Rudee get ur guns

As if you didn't already know, there is a gigantic storm bearing down on almost all of us, but I am ready. As long as the hospice bat line doesn't ring, I'll be going absolutely nowhere. I have plenty of yarn, coffee, darjeeling tea and a Costco size package of toilet paper that should last 3 months. I'm prepared to cook enough meals to last a week and if all else fails, we'll all be eating lentils and rice until we can cut a path out the door. If you believe the weathermen (and women), that may be never. I especially liked the weather woman this morning who did a demonstration of the storm from the north meeting the storm from the south and giving it a smackdown with her elbow. She was very entertaining in a totally banal manner.

Here are just a smattering of adjectives I've heard that are being used by the fearmongers about the storm that's upon us now:

colossal

monster

Historic

Record-breaking

Crippling

Paralyzing

massive

devastating

Multi-Day Dangerous

catastrophic

apocalyptic

cataclysmic

Life threatening,

and my personal favorite:

Doozie

All we need are plagues and locusts to round out the biblical picture of the end being near.

Frankly, I'm a little more worried about the gunman who is taking potshots at people at the freeway ramp I use every single day of my life.

Getting ahead of myself

News flash: Metro Detroit had a visit from a bright heavenly body today. The sky was blue and the sun shone down upon us all day long. I know for many that this is no big deal, but in Detroit, it was major. We haven't seen the sun in a week.

We've had a few more inches of the white stuff to add to the previous few inches of snow to add to the couple of inches that fell before this. It never seems to get warm enough to melt.

The cold and snow helped me get a jump on Cloud Chaser. I've knit half of the back and hope to have the entire back finished tonight. The fronts are cleverly done by picking up stitches along each side and then that collar, the star of the show, really, is knit onto the piece by joining the collar to the sweater every other row as it's knit. Since I sort of did that with my Ruby shawl, I think I know what I'm in for, but I'm a little intimidated by the instructions. I'll just plod along and cross those bridges I'm unsure of when I get to them.



Though I'm still hopeful about the outcome of Groundhog's Day, I'm afraid whatever news that furry rat brings will be given with a dose of snow. About a foot of it is forecast for Tuesday night into Wednesday. While he may not see his shadow, I know darned well he's a fickle creature.

Never trust a rat.

Shadow play

I'd like to clear one thing up....

I was completely misunderstood when I said, and I quote, "I wish it would just snow and get it over with. I hate this one or two inches of snowfall mess two times a week."

I was just joshin'.

Je ne sais quoi

I was feeling a bit guilty about this purchase until I realized my overtime last week paid for it. Lorna's Laces Honor in the most scrumptious shade of blue they call, Fjord.

I don't know what it is about Lorna's Laces yarn... the colors, the consistency, the softness, the sheen or the overall beauty, but the mailman rang the bell today, and I've forgotten all about that Pacific what's its name sweater and only have eyes for Cloud Chaser.

Don't act all shocked--it's not like you didn't see that coming.


There is snow and cold in the forecast for this weekend (what else is new?). Guess how I'll be spending my time?

Polling Place Shenanigans

Before I went to bed last night, there were 25 total votes on my next knitting project with Cloud Chaser as the decisive winner (10 votes) and the poll was closed. Pacific view was a close second. When I awakened this morning, the poll showed 12 total votes. What happened with that? Just shows to go ya that you can't trust polls. I wish I'd taken a screen shot, but that would have meant googling how to do that on a Macbook and frankly, I was too lazy to go there. Take my word for it, there was a discrepancy not unlike the political polls in this country that have led us to become skeptics.

Apparently, you can't trust a knitter, either. Though the majority of votes were for Cloud Chaser, the yarn isn't here yet and so with idle hands becoming jumpy, I decided to swatch for Pacific View and nailed gauge with the first set of needles I picked. One thing led to another and before I knew what hit me, I'd knit 16 rows of either the back or the front (they're the same) of the sweater. Talk about a swatch! The lace portion looks uneven, but we all know that will come out in the wash. When I checked gauge in stockinette stitch, the ribbon yarn looks smooth and even, so I'll keep the knitter's faith.

The yarn, a bamboo ribbon tape, is wonderfully soft. The color reminds me of the tropics and unless Jimmy Beans Wool steps on it and gets my Lorna's Laces yarn to me, I see Pacific View getting done first.

So much for polls.

I promise to show you the Cloud Chaser swatch as soon as the yarn gets here. I can knit these projects side by side, don't you think?

