Wowie, what a day! I had to get my license plates for my car renewed, because my birthday is Friday and the offices aren’t open until Monday again because of the Thursday/Thanksgiving holiday weekend. If you pay late, you pay an extra $10 so I went, with a zillion other people, today. I sat there 55 minutes waiting for my number to be called. I’m glad I had my knitting with me. I’m almost ready to turn the heels on a hot fuschia pair of sox for myself.

The license plate thing made me a bit late to Foster Center but I didn’t have a lot of kids today. Some schools were already closed today and so some kids were traveling already. My three homeschool girls who usually come on Wednesday, had family coming in to town and knew they would not be coming.

When I showed up, though, I had one boy who said “Are you knitting now???” with excitement in his voice. He finished up his game in the game room and then came over. We could not find his project anywhere (I think he took it home) so he decided to start a new project.

New Yarns for CityKidz
We lucked out, one of the members of the Mid-Michigan Knitting Guild donated several bags of very nice yarns this week and some of the yarns are just perfect for wristwarmers. It’s a sort of bulky acrylic and in all sorts of kid-friendly colors. The boy decided he wanted one wristwarmer in green/white and one in black/white (it’s sort of a ragg wool look, one ply in one color and another in another color). He worked for a short while until someone came to whisk him off to home.

Then I had two sisters come in (also wristwarmers from the same donated yarns… the younger girl wants to knit for her baby sister and the older girl wants to knit for herself, at least today). Finally an 11-yr old who is dropped off by her mom’s friend (who I’ve known socially for perhaps a dozen years) came in. Later the woman who brings her, came back early and sat with us and knit for a while herself… on a baby blanket. It was very fun.

Altu’s Food for Thanksgiving
After Foster I stopped by at Altu’s restaurant briefly. Altu’s brother-in-law, Charles, works with her. Charles’ kids were there when I got there. They are both preschoolers, the youngest, a boy, is a toddler. The oldest is a girl who adores me, and the adoration is mutual. We love to dance together to whatever music there happens to be. I met her at a wedding shower about two years ago when she was small enough to not talk much, but we danced and danced with the other women in the room, and we have loved each other’s company ever since. I figure if a child adores you, maybe you did something right. It was good to get a few kiddo hugs.

I got some food from Altus to go, so that we can eat her food for Thanksgiving. This will be my only day off for a while, and I intend to keep my feet up as much as possible. If I feel like it, I may make buckwheat/cranberry muffins for breakfast. If I don’t I’ll make toaster waffles!

If I feel like it, I’ll make a pumpkin pie. If not, Altu’s food is as good as it gets. Who needs anything else? I guess I could also choose to make pumpkin sauce which I like on my soy ice cream as a sundae. That’s a little less bother than the pie, so I could do that and still get a little pumpkin into my holiday. We’ll see. I’m only doing what I feel like doing tomorrow. Sleeping in will be a priority, as will a bubble bath and some handknitting.

A Late Night at Work
I was scheduled to work at JoAnn’s from 6pm to close (was on the schedule officially till 10). Well, we got out about 11:15 because there was much to be done, both because it was busy today but also because we are preparing for the annual holiday-shopping hordes. I haven’t been one to do the shopping thing for over a dozen years now, and so it seems sort of an odd thing. I do remember it was big entertainment to me at one time. These days I’m more likely to stay clear if there is going to be a mob anywhere.

Comfort Food with My Feet Up
So anyway, I got home really really late. I was famished, and had to put some sort of fuel in me that wouldn’t keep me from going to sleep at a reasonable hour. So I cooked some excellent free-range chicken broth I get at the health food store, and I put some quick-cooking soba noodles in it, from the asian food store, and some dill weed. Boiled it 3 minutes and then put it in a bowl, drizzling good olive oil on it. Instant food! This broth has a surprisingly high protein content and that will get me through till morning. It was just the ticket for the end of a very long day.

Maximum Legwarmers
I did cast on today for a pair of Sally Melville’s “maximum legwarmers” from her Knit Stitch/knitting experience book. I finally have my two colorways of Noro Kureyon ready to go, and I got some wonderful bamboo double pointed needles with my discount at JoAnn’s (I’m quite impressed they have Clover bamboo needles, which I like for larger double points).

So I cast on, nothing else, but I’m excited that this will be my knitting project for Thanksgiving. I doubt I’ll finish, but I can get a long way on these because they are straight knit stitch in a circle. Actually I am going to rib the top and bottom, they will fit better that way, but I am using her stripe concept and her general sizing (I have to do it smaller for my legs or they’ll fall down, but am adjusting for that).

Slowly Returning Voice
My voice was almost gone this morning again, and at Foster I ended up whispering a lot. However, by the time I was done at JoAnn’s, I was able to talk a bit, in quiet tones. I really think the tide has turned there, and I’m grateful. I really miss singing.

My Gratitude
May those who celebrate it, have a pleasant and satisfying Thanksgiving. I think it is a good thing, going into this season of incredible over-consumption, to start it off with a day being grateful for some of what we already have.

I’m thankful for much, but the most significant of all is my husband, Brian. (Photo above is Brian at a jam session, at Midwest Ukefest.) Other things are also good, but my marriage is the biggest blessing I have in my life, bigger than I ever imagined I would experience. I’m grateful.