Wow. I have two days off in a row, and they make a standard weekend. Imagine that! I did get a call from JoAnn today to ask if I’d come in, but for once I declined the offer. I need to do some work of my own, and I’ve ignored that too long. I have a publication deadline for January 1 and I am still working on my last 3 gifts. That’s enough!

Tomorrow Brian and I will be busy together, but today he’s at work and I’m alone at home. I just love my alone time at the house (I used to get a lot of these days but they are rare now). I’m listening to Tiny Tim over and over, and I vacuumed (unbelievable I know). It is 45 degrees F outside right now, but snow is covering the nasty mildewy leaves that bother my voice, so the air is very fresh and clean. I turned the furnace off and opened doors and windows to air out the dust in the house after vacuuming. I am hoping this will help me fight the cold as well.

I have my extra heavy handknit September-to-September sweater on, and longjohns (not wool, unfortunately) and legwarmers and heavy sox plus bedsox and a hat and earmuffs, and a scarf around my neck. Indoors! I actually had my wristwarmers on but I got them horribly dusty when I changed the vacuum cleaner bag and had to wash them, so my hands are bare as is my face. the rest of me is bundled up like crazy! I must look a sight. But hey, the house is about 60 degrees inside now… with pristeen air. I’m loving it. (My allergy nurse encourages me to do this a few times each heating season… I always have liked doing this but wasn’t sure if it was smart. She gave the A-OK… but I can only do it when Brian’s out to be fair to him.)

Happy Music
Tiny Tim is amazing. I’m just so happy listening to this music! If his aim was to help people be happy, it worked. I smile half the time listening to this.

New Fiber
I got surprise package today when I went to the Post Office. I had ordered dyes and superwash roving a few months ago. I got the dyes right away and I sure thought they cancelled the roving… but today I got it. Cool biz! It feels soooo soft!

I’ll be very interested to see how this dyes up and whether folks will want to buy it for sock yarn spinning. We’ll see. It will be a while before I get a dyeing day unless something changes this week. I have so many plans for my dyeing it will take several sessions to get through them all.

A Balancing Act, Different Routine
I tell you, the holidays are a nice time to celebrate our loved ones, but it really messes with getting things done. I mean, I don’t get vacation pay when I don’t work. I need to have work hours or I don’t pay the bills. The last few weeks of the year are a real stress that way, because I lose work days for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s eve/day. I’ll just do my best to appreciate my friends while I’m unable to work. I do love my friends… I’m really missing Tony but he’s coming home very soon and then I can make him a pot of tea and we can sip tea and knit and chat again. Soon! Very soon, I hope.

I realized the other day when I had some yummy goodies to share, that four of my favorite friends to share food with were out of state. My friend Anne is still here but she is the mommy of a 1-1/2 year old and quite busy with holiday stuff of her own. So I had to find other ways to enjoy the goodies, without a buddy other than Brian. That was OK. I just felt sort of alone when I realized my first FOUR choices of friends were gone. Boo hoo. We’ll get away this year sometime. Mom always issues an invitation to come visit in Florida, and I usually get down there. This year we may go play music in San Diego but heck, maybe I could still work in a weekend with Mommy. It’s a long time to go without her company if I don’t go down there.

New Sox Started
I started a new pair of sox for myself in Trampoline, a stretch fingering weight yarn, today when waiting in line at a zillion places (pharmacy, grocery, Staples, post office). I got it not realizing it was stretch. I’d heard of Trampoline when Dawn Brocco did an article last year in Heels and Toes Gazette on stretch yarns, but I had not seen it at that time. This one is mostly dark blue/purple/gray but with nice bright bits of purple, grass green and a very nice blue-turquoise. I thik I will really enjoy wearing them. However, now I’m home so I have more businesslike creative work to do. Home is where I can actually think when I knit, rather than knitting around and around in circles meditatively as I do in public.

A Beautiful Day
I’m really loving the mostly-sunny day today! I may even go for a short walk around the block. I’m just trying to keep those windows open in the house as long as possible, I really need fresh and clean air to breathe. The cold seems to be better this afternoon, so I hope that is a good sign. I could barely get to sleep last night with the coughing. I’m ready to feel a little better.

I hope you all are enjoying this Saturday as much as I am. Music and sunshine, what else could a person want? And tonight we jam with the Abbott Brothers! Perfect, I say.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2003 at 4:35 pmand is filed under Knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.