Etherknitter

Holiday wishes

Many architects and sculptors have worked on the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona since Gaudi died in 1926.  None have been more controversial than the man who designed the Passion Facade of the cathedral.

  (Can you see in your mind's eye, a Friday afternoon circa 1100 AD, at Notre Dame Cathedral? 

"These young guys and their new ideas, ruining a perfectly good cathedral!  This is heresy!  Why can't we do it the way we've always done it?")

This is just like that.

Josep Maria Subirachs sculpted Picasso-stylized effigies.  They are stark, unromanticized contrasts to the Gaudi facade.  The Thanksgiving turkey was Gaudi.  Christmas is Subirachs.

Christ, with crown of thorns, carrying cross

Days to a holiday

Twelve Drummers Drumming, Eleven Pipers Piping,

Ten Lords A-Leaping

The holidays are progressing exactly as they should.  Saturday evening marked the season with a holiday party hosted by the orthopedic department.  They all think they are the lords of the operating rooms, and strode about in resplendent dress.  They really know how to throw a party.  The open bar served a drink made of champagne, a splash of Triple Sec, and a splash of cranberry juice, called a poinsettia.  It was GOOD. 

Eight Maids A-Milking, Seven Swans A-Swimming,  Six Geese A-Laying,

Five G O L D E N Rings!

The rings, they are not gold.  They are my maiden voyage into Latvian braids on the Chevron Love Mitten.  Tangled blue and grey, the ring around the wrist is an accomplishment in patience.  Purl, new yarn over old, purl, new yarn over old.  Sixty stitches, unravel sixty twists in the yarn leading to the balls. 

Four Calling Birds,  Three French Hens,

Two Turtle Doves

Two snowbirds, one with camera, one caught on camera, pretending to cross-country ski in a suburban backyard.  We cruised up and down the cul-de-sac when the snow had just covered the tracks of the plows.  Two neighbors waved hello, one from his shovel and one from his doorway.  I am sure we have a Reputation in the neighborhood. 

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Not all snowbirds were happy with the weather.  The juncos come out and feast no matter what, but the teeth of the storm makes them fluff and puff.  Big fat airballs land near the feeder and wait their turns.  The cardinal is more reticent, not showing his face until the winds slowed.

Do or do not

I've been using the artifice of year's end to think about my knitting.  I rarely plan my spinning.  Why one invites scrutiny, and one escapes examination remains unclear.  I can't say that either suffers from the respective habits.  Would my knitting be more fun if I didn't think about it quite so much?  Or would my spinning be improved by more focus?  Knitting projects take more time.  They represent more commitment than spinning a few ounces of fiber. 

One blogger (lost in the mists of my bloglines queue) noted that her new year will start out with finishing.  Surely, I have numerous WIPs that survived the Great Frogging of 2009.  I WILL finish them.  But focusing on getting unstuck in January doesn't get the juices flowing.  Not one bit.

Why?  Routine (old WIPs) and novelty (new WIPs) are competing for primacy.  I fall somewhat right of center on the discipline scale, so perhaps as much finishing as starting will occur.  Yet I cannot deny the allure of all that stuff I want to start knitting.

I'm thinking of a sweater for me, the Feather Duster shawl, Chevron Love mittens, plus other things that have migrated mysteriously into my Ravelry queue.  I've been seduced recently by an alternative twist to the knitting universe:  gazing upon the lush yarns that I have in stash, and wanting to find a pattern that will put them in my hands.  I'm indecisive, lacking focus.  It's a pleasant inner chatter when I'm falling asleep at night, but I'm asleep before any decisions step forward.  A Yoda solution pops up:  "Do or do not.  There is no try."

A knitterly diversion is finished:

Susie's Reading Mitts  (I know you knew that), size small
3.75mm dpns, Clover
Berocco Ultra Alpaca, Blue Violet #6240  

Mods:  Like Pat, I kept the thumb at 13 stitches instead of eleven.  Then I picked up four stitches instead of one to finish the thumb.  I decreased two in the first two rows.  Bind-off was the looser shawl-style bind-off for the thumb:  K2tog, transfer the stitch back to the left needle, K2tog, until done.  I used a standard bind-off for the end of the hand portion, as it was folded back and stitched for the picot edge.

I'm knitting Smariek's 3AM cable hat for a friend.  The project sears my eyeballs.  Mr. E is jealous.  It is his ideal colorway, and I'm knitting it for someone else. 

Transformation

Before I retired to bed last night, the snow began.  I rowed 5100 meters in the basement, with the outside lights turned on to highlight the storm.  I watched flakes drift slowly, aimlessly, then thicker, deeper, faster.  I woke to a landscape that had been transformed.  Three inches?  Four?  Not many.  But the temperature was just below freezing, and the snow was sticky.

The exercise thing is going swimmingly well.  I impatiently stared at the scale every day, scrutinized my outlines, looked for change.  None.  Finally, on Day 10, I could see visible difference.  It took SO long for anything to happen.  But only 10 days to start seeing transformation?  Amazing (but only in retrospect).  It becomes something for which I worked hard, and something which I do not want to lose.  We'll see.

I'm taking a small knitting break.  I'm working on Susie's Reading Mitts in Ultra Alpaca.  They are the potato chips of knitting.  Fast, easy, yummy, instant gratification.  I'm onto the thumb gusset of the second mitt after a few nights of Star Trek: TNG on DVD. 

The Ultra Alpaca was originally purchased when it first was released.  I satisfied my 'must touch' yarny passions with one skein for swatching.  It has seen many stitch patterns, then became perfect for this project.  So its replacements were summoned from Webs to swatch for the Bed and Breakfast Pullover by Kathy Zimmerman.