Like the kittens, I have lost my mittens. They were very nice mittens. They were brown and knit with bulky yarn from the pattern in the book Weekend Knitting. They matched my red wool coat with brown fur trim just perfectly.

I hadn’t even shown them to you yet because I hadn’t been able to obtain good light and a photographer at the same time. Not to mention that we haven’t exactly been having mitten weather here in Southeastern Massachusetts. All that was about to change yesterday, though. I asked Dale if he’d take some photos of me wearing these new and very warm mittens and he said, of course. I was ready to go out the door and I grabbed my red coat but there were no brown mittens in the pockets. I searched through the basket of hand knit scarves and other mittens and there were no brown mittens. I searched the pockets of every winter coat I have and there were no. brown. mittens. I headed to work wearing purple mittens with my red coat with the brown fur trim. Such a disgrace for a knitter to not have mittens that match her coat.

While at my meeting I debated where the mittens could be. I became convinced that they were in a certain bag, one I hadn’t seen for a while. Once home from work I searched for that bag. No brown mittens. I have looked in every place I can think of and I have not found my new brown mittens. Sigh. It just absolutely figures that we finally have weather cold enough to wear these mittens and now I’ve lost them. Just like the three little kittens.

I wouldn’t even mind so much except now I shall have no pie.

Three day weekends aren’t the only perk for this public servant. I also have my very own, very nice, very private office. And that means I can take photos like this:

And this:

I can even take a photo showing you the oh-so-pretty picot edge.

Yes, gentle reader, the orange Opal socks were finally completed last weekend. They fit perfectly and I love them. Of course, I always love Opal socks – it’s the knitting of them that doesn’t always thrill me. You see, to get Opal socks to fit me correctly I need to knit 72 stitches on size 0s and this makes for socks that take a looooong time to finish – almost a whole month for these. I’m going to have to knit for someone with smaller feet if I’m going to make my goal of 20 pairs of socks this year.

Nevertheless, they were worth it and my feet are toasty. Given that the predicted high today is only 23° (thanks, Dave), that’s a very good thing.

Being a public servant has its privileges. And one of those privileges is a fair number of 3 day weekends. Like this past one, for example. We managed to find a terrific balance between active and inactive.

Saturday involved breakfast and a manicure with my stepdaughter Jessica. We then came home and she helped me put away all of the Christmas decorations. I don’t know if it’s the unseasonable weather this year or what but I was ready to have my house back to normal and be rid of the snowmen and greens and lights. Saturday evening we attended a fundraiser/comedy night for Hannah’s drama club. It was lots of laughs! I worked on the latest pair of socks while I was there but this was before Lucia announced her new contest so I didn’t get a photo. I’ll come up with something for that, though, have no fear.

After church on Sunday we headed to Concord to visit Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott. Hannah has been wanting to visit and we checked the website, saw that they are indeed open year round, so off we headed. The joke, apparently, was on us, because they were closed for two weeks of maintenance. There was nothing on the website about that and I was really annoyed that we drove all the way out there for nothing. We consoled ourselves with dinner at the Olive Garden on the way home. And the premiere of 24 took care of the rest of the evening. Jack’s Back! Woot!

Since Saturday and Sunday involved doing stuff we decided that Monday should be a day for hanging around. We headed to the grocery store in the morning and stocked up on supplies. Since I had the whole afternoon free I decided to prepare a roast chicken dinner complete with stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy. I even bought a coconut cake, which is what my mother often served for dessert if we had this meal on a week night.

I have to tell you, my mother has been gone nearly 9 years and I can still remember the amazing taste of her roast chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy. Mine is good but hers – oh! – hers was phenomenal. If I could eat one meal of hers ever again in my life it would be this one. And the smell! There’s nothing like the smell of roasting chicken!

It wasn’t as good as mom’s. But it was the perfect end to a 3 day weekend.

When I read a magazine, I always read the editor’s page first. I like to hear what the person in charge has to say about the issue. I can honestly say, though, that I’ve never give much thought as to what it would be like to actually be the editor of a publication. Until I volunteered to edit an edition of Yarnival.

Let me tell you, this turned out to be harder than I thought it would! It was hard to be objective, it was hard to exclude entries, it was hard to organize the entries I chose. But I realized, as I read through all the entry posts (and I did read them all) that, while we all have knitting blogs, we actually post to our blogs for many different reasons. Sometimes we post to provide entertainment, sometimes we post to reflect, sometimes we post to celebrate a success or find commiseration over a failure. So, I organized this edition of Yarnival according to what I perceived to be the purpose of the post. Without further editorial comment, here is my edition of Yarnival!

Amusing

Hannah of The Purloined Letter posts No Beans!
~In which the concept of vegetables as knitting needles is pondered.

Marcy of Habetrot posts I Think She Needs a Margarita
~In which we truly learn that a picture is worth a thousand words. Or a thousand margaritas.