Between Projects

The shawl is finished and by the time you read this, on its way to a new home. My ski hat is done and I'll be wearing it today to help ward off this bone chilling cold. The mittens aren't done because, well, they don't really fit me and I've stopped the runaway denial train right in its tracks. They'll fit Stinkerbell McBookeater though, and she has a birthday coming up in February. A perfect gift for someone who always has cold hands.

That leaves me without a project, but a brain full of ideas. This is where I always get tripped up--I have too many things I want to make, and find myself unable to make a decision. The yarns for these projects are in my stash, though I think for one I might want to find an alpaca/silk blend. I'll let you decide what I should knit.

Here are YOUR choices:

Cloud Chaser

A project I've had as a favorite and queued on Ravelry since last September, I think this would be the perfect spring article of clothing. In the alpaca/silk blend, it would be warm, but it stays chilly here quite late into the spring, so it would get a lot of use. It requires a fiber like alpaca for drape.

Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties

Now I've been wanting to make this little cardigan for a really long time. I have the yarn, and the book (I am slightly irritated to have bought a book and then later found the pattern on a free site, but that's another post for another day). My friend Sarah made this in the same yarn in a different color and it's gorgeous.

The long languishing Peacock Shawl

I really need to get around to finishing this. I had a good run going in November and then set it aside again for Christmas knitting. It's not that I don't want to get it done, it's just that every single time I sit down with it, I'm overwhelmed by how much attention it needs while I am knitting it and how much there is left to go. If you vote for this, maybe that will light the fire.

Pacific View Pullover

I picked up 10 balls of Bali yarn at what seemed like a fire sale last spring. I don't think I spent more than $25 for all of that bright blue yarn and it looks like a pullover with the name, Pacific View, would be a perfect choice for this beautiful bamboo tape yarn. I have a feeling this would be a quick knit because the yarn is bulky and the needles are big. That would be quite a break from all of my small diameter knitting.

That's the line up. I'll give you two days to vote and then I have to cast on so I have something to knit. The poll is on the sidebar to the right. In the meantime, I'm going to go read Tom Clancy's new book.

Thank you for you assistance in this matter related to critical knitting issues.

Getting to the point

Pimpelliese, unblocked

When I won that blue ribbon for the shawl I submitted to the Michigan State Fair two years ago, I chatted up one of the judges about all of the entries. She told me she was surprised by all of the beautiful afghans, shawls, sweaters and other items that had been entered, but weren't blocked. All that stood between many of those items and a blue ribbon was a bath, and some pins, wires or string, she said.

How can knitting cause worry? When you aren't certain there will be enough of the only skein of this yarn to finish. I made it with a mere 5 yards to spare--not enough for another pattern repeat. The scale helped me finish this with a little fudging on the stitch count to get there.

Why would somebody knit an item, spend countless hours, hard earned dollars and who knows how much worry and not finish the thing?

Blobby, unblocked lace.

Take for instance, Pimpelliese, which is done. Oh it's pretty enough to wear right off the needles, but the lace isn't open. While the garter stitch portion looks nice, the lace is rather shabby looking. Unlike my Ruby shawl, this one doesn't take a slide rule to block. It just needs an all over bath and some gentle pinning. The reward for this little step is a more professional appearance to the finished product.

To see those yarn overs, one MUST block. Otherwise, why bother with fancy pants patterns?

For my Victorian shawl, I used nothing more high tech then pins and my mattress. The bed was the only flat surface big enough to spread out an article more than six feet in diameter and then some for the points.

My new favorite thing to knit with a hank of sock yarn.

While I wouldn't bother to block socks or other small projects, I would never skip this step on other items and especially lace and cables. Do you?

Bored? Not me...

I won't talk in depth about last night, except to give profuse thanks to the powers that be and tell you the following:

• my assignment got canceled and my cute blue snow covered SUV stayed parked in front of my home the entire night.
• nobody used the F word or threatened me or my colleagues and this represents a significant change in what I've dealt with for two nights in a row. Yes, Mr. Verbally Abusive Misogynist, I speak of you. Did you not think we'd notice you had no spine to speak to the men the way you spoke to the women? If you're wondering, Mr. M is NOT the client and thus lacks a really good excuse.
  
• I should give thanks to the mean man though. Because of him, I've made more fig vodka and now feel ready for anything he can throw at me--unless of course it's a punch.
  
