My Middle Name is Patience

2008. Stick a fork in it. It's Done.

I'd always thought that was reasonably new but Barbara Stanwyck said it on "Meet John Doe" in 1941. Gregory Peck can play imaginary baseball in my house anytime.

Speaking of finishing a sweater, Mary Tudor's sleeve was duly frogged and obsessively knit Wed, Thurs and Friday of last week. Some of you might notice that Thursday was also Christmas. My family seemed to be somewhat emphatic on that point. So Thursday, aka Christmas also had church, the exchanging and opening of presents, dinner and obsessive knitting. What could be better?

 Despite all that effort, not only did I not finish the sweater, I'm not even back to where I was before I frogged it. I am on the same chart repeat though.

And then in the category of No Ignoring of Familial Obligations shall go unpunished, I was smote with the most miserable headache. Not a migraine - at least my migraine drugs were completely ineffective. I just felt.....icky. and the stupid thing didn't go away. For days. The only time I got on the computer was to throw more stuff in my Ravelry queue and then I'd have to lay down and wait to die.

But as it turns out, thankfully I didn't.

I can't believe the year is over. And I pretty much missed the last ten days of it. I've only got a few hours to come up with some new resolutions I'm not going to keep for next year.

What's the one resolution you really WANT to keep?

Happy New Year!!

Wicked Witch of the North Pole/Mary Tudor Poll

It seems there was a reason I was running short of yarn and the sleeve was taking so long.

I neglected to do the double decreases every fourth row and now I'm knitting a sleeve that has 44 more stitches that it's supposed to at this point.

Why did I check the directions last night at 11 pm? I had a sleepless night.

(Why didn't I doublecheck the directions before knitting 2/3's of a sleeve that I was thinking "boxy" and was meant to be more or less tapered? Good question. Moving on.)

I'm taking it on faith that the poll is showing up. It doesn't in "Rich Text" on Typepad but it is on the preview.

Christmas! The Season of Creatures of the Night

At least that's how Christmas generally feels to me. They take a perfectly lovely time where it's dark early and cold, a time when sitting in front of the fireplace and knitting and reading would be the sensible thing to do and insist on throwing all these parties and ceremonies and then the gifts that you must bestow on your loved ones - all your loved ones - and they'd better reflect both your love and the recipient's taste. Gah. (Note: this does not actually mean that I do all this, I just feel the pressure to do all this. It's possible I haven't sent out Christmas cards since........I'm not sure I've ever managed to send out Christmas cards. I know I did once in March. In the 80's).

The best part of Christmas? All the baked goods.

Wow. If Typepad "improves" any more, I'm not going to be able to blog at all.

Witness the SNOW on Mt Diablo! Half the mountain is behind the clouds, that's a really low snow level for us. 

And speaking of creatures of the night: (I'd been thinking of the unstirring mouse, myself), from Stumbling Over Chaos:

Which creature of the night are you? Your Result: Cthulu Spawn You are really an alien thing, aren't you? I can't describe you because you are beyond. We say "left field" and you say "Krn Grth Thchrang." You are the wild card of the bunch, the unknown quantity
Demon
Werewolf
Sorceror
Vampire
Incubus/Succubus
Ghost
Which creature of the night are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Knitting update! Sleeve Island. I think I'm marooned on sleeve island. Hey. Progess. Who knew? Christmas knitting has turned into birthday knitting, or abandoned altogether (see, that's what happens when your birthday ISN'T around the holidays. You don't get it at all.)

I've finally found something to read, Vicious Circle by Mike Carey, chronicling the adventures of exorcist Fix Castor. But since it's a hardback, my walkaround book is Anne Neville: Queen to Richard III by Michael Hicks, a biography of Richard III's queen. I went through about 15 books without one catching my interest for awhile there. Book update to come, probably in the year end wrap up. Also: IT IS TOO EARLY TO DO A BEST OF 2008! It's not over yet!

I feel the pressure to fill in all this blank space. OTOH, it's cold, it's - sort of early, my bed still isn't made, I think I'm going to crawl back into it and knock out a few rows. Wonder who's on BookTV this weekend?

From Mindfull:

You Are an Argyle Sweater

You are contemplative, brainy, and serious. You don't take much lightly - life is too important for that. You are a very determined person. You don't let anything stand in your way. You think out your actions and act deliberately. You don't waste time, money, or resources .

