Hazelnut Reflections: Merry Christmas

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Merry Christmas

NOt quite sure where the last few days have gone. I'm completely frustrated with my inability to post to blog on my own computer w/o switching over to pokey IE in the middle of an online session. This may have to be a post-holiday project.

I'm composing this at David's office where I have been stranded by my car. I'm driving to Sikeston, MO to supply on Christmas Eve, and my car had not had its 60,000 mile check up, nor its 75,000 mile checkup (ok, it's only at 71, but still, it looms). Also, I needed the #@*&%!!! state safety inspection sticker, and well, an oil change.

So, it's going to come to a total of $340 with the inspection, the oil change, and, oh yeah, a couple of critical belts and fluids needed servicing.

Christmas knitting continues. I had an ambitious list, which has gotten pared down. I made a very soft kitty bed with Jiffy, making two squares of differing stitch patterns, stuffing lightly with fiberfill. Also a bowtie scarf out of Cotton Fleece. I made a new Christmas stock for MOI out of Reynolds Lopi and Knit Christmas Stockings!. I'm currently working on a Lopi scarf in a sort of charcoal heather in a Farrow Rib pattern. Also, I'm celebrating the resurrection of Illini basketball by working on an orange and blue scarf with TLC Essentials navy blue and Red Heart Kids Orange. The colors are Illini perfect and the inspiration was the patterns for team scarves in this month's Family Circle Easy Knitting. The pattern is simple but the article provided the impetus to pick up the yarn. Although I'm not crazy to be having this unintentional time off, my knitting skills are growing at a rapid pace (as is the stash, needless to say). The Christmas stocking taught me how to turn the heel and pick up stitches along the heel flap--the only challenge was getting right/left mixed up with the heel flap and having a few rounds of reverse stockinette before figuring out the problem. A frogging we will go, a frogging we will go. When I switched to the OTHER right heel flap (LOL) things got much better.

Knit on!