• my brand new Blackberry came loaded with 5 new games and interfered with knitting.
• I am 25% of the way to having enough money in the Texas Hold-Em game on BB to buy into the World Series of Poker.
• virtual poker.
  
• hey, I can do what I please on nights like the one I had because my paperwork is always caught up. I do not go to bed until it's finished because I can't stand waking up to leftover work--especially if said work involves subjects like bullet point #2.
• it's good to be the windshield for a change
  

While it looks like a beautiful sunny day in Detroit, the high will only reach 15 degrees (F). A bit on the chilly side and a good day to stay in my fleece jammies until I absolutely have to leave the house. That's the plan anyway.

I hope your plans are good, too, but with less inclement weather.

It never hurts to ask, does it?

1. In nursing, one never, ever uses the Q word to describe a rather silent night. To do so angers the powers that be, not to mention superstitious colleagues, and the end result will be anything but peaceful. If you say the Q word, you've asked for it. I confess I dropped the Q word several times last week, so don't feel sorry for me, I brought this on myself.

2. In the dead of winter in Detroit, never ask, can it possibly get any colder? You know the answer to this. As I was leaving the hospital at midnight last night, under the light of the full moon, the thermometer in my car read a mere nine degrees. The wind chill was oh, so much lower than that.

3. If you mock the full moon, you will pay the price by having to deal with madness far beyond the coping ability of most people. As a special treat, it will turn out that a client's relatives can often be crazier than the sickest of patients. Sometimes they're even cruel. Sometimes they're just filthy. If you've really mocked superstitious beliefs, they could be a combination of both. Now that's something really special, so much so, that when I got home last night, I washed my ears out with soap.

Then I made a really strong fig martini.

Once in awhile, if you pray hard enough for a break, you sometimes get one. The plumber came by today and found no obvious leaks. He spent 20 minutes in my basement and left without a charge. God bless his little heart for taking pity on a half crazed hospice nurse.

As if to answer today's question of whether or not tonight can be as bad as last night, look what's here to greet the rush hour. My assignment is 25 miles west of me. Because we all know a dusting of snow at rush hour causes people to drive as if they've lost their minds, I'd better leave now. With luck I'll get there by midnight.

Side Effects

The Full Wolf Moon begins at 4:21 PM. How bad can it be? I mean last night after dealing with a patient in steroid induced psychosis for 3 hours, I came home to the news that with a smidgeon of rain and ice yesterday, the basement had flooded. It can't get worse than that, can it? Or am I simply borrowing trouble by putting the question out there?

It's too late to take it back.

You know, Betty was a bit racy for her time...

Halfway

I love listening to the radio when Sandy Wood from the University of Texas McDonald Observatory starts to speak. Her voice is hypnotic and her Stardate stories always make me look up. In December, she spoke of the holiday skies, the winter solstice, and of course, the eclipse. She talked about how in present times, the winter solstice marks the beginning of winter, but in the past it was a time of celebration marking not the beginning, but the middle of winter.

I liked the idea that we were halfway through the season even though everyone else was saying it was just beginning. Using that show's premise, we're almost done with winter and if Sandy timed it all right, it ends with Ground Hog's Day which, hey, look at the clock, is only 16 days away! From this point forward, I will not look at the calender in the same old way. I'm adopting Sandy's point of view.


Keeping with the halfway point of this post, I want to talk about some things that weren't to the halfway point on Friday, but by now have passed it by. The Pimpelliese shawl is one of them and lo and behold, is that wool I've been spinning?


Yep.

Lately I've been spending more time with my wheel and it feels pretty good. The bobbin is full of some fiber I picked up at the Michigan Fiber Festival in Ann Arbor this past fall. I'm half way through spinning this. I'm not sure what all of the fiber is, but it's an alpaca blend. It does feel sproingy, so there may be a little merino in there, too. Doesn't matter. It wants to be mittens when all is said and done and despite its makeup, all it really needs to be is warm.

Enjoy what's left of January as you head out in the morning. It's already halfway gone.


To hear her voice, be sure to click the play button if you click the Sandy Wood link.

Photo: Wiki commons, The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, shines above Bear Lake. United States Air Force photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang.

Is it your lucky day?

Well it is if your name is Amy Rea. Amy, your name was selected by the random number generator and you're the winner of my blogiversary giveaway. Can't wait to see what you make from the handspun yarn!

Email me your digits and I'll send you enough BFL to help keep you both entertained for a bit and warm for what's left of winter.

