The Christmas Sock

For me, at least, this week has gone by the way adults like/need the few days before Christmas to go, and that children despise the few days before Christmas to go --- slowly.  Not at a snail's pace, mind you, but at a nice, manageable pace that let me breathe normally.  I was able to do what had to be done without being frantic.  I was able to check and double-check "What Must Needs Be Done" lists, deprived of that it-will-never-happen-now pit-of-the-stomach feeling.

Except for stockings.  Stockings are my annual fifth column.  They were a tad easier when the children were small, and little toys fit snug down in the heels and toes.  Now, though, they are pretty tough.

Stockings, to me, have always been the secret weapons of Christmas.  In all the hurry and flurry of getting to and unwrapping what's under the tree, they're sort of forgotten.  When someone does remember to get to them, what an opportunity there is for a final hurrah --- a primo elfin gift or two to finish off the day.  So, I tend to focus on stockings beyond candy and fruit --- hoping to find small treasures that will top the day off in a special way.  

 

(I'm sure a good deal of that comes from having a father who was a jeweler --- lots of fantastic, sparkly things can fit very nicely into a stocking.)

 

Another reason I'm such a fan of stockings is that they can come shaped as cowboy boots:

I have a boot-shaped stocking which hangs on my bedroom door each Christmas.  It's for decoration, as we each have cross-stitched stockings hanging from the mantle.  But, if someone felt compelled to slip something into it, there wouldn't be a fuss made.

Ten Essential Songs

1. "To Love Somebody" --- Bee Gees
2. "Words"--- Bee Gees
3. "Gold" --- Emmylou Harris
4. "American Trilogy" --- Elvis Presley
5. "Darkness, Darkness" --- Iain Matthews
6. "Take It Easy" --- Delbert McClinton
7. "Seven Spanish Angels" --- Ray Charles and Willie Nelson
8. "Amazing Grace"
9. "Tennessee Waltz"
10. "When A Man Loves A Woman" --- Percy Sledge

You?

Does Anyone Else Have This Problem?

Each year, when the holidays are over, it seems to take forever to take down and pack away the decorations.  And some are always missed.  (There's a Nativity in an upstairs bookshelf that hasn't moved in three years.)  Yet, before all that, when the decorations are first being brought out and placed around the house, there never seem to be enough.  Only a couple of little areas in the house have very much Christmas going on.  

 

It's kind of sad.  And not in the heartwarming Charlie Brown kind of way.

 

No, our house just seems sort of bare.  Granted, there isn't much of a holiday budget this year, but aren't there nice, inexpensive ways to make each room feel Christmas-y?

 

 

Either I'm handling Mama's death very well, or I am in complete denial, and the ton of bricks has yet to fall.

I sort of have to keep reminding myself that she's gone, you know?  I look at the first sentence of that last entry, and it's like that isn't happening to me.  I've cried, it isn't that.  But there's a composure that seems out of place.  I'm parentless now.  It's just me.

If I begin to think too far ahead, my head spins.  One little chore, one little step at a time, I keep telling myself.  Nothing can be done at all until I receive the death certificates, so staying still seems to be all I can do right now.

People keep telling me to get a lawyer, or an accountant.  I don't know anyone up there.  It makes my head hurt trying to pull it all together.  Since I'm the only child, shouldn't it be fairly straightforward and easy?  Haven't people with less intelligence than me managed estates successfully before?

I am giving myself the early Christmas present of calling off any more gift knitting.  What's done for the etsy shop is done, unless I'm truly in the mood to make something for there.  The sweater I was trying to get done for Briton was going painfully (in the literal sense;  tough yarn), so it got ripped out this afternoon.  And I could feel the load lighten.  Yes, I'm upset that I won't have it to give him, but I'm more relieved that there are no more deadlines looming over me.

The Story of My Life

The whole world is knitting hexagons

 and I'm makin' triangles.

Who Could Ask For More

(I am assuming, of course, that there is storage for knitting supplies in the other corner.)

Fall Comes to Athens

A fairly representative sample of the lack of color around here.  Too many pine trees, not enough leafed.

Still knitting like a fiend.  This project was to be for the etsy shop, but I am so in love with the feel and color of the yarn, I'm going to have to keep it for myself.  (It will be a cowl.)

The color is "Sweet Potato" from KnitPicks, and, I swear, I can smell and practically taste sweet potatoes when I just look at it.  I was skimming around the KnitPicks site the other day, and was devastated to see that this color is being discontinued.  Would that there were enough money in my bank account to buy all that they have.
Finished my first Who's Feet scarf:

 Thirteen feet and three inches altogether.  It will be given to the first Whovian I ever knew, my best friend Lisa.  (Who probably doesn't read this, so no worries.)

For Myself

In all the manic knitting I'm doing for selling, I had to stop and make myself a pair of socks.  Remember I told you about the "Good 'n' Plenty yarn?

 This was my first use of elasticized sock yarn.  I like it.

Just Cool Photos

This is my crazy cute daughter at one of her favorite places, an anime convention:

These two men are Strauss and Brahms:

This is a bit of philosophy I'm finding helpful these days:

This is one of my heroes, and the inspiration for this blog's title:

This is a glorious picture.  Even the bear is in awe:

This is the first model hand eye crafts has ever had:

This has pretty much been my year so far:

How you doin'?

Currently

I'm making myself a pair of socks out of yarn with these colors:

It's like I'm knitting in a movie theater lobby.