Chistmas Diva

Two women who work with my husband bought this pink hoodie as a Chistmas present for our darling Bridget. She prefers to be naked, since clothes make her feel fat. Because she is? Maybe a little pleasantly plump... Last picture is of the Citron shawlette I cranked out in 2 days for MIL. She looks adorable in it. This is one adorable pattern, in fact. Usually I knit my own patterns, because I like to see what the ideas and charts will turn into, but this pattern was irresistible, just about the cutest thing I've ever seen: simple but surprising, flirty yet elegant. For this version (and I will be making more, more, more!) I conserved my Silver Fern cashmere by adding stripes of Garden Green Kidsilk Haze. Binding off the trillions of stitches in a shawlette's ruffle when you're in a hurry is a spiritual exercise in patience, I had to pretend I was saying the Rosary instead of knitting. And then I did start saying the Rosary, it was Christmas Eve, after all. Hey Presto, it got done on time!

Notebook update: I'm a bum, there's no way I'm going to fill it, have already missed two days worth of entries.

No So New Solstice Notebook

Well, the notebook I thought was a blank canvas actually had a few hidden pages of hieroglyphics on it, but I'm going to go ahead and fill it up anyway. Just because it's not perfectly untouched doesn't mean it's not functional. Here's the first of the daily Solstice to Solstice entries: "Today I jumped out of bed and right into a squishy pile of cat gak. In bare feet." I like the idea of blogging about journal entries. It's an endless mirror image, solipsistic and completely unenlightening. I've never filled a notebook (in recent memory) because I wanted my entries to be what they never are, pure poetry: deep, profound, and life altering, especially on important days like Solstices. Today, for instance. (Happy &#@$ing Winter, everyone.) But today didn't start out well, unless you consider cussing a good way to start the day. Not the calm state required for thoughtfulness. So the journal is going to be full of lists, petty annoyances, nags, rags, and rants: easy stuff. The usual, in fact! The pictures show our office, which feels like it's in some Soviet Bloc country with that massive view of proletarian concrete, a.k.a. the ConAgra grain elevators. I downloaded 1/2 a season of Bewitched there today to try and erase the memory of yuck oozing through my toes.

New Notebook

Unbelievably, I just found a notebook in which I have not yet scrawled one single word! This denim gem is from the 70s. I found it at the Salvation Army a few years ago along with its twin, which does have a bunch of scribbling on the first four pages, and some dates from 2004, 2005, and 2006. The last entry is a list of Thrift Store Scores and Prices Paid: Embroidered Czech Pic $1.25, Burled Pipe 40¢, Glass Ruby Slipper 80¢, etc. Watching Julie and Julia last night gave me the idea for a blog challenge of my own: to actually fill an entire notebook! I'll start it on Midwinter's Night, December 21, 2009 and finish it on Midsummer's Night, June 21, 2010. A notebook is a nice private place where all the things that might not be a good idea to put Out There on this blog can go, such as Top 50 Reasons My Mother-In-Law is a Total Pain in the Ass, Favorite Cuss Words of My Youth, Calories Consumed at Breakfast, and How Many Times I Had to Rub a Pedi-Egg Over My Dry Cracked Heels to Smooth Them Out. And then I suppose I'll blog about how it felt to actually make the promised journal entry, perhaps even revealing a few glimpses of less inflammatory content.... I need a countdown button. Where can I get one? And what will be dredged up over the six months till Summer?

Old Notebooks

Our office in Alton is looking mighty cosy. How could it not with panelling? I'll post pictures soon, but in the meantime, here's some secretarial images from days gone by. I've been rooting through office supply surplus at home to load the new desk with, and started leafing through old notebooks trying to find some empties. Now there's a good way to waste a few hours. I have a strange habit of writing on a few pages, and then abandoning the whole notebook. I don't even have to wonder what that says about my character! (Nothing good!) But then: a few rips = a clean slate. Here are some choice scrawlings from the two pages I tore from the notebook now in the office desk drawer. "Maternitees Personalization Ideas. I'm with: The Spawn of Satan, A Son of a Bitch, The Messiah, An Alien Experiment." Then I have a list of herbal dyestuffs. "Red: dandelion, dock, hops, lady's bedstraw, madder, pokeweed, potentilla, St. John's wort, sweet woodruff. Rust: poke, safflower. Tan: barberry, onions, Oregon grape, raspberry, sunflower, uva ursi. Yellers: agrimony, broom, chamomile, fenugreek, goldenrod, sage. Greens:" The list ends without any green, I must have gotten tired of jotting. Then on the next page we have "Thoughts While Watching Live and Let Die. The Zipper Scene, how do those wide cars fit in the lanes, & {my favorite} quote 'Names is for tombstones, baby.' " There. That's about as revealing a glimpse into my brain as I ever want to share on this blog again!

Big Dreams

My birthday post on November 30th was the 300th post of this blog. A good omen. I like the number 3. As anyone who has knit with double-pointed needles will tell you, 3 is a dynamic number: each end of the triangle's intersections wants to pull away from the other. (With 4 needles, the intersections just stay put. Squares are stable.) What on Earth am I babbling about? Who knows. But starting with this here 301th post, I may just well be about to experience The Year of the Dream (as illustrated by a fabulous Scholastic paperback Thrift Store Score.) I don't know why I think so. Winter is here, and making me crabby. But: we just rented a cool office in downtown Alton, with the super high-speed internet my husband needs. The people who run the building are really nice, and threw in a huge old 50s desk and two chairs, just because. The space is panelled in flimsy 60s Dad's Den "oak", and it has a great view of the grain elevators and the passing traffic. I can't wait to decorate! One step closer to city living....Hurrah!

Oh, and I just realized, today is December 3rd. Make a wish.