Loot!

Ok, I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of my second knitting project -part of Nettie's take Thursday morning:



Since the first bag didn't quite come out right I did another. This one was with a narrower yarn so it took a little longer to knit. I didn't decrease fast enough and the flap is a little bit longer than the front of the bag. I also had to block the flap to try and get it into a nice triangle (when I realized how long it was going to be I changed the decrease rate and it was, predictably, a little lopsided). This yarn felted faster with less fuzzing. I wonder if the yarn weight was a factor in that? Less time in the washer probably helped with the fuzzing and lint knots. I knit it tighter in general which means it shrank less, too.

You really can't tell but I knitted the front (under the flap) in a checkerboard pattern which looked 'eh' before felting* but turned out pretty nice afterward; You can't see it but you can feel the texture. I like felting. It hides minor mistakes like dropped stitches - the holes just close right up.

And just because she's so cute:

Honey sporting her new 'outfit'. (The harness - let's see her back herself out of that.)

*Not sure why. It looks good in my practice yarn. Maybe my tension and stitch length varied too much? I screwed up more on my stitch counting than I thought?

Weekend Accomplishments

There's both Pumpkin (from a box) and Banana Nut (scratch) in there for various people's Christmas's. (Poor Honu-Girl, she won't get hers today.) There was a big loaf of each for the office but they are almost eaten now. Nettie and I made some sugar cookies, too, but they went home with her. BTW, Fannie Farmer's sugar cookie recipe (it's about the first cookie recipe in the chapter) is drop cookies only; way too soft to roll out.

This only took a few minutes:

My little ornament tree. You can't really see in this picture but I also have three silver snowflake/star ornaments, too. I hung them on the window in the background for the picture but moved them to their traditional location on the bay window afterward. (and then closed the blinds on that window again, it admits no light this time of year but sucks the heat out!)

Sighting

Yesterday I went to Hilaritas and was reminded that faux-hawk girl is a violinist. I haven't seen her lately, possibly since last year's Hilaritas, but she used to have a class near my office and I see her ever week or two. Her hair is a bit silly looking but it also inspires a bit of awe. It is amazing that she gets her hair to do this. I wasn't sure I could properly explain it so I tried drawing it. This is the best I could do:


(see why I'm not an artist?)

The faux-hawk (as Honu-Girl and I christianed this 'do) has near vertical sides. I've never gotten a good look at it from behind so I'm not sure what happens at the back. I'm really don't know how she gets her hair to do this. Maybe she has some oddly geometric deformity on her skull?

I'm a bad person, because her goofy (IMHO) hair gave me a smile when Nettie had been annoying me with her impateince (why can't we just go sit down???), and why do we have to wait for Mom and Dad (because I have the tickets) and where M&D were (on their way), and why isn't your phone working (IDK, it's AT&T's problem) and are they waiting in the lobby for us even though it was after the 3* and would they think to check at will-call for their tickets (uh, yes because they're not stupid)...OMG, relax child, it will be ok, it'll work out, CHILL!

P.S. I should add that I've seen a similar hair do on a girl with "black" hair. It looked equally silly but I could understand how it was achieved with coarse textured hair.


*When we finally went in to our seats there was some girl (college age, I guess) sitting in my seat. When I said "excuse me that's my seat, # 27," she says "but I'm in 27, too." She was in seat 27 row D, not 27 M. I pointed this out to her and she says "well where's that?". "Somewhere up front, about the 4th row". Has she never sat in assisgned theater seats before? I guess that is possible. The ticket said "MN FLR D 27" and underneath that "section row seat", is it really difficult to figure out seating assignments?

Some pictures

I keep thinking of a post topic and then forgetting it again. So here are some pictures from recently.

My kitties have become quite the home bodies since they got chicken for Christmas. Canned food never got this response.














Irish is never home during the day. She hangs out at my parent's house where, presumably, the hunting is better. But here she is between Stubby and Q-Tip hoping for food in the middle of the day.


It's been cold.
.



Christmas at Matt's.

Christmas at Matt's

Mish Mash (with some Christmas thrown in)

Since I don't feel like doing actual work this morning (Motivation is a little low on a Wednesday morning.) and I'm don't feel like playing sudoku, I think I'll write up some random things.

