DIVE BACK IN

Back to work, although we DID pull a lot of overtime hours last week - going into the office in slippers and sweats and calling out for lunch delivery.  There is a mountain of applications waiting to be processed.  My trusty knitting bag will be called into action because one NEEDS to stop and shift one's attention during the day.

I finished a hat and it's drying over a can of coffee.  It was fun, but not what I had envisioned at all.

The Mission Falls 1824 was perfect for this knit and I have enough left over for mitts.  I cast on almost as soon as this one hit the soak, still trying to recreate the Holly Hunter hat.

I'm getting closer.  I've decided that 2011 will see a lot of red fiber.  I have to finish my Anne Hanson 'Hilflowers' and I want to knit a Christmas sweater - one that I can actually wear next year!  Fair isle in red and grey ... nordic theme ... oversized and warm.

These mitts finally dried!  It took the better part of three days for them to be mail- worthy.  I hate to see them go, but they need to be worn - our weather has changed overnight from unseasonably warm to brrrrrrr!  I could hear the snow crunching under the dog's paws this morning as they made their rounds in the dark.  Bring it on!  I love the snow, but save me from the ice.


Here's a peek at what I worked on this weekend -

Flannel receiving blankets and terry-backed bibs -

The sewing mojo is returning!

7 DAYS and COUNTING ...

I go back to hell work in seven days.  It's an unbearable thought - it's always like this after having 10 weeks to myself to do whatever I wish to garden and quilt and knit and sew and cook and run people around.  I think that I will get all Scarlett O'Hara about it and drop into denial.  I'll think about it another day.
When we were last at the nursing home, we noticed that someone had given my father a shockingly short haircut.  Basically, his head was shaved.  I'm looking into this, and in the meantime, I thought that a warm hat might be in order to replace the ball caps that are placed on his noggin.  I dug down deep and came up with an old skein of Rowan's Cocoon.  And some Noro.

The Cocoon is extraordinary - everything about it is DENSE, yet soft.  I went back to the label to discover that it has mohair in the mix (mohair makes my skin crawl).  I realized that this hat is going to be too warm to wear indoors.  Even if it is pretty!

I'll finish it up and put it in the hat basket.  I like to keep a basket full of hats-for-the-taking.  More on that later.  For now, I'm thinking that Jared Flood's Turn A Square hat might be a better choice.  I'll use a light worsted.  I am reminded that my father used to wear a flannel hat to bed.  We children thought that this was very funny because it resembled a Santa Claus hat!  What I know now is that he lost a lot of heat through that partially bald head of his.  My mother insisted upon having the windows opened, even in the dead of winter, and their room was like a meat locker!  My mother has always believed in the healing properties of fresh air.  We don't even need to get into that, except to say that she used to dress us in our snowsuits on wintery days and shove us onto the front porch.  There could be swirling white-out conditions, but by God, we went out and took the air!         


 Dad also needs a new winter quilt.  Flannel is always so soft and comforting, so I'll need to go through the stash to see what I have - what I'll need.  I've been admiring Red Pepper Quilts for a long time, and she recently completed a quilt that she calls the Poseidon.  It's simplicity really reaches in and grabs my heart.  I love the Kona 'Snow' bordering effect too - go and have a look at her work.  I'm just wondering how I can incorporate the flannel with the cottons.  All suggestions welcomed.


Did I mention that I have to go back to work in seven days?  Last night, when I went out to admire the garden, the tip of my sandal caught on the fence and DOWN I went, into the tomatoes.  HARD.  I am sorry to admit this, but the first thought that came to me (after the initial swearing) was SHOOT!  Nothing seems to be broken!  I'll have to go back to work, after all.

And leave all of this loveliness.