Twinkle, Twinkle

Today is the winter solstice, and, on this shortest day of the year, I offer bright blessings to you and your families. May you all be surrounded by light and joy, now and in the coming year.

Here at Casa Knitdevil, holiday preparation superceded everything else this past week. We got a late start this year, but things are in hand - the tree up and decorated; the outside lights up; the cards written and sent; the gifts bought, wrapped and sent/placed under the tree. Cookie baking commenced yesterday, and will continue through the weekend. I was just beginning to relax a bit, when we got a phone call from a childhood friend of Tom's. He's going through a rough spot, and will be joining us for Christmas. Tom is excited he's coming, and I see it as a chance to get lots of knitting done while they're out and about. (I'm also supposed to be getting a Webs gift certificate to help diffuse the stress of having a guest whom I don't really know in the house over the holiday. Yes, I'm bribable.)

On the knitting front there's very little to report, due to the aforementioned holiday blitzkrieg. One lone FO.


Pattern: Felted Striped Tote from One Skein
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Avocado, Carrot, Chestnut, Evergreen and Fern
Needles: Options US 10 1/2
Mods: Made the handles more substantial by doubling the number of rows
Rating: Yep, I'd make it again


I'm calling this bag my leftovers bag, since 1) the yarn is from this, and 2) the yarn colors are named after food. Well, except for evergreen. But, I've heard you can eat fiddlehead fern buds in the springtime, so the fern qualifies. And lots of veggies are dark (ever)green, like chard and spinach. Anyway, enough with the digression. I like how the stripes look, but what's with that wonky right corner? In retrospect, the bottom seam looks off kilter, but whatever. I'll load this puppy up with all my purse stuff, and you won't be able to tell a thing. And this is a great pattern for using up those feltable odds and ends in your stash.

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Finally, Mehitabel has tagged me to reveal six weird things about myself:

1. I've never seen a reality tv show. (when my knitting group talks about Project Runway, I daydream about him)
2. I can't say the alphabet backwards.
3. When doing laundry, I have to fold our t-shirts a specific way. Tom folds them the opposite way, and it drives me so crazy I always have to refold the ones he folds. This folding mania applies only to t-shirts; with the rest of the laundry I'm totally laissez faire, and however it gets in the drawers is fine.
4. I love the smell of wet wool.
5. I have a calaveras folk art collection and tattoo.
6. My sense of humor is unusual and, well, dark. For example, I'm one of probably two people out there (the other being Tom - thank goodness we found each other) who really likes the movie Death to Smoochy.

Happy holidays!