Frozen concoctions, flip-flops and salt

Decision made, it's all over but the details...the destination for my February getaway will be the Florida Keys. While I know there is the outside chance it may be chilly that time of year, I find it unlikely that this close to Cuba, there could be snow. That's all that matters.

Truly, there isn't enough wool in this house to keep me warm (that may be an exaggeration) and I'm a little tired of all of the layers it takes (not a stretch at all) to be cozy.

Last night, I reached the halfway point of the scarf I'm knitting and noticed an out of place yarn over several repeats back that I was unable to surgically repair. I tried everything before I gave up and frogged, but at least I didn't delude myself into thinking the giant hole in the middle of a garter stitch row was unnoticeable. None of those excuses about how we shouldn't care about perfection would have worked in this case. Even though a portion of this pattern is lace, the majority is not and so ripping back wasn't as painful as it could have been. I simply ripped back to the end of the pattern repeat preceding the errant hole. What was I thinking when I did that yarn over, and why didn't it look out of place before I knit 36 rows past the mistake?

It's a simple pattern that let's the glory of the yarn shine and the story is told in color. While simple enough to follow, I still get flustered reading written patterns. No chart is included with this pattern, so I made my own. If you make this and want my charts, let me know and I'll email them to you.


Before starting I highly recommend the use of a scale so you can measure the halfway point. It won't be necessary if you have more than enough yarn in the color you need, but frankly, who buys sock yarn like that? More commonly, you'll have enough to make one pair, which is what this scarf needs, so yeah, you'll need a scale. If you don't have a scale that measures in grams, have the yarn store wind your hank into two 50 gram balls of yarn. When you reach the end of one, you'll know it's time to begin the decreases.

Over the ground lies a mantle of white

It's been snowing since noon and it's still coming down steadily. Light, powdery and pretty to look at, it's treacherous for driving. While it's not Snowmageddon, or the Snowpocalypse, or even the Weather Bomb that are the fearmongering buzzwords used to describe this storm front in other areas of the country, it was enough to muck up the works around town. I wasn't looking forward to working in this, but work I did, if you can call it that. Miracle of miracles, for about the second time in a year, I didn't go out, and didn't get a single call or page. All 200 hospice patients needed not a single thing and not one soul on our service chose this evening for an exit.

Tonight felt like the snow days of my youth. I won't get used to it, but it was nice for a change. Instead of sledding and snowball fights, I stayed indoors, ate chicken and dumplings, knit quite a bit and looked for a deal on a Florida vacation for next month.

And yes, that's my mail box still draped in holiday decor. I enjoy looking at it, though laziness may play a role in why it's still up.

May you all enjoy as tough a work day as I seemed to have. Now I'm done talking about it because I'm quite certain that a universal smack down is hot on the heels of this little reprieve.

Counting the days

It was three years ago today that I started my little blog. For three years and through 987 posts, I've been anesthetizing you by sharing the daily exploits of a boring hospice nurse who just so happens to knit. There is no charge for this service. I do this out of love. After all, conscious sedation is one of my specialties.

Though this will post on Tuesday, I wrote it on Monday. Still feeling hungover from last week, I clocked into work remotely and realized when I hung up the phone, I'd pushed the code to clock out instead of into work. This mistake may have been wishful thinking, but inadvertently, I'd created a monster which will perpetuate itself without correction and now I will have to involve my boss because I can't fix my own mistake. Sheesh. Did I mention it's only Monday? When I thought about the whole thing, I realized I likely didn't clock out Saturday at 0h two hundred and since the pay period ended Saturday night, I really messed things up. It should take at least 2 pay periods to fix my sloppy time keeping skills. Ugh.

I need that vacation that's coming soon, don't you agree? I'm counting down the days (32 to be exact) on this beautiful Australian calender that Ruth sent me (see top photo). I like looking at it because when I see photos like that, I can pretend I'm there and it's likely warmer than here. Much warmer. The temperatures here are still in the 20s and we're to get a little snow today. I'll not despair as the countdown to Ground Hog's Day is just a few short weeks away. Whatever may happen, the days are getting longer and sooner or later, this frigid weather will go away.


To help myself feel better, I temporarily set aside the second mitten (unfinished) and cast on, Pimpelliese, a little something I think will be quite special when done. I'm using Blue Ridge Yarns Kaleidoscope in the Mossy Hollow colorway. Instantly, I was transported to spring--never mind that I ripped the first repeat out 3 times before I got it right. The colors are perfect for spring and the yarn came from Virginia. I'd been waiting for the right project to come along for this yarn and last night, there it was right before my eyes. I was helpless in the process. A clever little pattern, it begins with only 7 stitches and grows in width on one side of the marker. The other side of the marker is the border which helps me because I don't have to add it at the end. It'll all be finished at the same time. Done in garter stitch, there are no purl stitches--only knit stitches, yarn overs and decreases.


