Zeneedle...needleart as life

Watching

If I had enough presence, time, or interest (or you had enough interest) I post a daily picture and the growth would be very evident. It's been delightful to watch the amaryllis plants as they venture towards the light. The red amaryllis has decided to put up a second stalk, which is not as big, and has a very small bud, but it still growing in height and girth. This picture was taken Monday or Tuesday, but you should see them now!  I promise new pictures before the weekend is over. 

Happy New Year one and all!!

Quietude

To take advantage of Monday's blue sky, we took Moxie for a walk around Wheeler Farm, a community park near our home.  The pathways wind through a small bird sanctuary, which is where the robins live in winter. I must have seen 2 dozen fat robins and heard their sharp chirps as we walk past.

Despite the blue sky over head and the sunshine on the path, the air was cold and the shaded areas offered little warmth.  Ice forms on the small stream of water, as the creeks flow is slowed in winter.

Because the day was so chilly, few people ventured out and the grounds were quiet. We enjoyed the solitude and the muted sounds of a winter forest.

In a very strange happenstance, we came across two boys who were willing to pose while holding large boulders over their heads. It was all the more disconcerting as I'm in the middle of reading "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children".  If you've read the book you know what I mean.

Near the end of our walk, the quiet landscape was suddenly filled with a raucous cry of geese! Oh the noise! 

A multitude of geese live on an ice pond near the main building and we could hear their honks, and see them parade across the ice to greet someone (with bread!).  Moxie's yip is also featured in the clip, as well as my voice, as I alert Smith to why all the fuss. 

Holiday Knitting

The long Holiday weekend was (mostly) spend in quiet pursuits, that is excluding the very loud previews of movies that came before a not quite as loud Sherlock Holmes.  The movie was a hit with our group of friends. 

With four days off it was nice to spend time reading, knitting, walking, and chatting with Smith.  While I should be wishing for snow (and at times I do), I've enjoyed the the sun streaming through the window, as it makes my room warm and cozy, the perfect place to sit and knit.

Since I seem to be averse to large knitting projects, I decided to have some fun and knit an interesting cowl. Brooklyn Tweed's Setzer fit the bill with its short row shaping. Actually, it wasn't until after I'd perused the pattern that I learned the shaping was done with short rows.  However, short rows don't scare me...they are not new to my knitting repertoire. I do admit to having trouble with execution, but as Susan pointed out, when I went to her for help, I just needed to count my stitches. Yes, this was a very "DUH" moment, but from then on the cowl went smoothly...that is until I ran out of yarn.

When I started the project I knew I'd be close on yardage, but (isn't there always a "but" with me?) I did it anyway, thinking I'd get away with it (hahaha), or I'd only be a couple of rows short, and it would be fine. But (oh yeah), it wasn't fine!  The cowl would be way to short, AND it would be obvious, as there was a whole pattern repeat to do!

Thank goddess for the stash and for the bit of Shepherd's Wool leftover from another project--a beautiful red which was just the perfect touch.  Sometimes, denial works in our favor.

But, don't count on it.

The Happiest

The inversion started to break up early Wednesday morning. Seeing clouds, instead of the hazy gray of the last few weeks, was a novelty, a mood lifter.

By Thursday afternoon the sky had cleared completely and the day ended with a golden hue.  The inversion may build back again, but at least we had a break from the gloom and, while we may not have a white Christmas, it will be Merry.

May your Holidays be full of joy and light.

Local Time

There maybe a knitter on your Christmas list, or maybe you feel that you need a treat for surviving this Holiday season (and you do!). I have a suggestion or two, just for you. Suzy and I did a little local shopping on Saturday.  We had a great lunch at a local favorite eatery, stopped by a lovely local book store and then went onto the a couple of LYSs. 

Blazing Needles had a copy of the much coveted Interweave "Accessories", which is full of many unique and fun patterns for hats, mitts, gloves, scarves and cowls. It's a very impressive grouping of patterns, included Utah Grrl Susan's, Two-Ribs Infinity Scarf.  My choice of yarn for this cozy project is Shepherd's Wool (Pewter).  Knitting the small stuff, instead of sweat(er)ing it, feels right to me.  I'm not ready for a big commitment.

Because Nancy Bush was signing her new book at Black Sheep Wool Co., we headed there next. The original edition of Folk Socks was responsible for kicking off my love of sock knitting and, in fact, it may have started the whole sock knitting craze. The new edition will do its part to keep sock knitting alive (and interesting!). I'm looking forward to revisiting some of my favorite patterns, as well as delving into the updated story of socks.                  