Reflecting

Chris of Stumbling Over Chaos posts Cha(o)sing the blues
~In which Chris discusses the relevance and importance of blogging in her life.

Christine of Knitting on Trial posts 2nd Annual Heartland Knitting Retreat…………….or, way too much fun!
~In which Christine describes the joy of meeting fellow knitters.

Debi of Fluffy Knitter Deb posts F is for Friendship
~In which Debi talks about a very special friendship.

Teyani of The Intrepid Fiberwizard posts Sunday Thoughts
~In which Teyani brilliantly captures the thoughts that wander through our minds while we knit.

Informing

Abigail of 1870 Pearl posts Long Tail Cast on Hints
~In which Abigail shows a remarkably simple method for estimating the yarn you’ll need for a long tail cast on.

gale of She Shoots Sheep Shots posts Sock Clubs
~In which Gale gathers sock club information into one extremely useful post. Unless you’re on that yarn diet thing. Then you should definitely stay away from this one.

Kristi of Designedly Kristi posts FO: Woven Sachets.
~In which Kristi teaches how to make some beautiful sachets.

Celebrating

Lolly of Lolly Knitting Around posts My Cherie Amour
~In which Lolly models a wonderful (and fast) new red sweater.

Jenniferof pieKnits posts The Littlest Stocking
~In which Jennifer knits a very tiny stocking.

Elspeth of Wry Punster posts Monarch Butterfly
~In which Elspeth finishes an epic project.

Rachel of Lickety Knit posts I’ve Been Sorted!
~In which Rachel meets Harry Potter.

Monika of Smoking Hot Needles posts Vertigo
~In which Monika knits a scarf that resembles a chameleon.

Heather of Lectio.ca posts Mom’s Shawl
~In which Heather finishes a really big and really beautiful shawl.

Vicki of Knitorious posts A Tale of Two Sweaters
~In which Vicki uses leftovers from her sister to make a fabulous Fibonacci sweater.

Lola & Ava of Two Black Sheep post The One I Love
~In which a perfect sweater is finished.

Maryse of Monster Yarn posts Meatheads, Meatheads, Roly Poly Meatheads
~In which a hat is embellished in a very unique way.

Ruth of Wooly Headed posts The Grand Unveiling
~In which Ruth knits a baby sweater.

Bemoaning

Amy of Knit Think posts Deconstructing Einstein
~In which Amy finds a way to end her boredom.

Mary of Virgin Wool posts Torture, thy name is Linen
~In which Mary resents a dishcloth.

Mandy of Zigzag Stitch posts The Control Hat
~In which Mandy knits a very tall hat.

Nishanna of Nishanna likes to knit posts I was distracted by something shiny
~In which Nishanna realizes that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Admiring

Kathryn of Kmkat and her Kneedles posts Saturday Sky and Stuff
>In which we see photographic proof of the change of seasons.

Julie of Frick Knits posts 31-40
~In which the hunk of the month is revealed.

Phew, that’s a lot of links. I hope you have fun perusing all these great blogs. Are you interested in editing Yarnival? Go here. Are you interested in submitting to Yarnival? Go here! Thanks for reading.

Now that we’re experiencing seasonal temperatures here in New England, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for last summer’s vacation. Sigh.

Coming up with something to say after a milestone post that includes the 10,000 comment and my first major cabled project sure is challenging. There are things I could tell you but none of them truly make for a whole post. For instance:

I could tell you that I’ve walked 11.77 miles out of my 100 miles by April 1st challenge.

Or I could tell you that I’m so horribly bored with the orange Opal stockinette socks that I’m ready to scream.

I suppose I could do that 6 Weird Things Meme. I’ve been tagged for that a few times. Truly, though, while I believe everyone has a freak flag (or two) I’m not sure I have any left that you don’t already know about. Besides, my 100 things about me is over there on the side bar and there are plenty of weird things listed there.

I should tell you that I’ve settled on a name for the HitchHiker wheel. It’s not Hazel or any of the other suggestions but I did get my inspiration from Dave, who said a lady wouldn’t hitch hike and Vicki, who mentioned something in an email that reminded me how much I love the television show M*A*S*H. My HitchHiker wheel will forever be known as Hot Lips Houlihan. I think it’s perfect.

I could talk about the major car problems we’re having and how I’m being forced to drive the Suburban to work these days. I truly hate driving that vehicle.

I could even tell you that I just finished my first ever Dick Francis mystery.

But I won’t. Instead I’ll do what knitbloggers everywhere do when they don’t have anything to talk about. I’ll show you a picture of my cat. Please note that he’s clutching a handknit sock.

The picture of contentment, no?

Teyani left the 10,000th comment last night at 7:26 pm. Thank you all for every comment. Your encouragement, advice, and support is so important to me. Not to mention the wise cracks and sarcasm. Heh.