Lastly, I thought you'd like a word or two about Leo. He's been so good lately and I'm truly hoping his winning streak will continue. There have been some break-ins in the neighborhood and we had a discussion that we'd feel better if the dog wasn't crated. We started with short little trips and on Friday, he was on his own for most of the night. Nothing was chewed, no food missing, no messes to come home and clean. In short, he was very successful and I'm so happy for him. Not that he minds his crate, because he doesn't; it's just that he seems happier loose and able to stretch out on the sofa.


Here he is trying to conquer his desire to shred the paper on the floor and balance that with his desire to please me by paying attention when I tell him no. I won. So did he. We were both pleased with the outcome. He's been a welcome and refreshing addition to our little family and I'm thrilled he's adapted so well.

I'd like to say thanks to everyone who reads and to all of you who have become long distance friends and pen pals. I never imagined how much fun writing a blog and reading all of yours could be and can say that this is definitely an entertaining part of my life.


Oh... And I'm giving away a little something as is my tradition on my blogiversary. Leave a comment by Friday night at midnight and win a fabulous hank of my handspun yarn (I think it's BFL) in the Sangria colorway that my friend Sarah dyes so beautifully. This will be awarded by random selection. Don't knit? Leave your comment and I'll make you a hat or cowl to help ward off what's left of winter's chill.

The Cowboy Way

Nurse Rudee's completely impractical city girl cowboy boots.

In a work induced hangover, I awakened slowly and so late on Saturday. I admit that the moment I clocked out at 2 AM Saturday morning, I poured myself a glass of red wine and by 4 AM I was asleep. One glass shouldn't make me feel sluggish or make me sleep 4 hours past the 8 AM alarm to go spinning, so I'm blaming my exhaustion on the six day work week, 4oo miles driven between visits and the fact that at 8 AM Friday, I had to go to a mandatory staff meeting.

I was tempted to call off Saturday's plan for a late (or early) full moon movie night with my best friend, but I didn't since we'd already missed December's movie night. As we were on the phone tightening up our plans, my husband butted in wanting to know what "we" were all supposed to wear out that night. He's working, so really, he was just playing us. We told him since we were going to see True Grit, we were wearing cowboy boots, of course. Duh. Still not certain of the movie we should see, I suggested, The Fighter. Fanette said, "ooh, Mark Wahlberg is in that," to which I commented, " I think he's a hottie."

"Yeah," she said, "we'll have to dress differently for that."

While not strictly cowboy, they really are made by Frye. They'll do.

ETA: By the way, True Grit was good--better than the last Matt Damon movie we saw in November, the title of which neither of us could recall. Frankly, I've never seen a disappointing Coen brothers movie, have you? These boots will have another movie night out when we go see Cowboys and Aliens in the summer. I'm not sure though...for Daniel Craig AND Harrison Ford, I may have to dress them up a bit.

Sometimes you're the windshield

After the week I've had, I feel like hospice is killing me.

Ironic, isn't it?

On the mend

Meh. It doesn't look so bad.

Except that with decreases, the colors aren't lining up so well.

Frog heap.

Better.

Much better. It's a thumb and a little embellishment away from complete. But wait, it won't be done until the mate is finished. At least it stands a chance of being finished now.

Not loving it

Always one to let relationships carry on too long, I'm considering ripping back the hand portion of my mitten. It's just not speaking to me so I'm breaking up with it. Maybe not all of it, but at least the part where I started to make decreases. It just doesn't look as good as I'd like it to look.

I promise to offer up proof of hideousness, frogging and re-knitting later. In the meantime, I'm going to hem that hat so at least something from this set stands a chance of being worn. When I do restart my mittens, I promise not to let the decreases go past one row if I don't like them. Sheesh. When will I learn to listen to my inner knitter's voice?

Speaking of relationships that have exceeded their expiration dates, so long Rich Rod. It took Michigan long enough to realize that you and their team had a really crappy thing going on, but, hey, better late than never.

