE my electric blanket and can't imagine life without it. A few weeks ago, I noticed that one of the controls was occasionally making an odd noise, and thought that I'd probably want to get a new blanket -- or maybe one of those heated mattress pads -- before next winter. Then around 4:00 a.m. Friday, I woke up just enough to yank the blanket up around my shoulders, and saw a little flash of light! I did it again, and the light flashed again! I didn't feel anything hot or smell anything burn, but I'm pretty sure I was seeing sparks. Around 5:00, I turned the blanket off, and by 6:30 I was cold. So that evening, off I went to the mall to find a new blanket. As I feared, despite the fact that we're in the depths of winter, electric blankets are hard to find in January. You were supposed to buy your blanket at the beginning of winter; the fact that your blanket might die at some other time is apparently not considered. I finally found one at the third department store I visited.

When I got home and pulled the blanket out of the bag, I saw that what I had was NOT an electric blanket, but a regular blanket that was supposed to be in the bin next to the electric blankets. So, happy that I had noticed this before 11:00 p.m., I headed back to the mall, where I realized that the queen-size electric blanket bin was full of regular blankets. All they had were king-sized electric blankets (five of them total). I considered getting a refund and continuing my search elsewhere, but considering that it was after 8:00 p.m. and I knew they were in short supply, I bought a king-sized one.

So - the bad news is that I have lots of extra blanket hanging out from under my quilt. The good news, though, is that my bed is nice and warm without actually being on fire, and that is a very good thing indeed!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Okay -- knitting. Up there at the top is a close-up of Daedelus. I am just five rows (two of them beaded) from binding off. I don't want to event think how many stitches are in each row -- one beaded row takes me close to an hour -- but I'm definitely almost done.

I think I mentioned before that I ran out of beads and couldn't get matching beads to finish. The original beads are sort of opalescent, while the new ones are more opaque. You can clearly see the difference below -- the new beads are at the top.

I'm not thrilled with the difference and wonder if I should have looked elsewhere for beads closer to the originals. However, the new beads are at the bottom of the shawl, so I think the heavier look will be okay, if not perfect.

As my carrying-around, knit-anywhere project, I started the Nereid Fingerless Gloves, based on Cookie A.'s Pomatomus sock pattern. I have to admit that I never particularly cared for this pattern until I saw it in a solid color. Even though this pattern is not particularly "busy," I think it just looks so much better in a solid color.

As I said, this is supposed to be my mindless knitting, but even with mindless knitting, you really need to check the pattern occasionally! The Nereid pattern says to knit two repeats of Chart A from the sock pattern. The author assumes that you've also read the instructions, not just looked at the chart. I knew when I started the second repeat that something was wrong, but I convinced myself it was fine. Four rounds in, I said to the friends I was knitting with, "It almost looks like the pattern needs to be shifted over one stitch." Oops! That's exactly what the written instructions tell you to do. So I tinked back four rounds, shifted everything, and am back on track. I think....

Yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Solid in Pink Blossom.
I'm already planning on buying more of this color!

Cold-Weather Day

Yesterday afternoon, I decided this would be a "cold-weather day" for me -- like a snow day, but because it was so cold. The school districts in the area have been closed since Wednesday. The first day was because of the new 6 inches or more of snow, but the last two were because morning temperatures were -20F (-29C) or colder. Yesterday morning as I waited for the bus (luckily, the bus was on time, so I was outside for less than 15 minutes), the temperature was around 23 below. I was wearing tights, long underwear (upper and lower), wool socks, moleskin pants (no, not made from real moles, but really warm), sweater, long down coat, earflap hat with my coat hood over it, wool/mohair scarf over my face, and store-bought gloves under my mittens. I was almost warm enough, although it sort of hurt to breathe, and had to remove several layers once I got to work. Today was supposed to be colder (and was, by about 2 degrees) so I decided to take a day of vacation.

I started the day by watching a couple hours of the Today show's coverage of yesterday's miracle on the Hudson, which really does seem to have been miraculous. Then I talked to Helen about some updates to the Daedelus pattern, and promised to work on it extensively this weekend. And then -- well, then I spent a couple hours playing on Facebook. Facebook doesn't usually distract me like that (although Twitter does - I am, of course, jannabeth there, if you'd like to follow my riveting tweets), but I spent lots of time today checking out my friends' friends, to see who I had missed.

Finally, around noon, I got a little more productive!

I baked Chocolate Cranberry Sweet Buns, although, weirdly, I had no chocolate chips, so I chopped up five squares of semi-sweet chocolate (why do I have two boxes of this, and no chips?) and used that instead. I haven't tasted them yet, but they look pretty!

I also made snow

Throw a cup of boiling water into frigid air and see what happens!

because we don't have enough already! ;-)

That's my car, waiting to be dug out tomorrow, when the temperature is supposed to be a balmy 26ºF (-3ºC). I did get in and start it last night -- I didn't really expect it to start, so was thrilled when it did, with just a little cough.

And I worked on Daedelus. She really is going to be pretty if when I get her done!

I know Daedelus was a man, but, really, this shawl is awfully girly!