In The Middle

Of the Holidays, as it were.

The Out-Of-Towners have headed back to their homesteads, and our front is quiet. And somber. And all wind out of sails.

And soon undecorated. Which is how is how it is feeling already.

It was fun and exciting and busy and going full steam there for a while, though!

Many, many blessings these holidays, notwithstanding the efforts of the sneaky ol’ Grinch.

Eldest and Friend squeaked out of Philly only 90 minutes late the day of the Fateful East Coast Blizzard. (Huzzah!)

Packages to faraway places arrived mostly intact.

There were gifts, loved ones, and food to share.

There was white for Christmas, too.

And it’s been back to work this week, in itself a fortune, of a sort.

And look what DSis gifted to me, on top of it all! ( Her story of them is here.)

Too good to use...too good not to use!  I expect her to wear the socks I knit for her.  And I think she expects me to dry dishes with these, rather than frame them. Which they are just about nice enough for.

Z is for...

...Zero, or close to it, at least.

While we have had visitors, we went up the mountain to Rocky.  Brr.  It was a chilly day, but we wore our long johns, flannel lined jeans, ski pants, hand knits, and whatever else was required.  We stayed warm, took lots of photos, saw some wildlife, and had a good time.

Z is also for the holidays Zipping by while the visitors have been here.  We have enjoyed them being around and when they leave over the next couple of days, it will be a quieter, more somber place.

Z is also for (drum roll, please) zee end!  I have finished up the ABC-along mostly on-time.  Ta-Dah!  And to finish in fine form, I leave you with a gratuitous photo of my grandbebe girls, Two (left) and Bean (right), born 10 days apart in August, and being all matchey matchey!

Lost and Found Karma

A few weeks ago, right before our last long weekend, I was wearing a hand knit scarf at work. All day. It was cold and the scarf was warm! It rose up around my neck though, and halfway through the morning, I noticed one of my earrings, by bumping against the scarf, was working its way out. I replaced it and went about my business.
On my way home from work, I realized I was missing an earring. End of day, my peeps and I were cleaning up the lab in preparation for a scheduled inspection, and I bet it worked its way out during that time.
Darn it! I haven’t lost an earring in a long long time, and these were some nice ones Wonderful Guy and I found in Sante Fe, hand made and sold by the native Americans.
I say again. Darn it.
I was hoping that one of my worker fellows would have found it and it would be at my desk upon my arrival back at work, but alas. Nothing. So sad.
Exactly a week after the fact, while in the lab, waiting for a time point to come up, I was wondering around checking for expiration dates, and old samples, and there! In the middle of the floor! It was!

Whee! It feels so good when something lost comes back to me.
When I arrived at work the next morning, one of the bitterly cold mornings of late, there on top of the snow in the parking lot lay someone’s thumb drive, all cold and frosty, but not run over. I scooped it up and brought it in. I sent out an email, and someone was oh so glad to claim it and the documentation that resided within. She assured me all was intact, frostiness not withstanding.
Whee! It feels so good when I can help something come back to someone else.

Happy Holidays

From my town...

 and my house...

to yours....

The very best, however you celebrate the season!

Plumb Amazed

Now I know what a marvel these here innernets are.

I know how my life has been made easier (on-line shopping/bill pay/banking and mapping an address).

I fully understand how much easier and how much fun I have keeping in touch with those I cherish and love. (Hello email, FB, camera phones, and Picasa webalbums! I love you all!)

I truly appreciate how my world has been expanded in reading blogs, blogging myself, and those friendships I have made through all of that. (I just love you guys!)

And to be able to ‘check the resources’ of the entire world, or at least those in the language that I read, with just a few clicks of my mouse. Well, I think that is just powerful, I must say!

Yet! I have recently still been flabbergasted by it all.

As I was casting on some socks from Charlene Schurch’s book, Sensational Socks, I picked out a 4 stitch repeat pattern that I thought suitable and reasonable and fairly, but not too, simple. But when I knit past the cuff and was ready to start the pattern, I realized what I read was not what Ms. Schurch meant. And what she meant, I could not figure out. I switched to another pattern easily enough so I could continue knitting (her book allows such derelict behavior!). But! I needed to know! What she meant!

And this is what I did to find out.  What she meant. I first checked to make sure there weren’t problems in the printing of the book, and found on the publisher’s site, that while there wasn’t a better explanation of what was stumping me, there were some errata on the pages I was going to be paying attention to. Printed off 2 fixed pages just like that! Good thing I checked.

Then I went to Ravelry.

And I searched Patterns for these particular socks. Which I found.
Then I searched for posts regarding this pattern.
And I found some posts with my same question.
And someone who had answered by posting a video of how to do it!!!

A video, people!

Come to find out, there is a whole group on Ravelry for Ms. Schurch’s books on socks! Of which I am now a member.

In less than 12 hours, dilemma resolved.

That doesn’t even talk about this video demonstrating Navajo plying. That’s on my list of goal for 2010. And this video shows how to do so clearly.

See what I mean!

I am still plumb amazed by it all.