Beyond the surface

Leo's slave master is down for the count after some kind of viral invasion force took over his body. After waiting all day yesterday for a walk, Leo resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going anywhere. With a big sigh, he curled into a ball and tried to sleep. Feeling really sorry for him, I bundled up and jangled his leash. The beast went bonkers. Surprisingly, he was really good on our walk, didn't jerk the leash or wrench my back and only tore into one neighbor's trash bag (came up with a mouthful of paper towel). He did try to attack one ornamental deer. People in our neighborhood should feel safer when Leo is out and about, or at least be assured that the holiday decor will not gather and plan a revolt. That dog can carry on at the same inanimate objects until he's certain they're not alive and then the very next day, he acts the same toward the same exact objects. Other than that, I think he's really smart. Either he has a short term memory issue or he's perpetually hopeful that one day he'll corner the real McCoy.

It's remarkable how many people do laundry at midnight and the array of dryer fabric softener scents is fairly amazing. The neighborhood, though quiet on the outside, was apparently very industrious indoors. Block after block smelled like a giant floral bouquet and if I didn't know better, I'd think I lived in a garden spot--not somewhere a few miles north of Detroit.

Having been led astray by a good book, I'm not much further along on those mittens and still have a bit of embroidery to fill out the bottom part of the mitten. Can you identify what's on the mitten from what I did get done? I swear, I've looked at this pattern for days now and was so charmed and focused by the hearts on the thumbs that I couldn't see what was knit and embellished on the top of the hand.


On the pattern, it looked like a blob of white with nothing really remarkable.

This is why I love color knitting. Things aren't always what they seem at first, are they?

I don't know how to break it to you, she said,

but I think my mittens are nicer than yours.

Secret Christmas knitting revealed and it's just as I imagined they'd look.

(Leo mistreating the model)

Bite my butt if you must, just don't bite my mittens.

Baby it's cold outside

Turns out last night was not a good night to be on call. Around 11 PM, I got a call about a patient I knew would not make it through the night. After the call, I could not fall asleep for fear I'd not hear my phone ring. Around 3:30 AM, I threw in the towel and prayed hard that the patient would somehow miraculously make it until morning. Forty five minutes later I was on my way to her house with my teeth chattering. We went from fifty-some degrees with a balmy breeze to a deep freeze overnight. Though the thermometer in my car read 22 degrees, it felt like 20 degrees less than that.

Slightly embellished at this point. There are many more French knots that have since been applied.

Since the day was pretty quiet yesterday, I reached the critical point where I'd have to make a decision about what this knitting will be when it's done. Should it be a pair of gloves as the pattern is written for, or should it be mittens? Gloves would be challenging and I know I can knit mittens standing on my head, so I was leaning toward the challenge. That's until I went outdoors at 4 in the morning. My hands, tucked inside usually warm gloves, were freezing and separated from their neighborly digits. My fingers would not get warm. With mittens, fingers can at least share their collective warmth. My decision was made by the weather and sometime today, there should be at least one mitten done and another on the way.

I do not have hairy arms like a man--that's black fuzz from my many layers of wool.

Since I was up and couldn't clock out until 8 AM, I tossed the last of the Christmas ham into the crock pot, added a mirepoix, chicken stock, garlic and a bag of split peas. I'm hoping by the time I wake up, the soup will be ready.

Good night for now from hospice central...or should I say good day?

A Cheesy New Year

Front side of the Inger Ski Gloves that will match my ski hat. I'm not going to let the fact that I don't ski stop me from finishing these. Though rather plain at the moment, these gloves will be embellished with French knots and cross stitch embroidery.

We knew getting into a restaurant after my husband was done working last night would be nearly impossible, so while he was working, I cleaned the house, went to the market and prepared a romantic dinner for two. We had a traditional cheese fondue and a salad prepared with blood oranges, honey sweetened pecans and Maytag blue cheese. Keeping with my cheesy theme, dessert was a store bought, but completely delicious cheesecake. Between the two of us, we polished off a bottle of bubbly while watching Moonstruck. This is a movie that never fails to make me laugh--even after watching it for the 20th time.

It was a perfect ending to the year.

Palm side of the Inger Ski Gloves. That's the thumb gusset for the left hand growing between the two green markers.

Today he's back at work and I work tonight from 8 PM until 8 AM. I'm hoping for a repeat of the last holiday I worked when not a single call came through the hospice hot line. In the meantime, I'm knitting and a little later plan to spin some yarn while I watch some football. With the exception of having to work tonight, I can't think of a better way to spend my day or launch my new year.

Well...Maybe one more piece of cheesecake will make it that much better.