Missed a Landmark

Missed my 1001st post last week. Oh well, no one else noticed either, right?

See the grass? Look carefully, there are two dandelions. One is in bloom and one has gone to seed. In mid-January, that's winter in the South (US).

dandelions

Simple with Ruffles shawl

I finished my shawl this past weekend. The only thing left to do is a bit of blocking. The points don't actually match, due to cast on/cast off discrepancy. It's on my part, not the designer.

It was too overcast to get a good picture, but here's the one I managed. I still have about half a skein left. I've started making a small plush cat, but C suggested I make wristbands/bracers to match the shawl. Good idea, I think.

These birds filled the tree outside my office the other day. I'm not sure what they are but they don't look like the usual winter visitors.

This is another page from my coloring page of the day. I've done 2 pages now.

Warning! Politics ahead!
I am the anti-thesis of a Trump supporter. I don't believe he's competent to lead the US and has multiple conflicts of interest. His election has made white supremacists confident enough to come out of the woodwork, along with Nazis (who are calling themselves alt-right now). Most of his cabinet nominees are obscenely wealthy and have direct conflict of interests with the department they are supposed to be leading (Pudzer as Sec'y of Labor? Convicted of wage theft, discrimination, etc; DeVos for Sec'y of Education? Involved with for-profit education businesses; Sec'y of Interior? Sued EPA for doing their job; Mulchnim for Sec'y of Finance? Sold mortgage company right before it was investigated for mortgage fraud). The closest I've seen is that Ben Carson (Housing) doesn't have any experience, but has never convicted of anything housing related (ie not a slum lord, mortgage scam artist, etc). Dept of Defense secretary is former military, which is sometimes iffy, but not outright OMG WTF.

I stand with the Women of Color, People of Color, Immigrants, LGBTQ, and other people negatively affected by the current regime.

Martin Luther King, Jr, and other matters

There's been a rise in racism, anti-semitism, and other hate speech activity. Read this article.

And if you're active online, be aware of this website; it has way too much information. You can opt out, but that may merely mean your information is not publicly accessible, it may still be there.

But to cheer up, here are a couple videos; one is a music video and one is of animals playing in the snow.

I went to visit mom on Saturday. The remote did nothing. A new dvd player did nothing. It is definitely the tv. But we had a nice lunch.

I've started knitting a shawl. It's Sweet on Ruffles by Renee Van Hoy.

I passed the halfway point on my shawl.

Unfortunately, I've reached the point where it's not easy to take it with me. I only work on it at home now.

I was behind on my 90 hearts by NC Regional Lace Day but I caught up today. I'm still on track to get all 90 done.

I'm Blaming the Weather

This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning.

 And this is what I saw later; there's a layer of ice, a layer of snow, and then a glaze of ice on top. Do I need to mention that I didn't drive to go see mom on Saturday? Or on Sunday?

 Thanks to unusually cold temperatures, there wasn't much melting, except in direct sun, until yesterday. I knew it was Tuesday, but I still forgot to make my blog post.  There was no reporting to work for me on Monday or Tuesday. I go back today.

Yesterday we finally got above freezing temperatures so I cleaned off my car. Since I need to make a trip to the fabric/notions store, I'm driving to the park and ride today.

I woke up at 3 am, managed to doze until about 4 am and finally got up at 5 am. I was starving and thirsty and just couldn't get back to sleep.















This is the gaiter I made for Cs nephew, to match his scarf. I need to go buy buttons and sew them on.

I gave this book to my Dad almost 20 years ago. He started working on it while working nights. When that job ended, he lost track of the book. He found it recently and loaned it to me at Christmas. I scanned the pages he's filled so far and then returned it so he can continue to fill it.

 I started using my coloring page of the day calendar. I'm already behind. This is the only page I've completed.

This is the hand crocheted scarf SNS made for me. Each color is a different yarn; fiber, etc. It's gorgeous! Her daughter also introduced me to a new term 'stupid scarf'. It's a name for an infinity or circle scarf, because no matter how stupid you're being, you can't/won't drop the scarf. C said he wants one, which makes me happy. I've been wanting to make one for him, but he's been reluctant because he doesn't spend as much outdoors as he used to.

I've been reading Rejected Princesses, another of my presents. I'm still reading Drunken Botanist from last year. It was on my TBR pile and I picked up a couple months ago. I've been reading one plant per night most nights.

My date with  C went...unexpectedly. She gave me some lovely gifts from Williamsburg, Va (powdered ink, handbound journal, quill pen, and a couple coasters). However, while I was waiting for her, she called. Her car had died. I went and picked her up, we ate supper, and then her boyfriend came and got her so she could get her car towed.

I've been shopping for a lacy pattern to use the buffboo yarn CD gave me. I got the two skeins wound into center pull balls but it's been difficult to find a suitable pattern. There's three main limitations; yardage, my skill, and my knitting is on a loom. One lovely pattern called for a cast on more stitches than any of my looms have. I finally bought a book of loom knitting shawl patterns. I'm starting with Sweet on Ruffles, as it looks simplest and will get me used to working a shawl pattern. I'm using a bulky yarn and I made a decent start last night.

Since I didn't see mom last weekend, I'll go this weekend. I have her new remote control, which will helpfully fix her no DVD player problem. We'll see. If not, then I'm buying a new player for her. TV runs out quick. I also need to pick up some books for her.

And as a treat, this is JJ's corrigated boxer. She's still a puppy and she's a corgi/boxer mix. She fell asleep on my leg during the party.

Jane's TIAS starts today. I need to load my shuttles and start.

Post-Christmas, I mean it this time

Ever since my 1st year of college, my high school friends and I got together after we did the family thing for Christmas. BE lives out of state now, so he doesn't come any more. We don't meet 'between semesters' because none of us are in school. Instead we go to JJ's house (it used to move around until JJ and his wife bought a house) overnight or for the weekend of New Years and celebrate together. We exchange gifts, play games, and talk. Our group has grown. I'm with someone, JJ and KL both got married, JJ has a daughter (my namesake), plus they've invited additional friends.

Traditionally, I give KL a calendar. I've doing so for so long now, he doesn't bother to buy one because he knows I'll provide one. It's getting harder to find them, though. The calendar shops and the calendar sections in the bookstores are shrinking.

After I finished the assorted knitting (I finished CD's nephew's neck gaiter on the trip to JJ's house - I just need to get buttons), I started making some of Diane's ice drops. My vintage thread broke on the 1st one I made.  It's just missing 1 chain.

 

I gave three of these to friends at JJ's party. I know two of them are 'tatting worthy' as last year, upon their request, I made and gave them a flying minor Norwegian dragon (in turquoise). 

Mom's tv is not recognizing that there's a VCR/DVD player hooked up to it. So she's limited to whatever is on cable; and that can be surprisingly sparse. I'll be trying a new remote control and see if that's what it takes to fix the problem. If it doesn't, I'll be looking for a new player. Unless the tentative forecast for snow this weekend is correct, I'll be going to see her this weekend. 

Tonight's my date night with C. I forgot, so I didn't put her present in the car. Of course, I need to find it again.