What Kind of Sweater Are You?

Clearly I cheated on this one. Wasting time, money and resources is one of my favorite occupations.


Hez sez "I am Queen of all I survey! Look on my works ye mighty and despair!" Maybe it was Ozymandias who said that. Hard to say.

Photographic Evidence

Evidence of Lace Edged Elegance aka Golden Gate aka That Da**** Orange Thing (and I don't really like the back but that could be because it's freezing today.) (43F/6C)

Evidence of the Cable Cardigan aka V Pointed Charmer (all I have left to do is the picot crochet edging, already started) (Crochet is kind of fun. Who knew?)

Evidence of the continued (but stalling) progress on the Curve of Pursuit - Hez is actually under it under the covers but I'm not sure you can tell.

Evidence of my Nana Sadie Rose custom made Grace:   Further evidence that I think a purse must be able to do is hold my wallet, a book, lipgloss and a cellphone. This holds all that and more and is a really sweet, light backpack yet elegant purse to carry.

Evidence that good intentions don't necessarily make for a good system: You tell me. How do you get anything out of that shed?

Oh! I thought I'd posted this awhile back, it's the Hub Cab restaurant on Bonanza after a car went through the front door.

Hez sez: "It's cold out there! I advise you to sit home, stay in front of your television set and make good use of any available lap [Knit if you can. Attention hog. Er, cat] Sadly, other than Cold Case and Leverage [Not half bad. Two Words. Christian Kane] there isn't much on Sunday nights. Okay, cheesy multiple episodes of The Librarian, [which, if I'd listed to my mother, I'd be today. A regular librarian. Probably not THE Librarian.] NCIS on Tuesday, I think Leverage will be 10pm Tuesday nights on TNT  Bones is going to be on at 9pm this Wednesday. Why is Gray's Anatomy the only show on Thursday night?  If it wasn't for Kevin McKidd, I could have a TV free night. Mom will watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Heroes tonight, but unless I find out who and what Sylar really is, Im boycotting it in favor of a nap."

[Yeah, really awful picture, even by my standards, but she refused to cooperate or for that matter, get out of my lap most of the weekend.]

I Finished A Sweater! Naturally There Will Be No Photographic Evidence

  Birdsong from A View from Sierra County tagged me with the Sixth Picture meme...

The directions are:

*Go to your sixth picture folder and pick your sixth picture.
*Pray you remember the details.
*Tag five others.

The directions didn't include pesetering your tagger to explain the concept of picture folders but after that was clear to me, I realized that I did - sort of - have picture folders. Just not enough pictures in folders six or seven (I had three pictures in folder six, thought I'd skip the canned picture folder and try seven - I had one in that one. Whoops.) So I picked the sixth picture from My Pictures.

And that picture is the result of the artistic vision of Chris Cobb going hog wild with 20,000 volumes of used books at Adobe Bookstore in San Francisco back in 2004. (All independent and other booksellers are now cringing in horror and recognition. "Do you know the name of a book I read [eons ago] at [miles away]? The cover was green. [said more hopefully than helpfully])") (NPR piece)

Selfishly I will tag the people whose pictures I love, MrsPao of Mumblings, Felicia of Fluffy Flowers, NeedleDancer of Knitting in the Shadows, Marina at Stranded on Fair Isle, and Bookfool.

Found at Anne's:

Your result for The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test...

The Harlequin

You scored 37% Cardinal, 46% Monk, 38% Lady, and 38% Knight!

You are a mystery, a jack-of-all-trades. You have the king's ear, but also listen to murmurings of the common folk. You believe in the value of force and also literature. Truly you are the puzzlement of the age.

Take The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test at HelloQuizzy (picture fromPeople Play UK - Harlequin in England).

I'd post the pictures of my progress on the Curve of Pursuit - I'm starting to use a skein in each quarter, the miniscule yet steady progress on Mary Tudor, the basic box shawl that I've gotten an awful lot done at stoplights  -  the UNBELIVEABLY completed Lace Edged Elegance, but as it turns out, somewhere in the move, I've lost my camera cord. Grrr.

  Like many others, I was shocked and saddened to hear about Dewey. I piocture her happily at the base of a mountain of To Be Read books but I still can't wrap my head around the awful news.

Nerissa (the niece) says "Everyhing can be helped with the help of one's sloths." I think she takes after my side of the family.