First: Monday Photo Shoot: Show us something of interest on your porch.


Ellen's ferrets


2. Did you know that when after a woman has a baby and her ligaments all tighten back up her hips may not return to their normal position? This apparently happened to my mom about 35.5 years ago. This is why her already bad back has gotten SO bad. So our spines are designed to carry all that weight out front but our hips could use some work.

C. What large piece of equipment is backing up outside my office and why is it's beeper so damn loud? It's stopped now.

D: Why the f^@k isn't our heat on? Yes, I could get a space heater but that still begs the question "WHY?". Has the university really saved any money by not having the heat on through the entire semester (steam plant cranked up Monday, they have heat next door) when students, faculty, and staff are putting (illegal) space heaters in their dorm rooms and offices?

5th: I forgot now what that was going to be.

Sixthly, I was reminded Sunday of a Christmas anthem that I really like. Nettie and I went to the choir concert at church and one of the things they sung was "This Christmastide" the chorus of which is "May peace and hope and love abide, this Christmastide." It is a very pretty quiet song. I don't remember all the words but it is a nice quiet Christmas song. Another anthem I love for Christmas time is "Peace Came to Earth." Not only does it have a lovely French horn part, but it is also a quiet awe-filled Christmas song, too. The chorus isn't exactly the same every time but follows the pattern "Who could but ____ Emmanuel? Who could but _____ Emmanuel?" with different verbs filling the blanks. The piece builds to the last verse ending with "Who could but shout Emmanuel? Who could but praise Emmanuel?"

Driving in this morning I was thinking about how I like the joyful Christmas songs but I also like the quite reverent ones, too. While the Christmas holiday is one of joy at the coming of the Christ (going to be a bit religious for a bit here) and we should celebrate His birth, it is also one of awe. (If you are not a Christian, try to imagine how the following knowledge would make one feel to believe this.) God choose to come down to earth not as a king or a hero or champion. He came to earth as a baby, a most fragile and vulnerable creature. Not even a prince or the child in a wealthy family but the son of a carpenter. Jesus bumped his head a million times as a toddler, scraped his knees playing chase, and got his butt tore up for sassing his momma (of the Israelite equivalent). God choose to be born a baby, to be a surly teenager with raging hormones*, to have to do chores, to fight with his parents for his independence, etc. God didn't have to do that. That is what we celebrate Tuesday. (Well, those of us who celebrate it as a religious holiday as well as a cultural one.)

Luke 2:19 say "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." I have an image of Mary, obviously not jumping up and down with glee since she'd just given birth, sitting there with angels signing and shepherds adoring and thinking not only I am now a mother and responsible for this child but my child is the Christ. And possibly following that up with an "OMG, WTF am I suppose to do?" Sometimes I think we Christians are suppose to just sit and be amazed. There is a lot about the Christmas story that doesn't make much sense. (Why were the shepherds in the fields in winter? It had to have been spring.) And I'm not entirely sure I'm completely on board with the whole virgin birth thing. But, to me, that doesn't change the beauty of it all.

Sorry, didn't mean to get all theological on you.

*I do not believe that Jesus was always a perfect child who never got in trouble. If he was fully human than he screwed up a bit along the way.

Caroling

I had some other topic but now I've forgotten so back to my seasonal one. What's your favorite Christmas carol?

I love Christmas carols, particularly the actually religious ones, and loved to go caroling when I was a kid (and with my Sunday School class more recently). Here are my favorites songs of the season. (I have a few more than one fave so bare with me here.)

"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" isn't actually a Christmas hymn but rather an Advent hymn. I love the haunting melody. I like "In the Bleak Midwinter" for the same reason. Besides, how often do you get to say cherubim and seraphim? I've always liked "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." I like "Good Christian Men Rejoice" because it is fun to sing. I love the chorus for "Angels We Have Heard on High". I know many people find "Do You Hear What I Hear" to be one of the most annoying songs ever but I like it. "Good King Wenceslas" is a good story (and as a samba a GREAT tune) but you have to sing all five verses. You have to sing all verses known or in the book to all carols anyway, IMHO, so that's not a problem. ("The First Noel" is an exception to this rule.) I could go on and on but I'll stop now.

What are your favorite carols? Do you like to go caroling? You want to get together and go caroling???