While we were in the the book store Suzy spied the small book pictured with Folk Socks and insisted I buy it. It's a beautifully illustrated copy of "A Child's Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas. The story is rich with imagery of winter and Christmas, from a child's perspective, and pure joy to read. I found this video of Mr. Thomas' reading and,while it's not much to see, it's wonderful to hear!

Growth

The buds peek out through the bulbs, but the picture is several days old and the stalks are now 5" tall!  The plants are growing quickly and the plan to fill my life with color, beauty, and light is going forward beautifully!

In all the rush of the season, don't forget to do something, just one little thing, for yourself. 

Blue is Best

Sunday, just after we left the grocery store, and in the midst of our errand running, we decided the only way to survive the dreariness was to abandon our to-do list and get out of the gray.  The canyon is nearby and, in short time we are winding our way through the gray, watching as the mist lifted.

A shout of delight filled the car as we rounded a curve to see the sun across the road.  We were out of the inversion in just a couple of miles, the blue skies above us once again.

Few storms have broken through since Thanksgiving and the mountain resorts are desperately in need of snow. While the temperature inside the inversion hovers near freezing, above it is closer to 40.

The pure white of snow, the deep cobalt of sky, the golden rays of sun...nothing more is needed to lift the heart and clear the mind. My, how good the sun rays feel on the skin.

The blue and warmth of the day will be enough to carry me through until the sun returns to the valley.  The weatherpeoples have predicted a sunny Christmas Day!  Keep hope alive!

Shades

The weather has deemed to give us neutrals, with a sky in shades of gray, flurries of white flakes from cloud seeding on the ground, trees in black shadow.  After weeks of gray, perhaps only a little filtered sun, my mood has started to turn dark.  Is this the new normal?  Will this be the way the whole winter goes? 

There is hope on the horizon...if you GO up.

An Evaluation

Usually I don't mind posting a review of the year, but this year I'm not so sure. I'm also not sure I would have remembered to do a review if not for Vicki's amazing post of her 2012. I've fallen behind in posting (December has so few posts I had trouble choosing a picture), in knitting, and in keeping up with friends, whether they blog or not.  I feel sad and it's not just the lack of light. 

To review-- in words (the first sentence of the first post of each month) and in pictures (one favorite posted photo from each month), one not necessarily related to the other. 

Here's my year for better or worse:

January:

Thank you for being a part of my life, for reading, commenting, lurking, and for encouraging my daily musings.

February:

It's not that I want to wish my life away, but I am always happy to see the end of January.

March:

Pssst...I've got a little secret for you today.

April:

Friday the sky was littered with feathery clouds, which makes for pretty pictures, but is the first sign of a forthcoming storm.

May:

The garden goddesses were not amused by the wrapping of wet, whipped cream snow they received from Mother Nature on Saturday.

June:

We started out early... ready, willing and able to help with shearing day at the Sunrise Ranch.

July:

Once upon a time I was a (almost daily) knit blogger, which means I would show off my knitting progress day by day.

August:

My knitting inspiration has been floundering the last couple of months and there has been noticeable lack of progress.

September:

No matter how many posts I write describing the process of knitting my Mondo, for one reason or another, I can finished them.

October:

The whole weekend, the long and lovely weekend, of Vicki's visit felt like a retreat, not just the two days we spent at Alta.

November:

Truly, I didn't mean to be gone so long! It's been tough enough to keep up with work, with daily life, neither of which hasn't left much extra time for blogging, etc.

December:

The weekend goes by too quickly, especially this weekend, as there was much to do to catch up with myself from the crazy, busy week.

--

Well, that's it, such as it is. I talk about the weather (a little too much), have made a blogging career on mountain photos, spend time talking gardening rather than knitting, and do damn little knitting to boot.  I should promise to do better in 2012, but all I can do is to try harder, and I will. 

Weekend Whirl

Picture is from early November

• "Gathering" takes up most of our weekend
• Shopping consists, almost completely, of food procurement
• (We miss shopping our garden)
• Many of our conversations revolve around "what's for dinner?"
• We also bought a string of Christmas lights
• The point of lighting the house is to make it a happy place come January
• I dread January
• The inversion has started, but the sun is filtered, not obliterated by gray
• It may clear a little today
• It's snowing (very lightly) this morning
• Knitting and picture taking suffered this weekend 
• And it's likely, no knitting (or picture taking) will happen this week
• For two people who do little to celebrate The Season, we sure are busy
• We bought Hanukkah candles
• There will be plenty of light in our house through the rest of December
• And into January
• I'm counting on not dreading January. 
• The amyrillis should be blooming by then
• I may buy more flowers and more lights
• Sushi for dinner last night helped save my Monday