So. I thought I was afraid of cables. Turns out that fear was all in my head. Behold the progress on Dale’s Cable Moss Vest.

That is the back almost to the point of the armhole decreases. This cable knitting with worsted weight yarn (Classic Elite Skye Tweed, in case you’re wondering) goes pretty durn fast.

I got lots of hints and help, including a fabulous cable needle from Maryse and some real-time positive reinforcement on the difficulty of memorizing cable symbols from Martha. Lois gave me what is perhaps the best hint of all, though. She told me to color the chart with colored pencils. So, I colored the symbols in the key to match the symbols on the chart.

Isn’t it pretty? And it’s so easy to read now. It really really takes the confusion right out of those scary symbols.

I’m showing you a close up because I’m just so damned proud of myself and the conquering of the cable fear factor. Now if you could all just cross your fingers that I don’t run out of yarn.

Fear Factor. It’s not just about cables anymore.

When I showed a picture of my newest wheel I sort of forgot that not everyone has access to the fabulous Dave. Therefore, some of you are not familiar with his reproductions of Canadian Production Wheels, his restoration of antique wheels, and his charming little HitchHiker Wheel. You can read all about it here.

I must admit it’s taken me some time to adjust to this little wheel. First, I couldn’t get her to treadle consistently in a clockwise direction. Then I couldn’t get the tension adjusted right. Either the fiber wasn’t getting enough twist and it was falling apart or it was getting sucked right out of my hand and winding on too quickly. I actually put the wheel in time out for a week because I was getting so frustrated. It was hard to resist her cute little thumb, but I managed.

Monday afternoon, though, I started to rally a bit from my cold and I could hear her calling me to spin again. I moved her over in front of the couch and started to spin. I was still having trouble so I finally did the first thing I should have done. I stopped spinning with the mystery fiber I had grabbed on Christmas and I started spinning with some BFL instead. Suddenly, everything clicked. The treadling was easy, the wheel spun in the right direction, and the twist was just right. I do believe that the BFL has magical qualities and I need to remember this when I’m adjusting to a new wheel.

See? It’s not as thin as I usually get but I’m making yarn with my new wheel and that’s a good, good thing.

Since I intended this wheel to be my travel wheel, I brought her to spinning at the library last night. She sure is easier to haul around than my Reeves Saxony or even the Lendrum. Luckily, the time I had spent with her in the afternoon paid off and allowed me to spin without embarrassment.

Now she needs a name. I generally take the “brand” name of the wheel and use the same first letter as inspiration for the personal name I choose. That’s how I wound up with Alice the Ashford, Lucy the Lendrum, Rosie the Reeves and Tallulah the Toika. Abigail, my Canadian Production Wheel, is the exception to that rule. Her name was chosen because the woman I bought the wheel from is a docent at the Abigail Adams House and it seemed right to honor both women in naming the wheel.

So, what’s it going to be? Right now I’m leaning towards Hazel but I’m open to suggestions.

I have a cold. It used to just be in my nose but now it’s in my head and my throat and my back, too. Other than the little jaunt that comprises this post I spent much of the weekend on the couch. I assumed that resting a lot would mean I’d be better today but that’s not the case and I’m home from work. I have to be better by tonight as it’s a spinning night at the library and I’m the one with the key! That’s my health situation. We now return to our regular blogging.

I do not have a local yarn shop. This is something I lament frequently. Yes, there are a couple of those big box craft stores 15 minutes away. And yes, there is a small but lovely yarn shop 20 minutes away. But right in my town? Nada.

The closest thing I’ve ever had to a truly local yarn shop is Saftler’s but they specialize in fabric and haven’t really invested a lot in their yarn department. Until now. You see, Saftler’s has undergone some major changes over the last year, including a complete redesign of the store.

One of those changes resulted in moving the yarn department to the front of the store and surrounding it with this cute picket fence. It’s adorable and it’s only 7 minutes from my house.

So, Saturday morning Blogless Sharon, along with our friend Debbie, and I went out to breakfast and then headed to Saftler’s for their grand re-opening celebration and sale. Lois was there demonstrating Magic Loop and the yarn department was bustling!

They still have a lot of ack-rylic yarn but they’ve got some decent things to choose from as well – including Trekking XXL, thankyouverymuch. And Addi Turbos. Ahh yes, I can now purchase Addis without shipping charges. Squeee!

There were lines at the cash register all morning, a heartening sight for those of us who have been worried that those big box craft stores would drive our local craft store out of business. And I even had a brief chat with Eric, the owner of the store. I told him he had room to start selling spinning wheels and he said . . . wait for it . . . that he’s planning on doing just that. Double squeee!

I’m definitely going to have to stop complaining about not having a local yarn shop now.

And the age old question is: what do we do with the poinsettia now that Christmas is over?