Still alive

Yes, I'm still vertical. I've intended to write a blog post many times in the past three weeks, but somehow I just didn't get to it. That's pretty much what my Christmas preparations were like this year, too: I just didn't get to them. I never did bring the nutcrackers down from the attic and put them on the mantel; I didn't get out any of my Santas; I decorated the tree with about half the usual ornaments.

(I blame all of this on Trump. I've decided it's going to be fun to blame everything imaginable on Trump for the next four years.)

Today I removed the ornaments from the tree. I don't think Ken has noticed that yet. We always disagree as to when the tree should be taken down. I'd like it down at 12:01 a.m. on December 26, ideally, but Ken wants the tree to stay up until after New Year's Day. I decided to remove the decorations today, without consulting Ken, and I'll be interested to see when he notices that they're gone. If he still wants to leave it up until after January 1, that's fine with me. My work, at least, is done.

We spent Christmas Eve with Jim and Lynn. Their son Karl was there with his wife Dani and little girl Liv. It's been our tradition for years to be at Jim and Lynn's on Christmas Eve, and we always enjoy our time there. Liv provided added entertainment this year, of course. She's a sweetie. She enjoyed sitting at the piano with her Grammy Lynn and belting out a fine rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus." I predict all three of Lynn's grandchildren will play the piano one day, because that's the first thing they ask to do with Lynn when they arrive at her house.

We had a White Christmas, and we knew quite certainly that we would several days in advance. Now our snow is looking old and tired after a rain storm a couple of days ago, but not to worry:  a Nor'easter is headed our way even as I type. It should arrive tomorrow morning and give us 8"-10" of new snow.

This was our tree, pre-nakedness.

I put some of my cold porcelain and salt dough ornaments and tags on our coffee table, thinking they made a nice little attraction there.


Then I noticed one or two had mysteriously disappeared.

Then I realized the culprit was, of course, Sage.

The basket of ornaments is now up high where she can't get them and no one can see them.

My favorite gift that I gave this year was a Chatbook for Violet. I filled it with photos of her various visits with us since she was two years old.

Most of the photos are from her sleepovers with us, and our many adventures together during those visits.

I'm not sure the photobook means all that much to her now, but I suspect it will someday.

And speaking of Violet, I'll pick her up tomorrow morning so she can do a two-night sleepover with us. I've bought a new flying saucer, so I'm sure much of the visit will be spent sledding on our back hill.

Done! (I hope)

The  Neck-down V-neck Shaped cardigan by Knitting Pure and Simple, which a friend asked me to knit for her adult daughter, is done. Done, I tell you.

It took me two weeks of intense knitting, usually at least three hours per day, to get 'er done. (I even knit while Ken drove us to our nephew's house for Thanksgiving dinner.)

Then, once it was done, I agonized over the sleeve lengths, so I raveled the sleeves back from the cuffs about two inches and re-knit them, adding an extra inch of length to each.

Of course, now I'm worried that the sleeves are too long. If they are, I can ravel them yet again and decrease some of that extra length. Then I'll worry that they are once again too short.

One thing I absolutely cannot do is re-knit the body of the sweater. No, spre That was a LOT of knitting, and I don't want to  repeat any of it.

In the top two photos you see the miracle that is called "blocking." In the first photo, that's the cardigan as it came off my needles.

I soaked it for an hour in cool water with Eucalan added.

I spread it out on my blocking boards, which are actually children's play mat squares, and let it dry for two days.


(That's when I decided the sleeves were too short, so here I am re-knitting the cuff end of each sleeve.)

After that, I placed the sweater on my ironing board, placed an ironing cloth over it, and gently steamed the entire thing. The yarn is an acrylic/wool blend, so I wasn't going to chance accidentally placing my iron directly onto the sweater and watching my gazillion stitches melt before my eyes.

I added my personalized knitting label, to make my work look a tad more professional.

Then I folded it carefully, with tissue paper within the folds.

I placed it inside a box, added a jute bow and one of my cold porcelain stars for pizzazz, and declared myself now able to attend to some of the much-neglected Christmas preparations in this house.

I hope Anne likes the sweater and is pleased with my work. Better yet, I hope Sarah, the sweater's recipient, declares it a perfect fit.