happy new year!

All the best to you in the new year!

(The romanesco looks festive, right?)

secret gift knitting revealed

Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a few projects that I couldn't advertise, as Mom would have discovered them before she unwrapped them! The following are the Blueberry Waffle socks, in Sliver Moon Farm superwash. The official name of the yarn is denim, but I found it to be a good match for my idea of yummy waffles. (I forgot to take a picture before mailing them off, so this is a WIP shot.)

The other handknit item she received was partially a gift from her. While on an Alaskan cruise this summer, Mom gave me a skein of yarn from a hand-dyer in Sitka. I wanted to use it with another yarn, to ensure that I'd get a big and warm scarf. Paired here with Louet Riverstone, it was cushy and should be warm enough for even an Alaskan winter. (Not that Mom will be in Alaska in the winter.)

Hope you had a very merry holiday (whichever you celebrate)!

snow day

When I woke this morning, I checked the Transit Tracker website to see what the bus situation was at my stop. The answer? There was a bus headed my way, and it was only 11.6 miles from the stop! Oh, happy day: I'm not getting on a bus today. The rails aren't really working either, so I'm homebound today. There is now enough snow that even I'm impressed.


We attempted to drive to a little Hanukkah party yesterday, and the snow was not cooperating with the car. We got to meet some of our neighbors as they helped us push the car back into the driveway, so that was nice. And then we walked, with wine and brisket and potatoes for latkes and menorahs in our backpacks, through the deserted streets. There may have been snowball fight on the way back home, too, when the packs were lighter.

My new hat was blocked while on my head. A commenter asked about the pattern (Koolhaas, by Jared Flood): it was published in the Interweave Knits Holiday 2007 magazine, and I believe that you can buy it directly from the IK website as an individual pattern, too.

Stay warm out there!

grape head

The yarn's official name is "Violetas", which is much lovelier than grape, but I do feel a bit like there's a bowl full of grape jelly on my head while wearing my Koolhaas hat. I think it might be time for a trip to Seattle so I can model it in front of the library that inspired the design.

Thanks to the Blizzard of 2008*, I had lots of knitting time over the past two days. This morning was just lovely: Jonathan Schwartz's 39th Annual Christmas Show over the computer (yay for free XM Radio trial periods!), knitting with Malabrigo, the noble fir tree in the corner, soy egg nog in a cocktail glass, the Times... a pretty good way to while away the shortest day of the year.


*4 inches of snow.

Can I confess that I did a happy dance upon completion?

Cushy and warm... just the thing to light up the longest night of the year.

it's a wonderful snow storm

It’s pretty much chaos in the streets here in Portland. There’s snow! There’s ice! There’s a commitment to keep the rivers clean, so there’s no salt! But the panic resulted in a very empty train ride for me today, which was nice. Schools on the west side of town have been closed all week; poor east-side kids had to report in Tuesday. Panic caused the west-side schools to close again today, and since then, the sun has been shining brightly. All of my meetings and events this week were cancelled (that first week of January is not going to be relaxing). But before the winter weather hit town, I cut down my Christmas tree!

This is a fascinating article about "It's a Wonderful Life" that I really enjoyed. Check it out.

winter wonderland

I finished half a scarf this past week, and took a really dreadful photo.

Luckily, the scarf is a lot nicer than this picture. I really enjoyed the little bit of lace, followed by inches and inches of plain knitting. Just when it was getting to be a bit of a slog, and I couldn't believe that all this knitting was only getting me 8" of fabric, it was time to move into high gear and start zipping along. I'll probably get the other half started tonight, to be ready for the bus ride tomorrow morning.

It's been snowing all day (well, mostly just blowing now), and we've enjoyed being home-bound. We did walk to the local coffee shop this morning, and I just walked to the store to get some spinach for dinner... so we weren't exactly trapped. But the city seems quite paralyzed by this inch of accumulation. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

The good thing about being at home for the day is the fact that I got all my present wrapping done, and nearly everything is boxed and ready for shipping. Yes, I'm much later than I anticipated, but I'm fairly certain that the boxes will arrive on time.

Soon: pictures of me as a lumberjack, cutting down my Christmas tree.

my list

There are a bunch of projects I want to begin, now that my holiday knitting is done! I have all the yarn, and now just want to start. All of these are going to be great on the commute...

The Koolhaas hat, in purple Malabrigo.


The Snowball hat, in a lovely burgundy Lamb's Pride.


The scarf on the right, in an alpaca yarn that's pretty close to the color shown. (I might want to do the scarf on the left, too.)

And a Monkey Cowl - which isn't quite like this one - but made in a wildly varigated yarn that never worked as socks.