So, it's been a while . . . .

Sorry about that--I decided I needed a bit of a break, and the blog was included in that, but I'm back now, so be forewarned.

First off, today's Saturday Sky:


And wouldn't you know it, not two minutes after I take this picture, the sun starts trying to come out!

For the last week and a half, the forecast has changed almost hourly, from sunny and warm to sleet and snow and rain, to something else. I think the weather men here are probably all bald right now after trying to figure out what this latest storm system was going to do. It ended up being a lot of rain last night, and I think that's all we'll have. The temp has steadily crept up all this week, and last night when it was raining at its hardest, it was almost 60 degrees. No chance for snow there! I have the window open right now, and it's very nice out.

I had this week off, and it's been so nice to be able to relax and separate myself from all the holiday hoo-hah. I find myself already starting to dread going back to work, but whatta ya gonna do--a girl's gotta have a roof over her head. Maggie has loved it--she's been glued to my side all week, and the few times I've left she's had a panicked look on her face like she would never see me again if I walked out the door. (Boy, is she gonna be surprised come Tuesday morning.) I've basically stayed at home the whole time, except for going over to Missy's a couple of times. Once we went wine shopping, and the other afternoon I took her my Babe wheel and gave her a spinning lesson. I'm not sure I did very well, but I think she'll get the hang of it soon--she's a pretty smart girl.

I had definite fiber goals when I started this vacation--finish the projects I had started--the cashmere scarf, the socks, and a new project, a scarf made from Cherry Tree Hill Jumbo Loop Mohair in the colorway "Champlain Sunset:"


This yarn is so gorgeous, it absolutely glows. I'm doing it in a very open knit so that the loops show up better, and I'm almost finished. It may end up being a little too scratchy to wear right around my neck, but it will be beautiful wrapped around a coat or jacket collar. I'm really excited to get this done.

The cashmere scarf is still not done, and the socks are taking forever. A lot of the problem is that I have continued to have problems with my PDA, and I've spent a lot of time trying to get that straightened out. Thank goodness for the internets--after googling several issues, I finally found some things that would help me out. Unfortunately, I still ended up deciding that the only way to fix the problem was to reformat the device and start all over with fresh software installs. I started that Thursday evening and finished yesterday around 6 pm--a total of at least 12 hours. Right now I'm cautiously optimistic that everything is back to normal. I think there was a bad file in there somewhere that was causing the problem. And yes, 12 hours is a lot of time to spend trying to restore a PDA, but you have to understand that my Palm is always with me or sitting next to me--it's an addiction, but I have my whole life in there and I use it constantly, so when it's not working properly, I'm obsessed until I can get it back to rights again.

I've not done any spinning this week other that showing Missy how to do it, so I'm still working on the accompanying skein for this one:


I hope to work on that later this weekend.

Christmas weekend I did a little dyeing and came up with this:


I was aiming for something Christmasy and ended up with something between Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter:


This one ended up as a gift to Missy--if nothing else, she can use it to make something for the Girl (who, BTW, is absolutely a heartbreaker. I want to carry her off with me and never give her back!).

Oh, and remember that wall hanging that I was working on, what, four or five months ago? Yeah, it's still not done. I have to finish it this weekend, because it was supposed to be a Christmas gift, and I feel really bad that I was too lazy to get it done on time.

So, now I'm caught up. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and will have a safe and happy New Year's.

I hate to admit that I'm a bit of a Scrooge this time of year,

but I love this song--it's an Oklahoma cultural thing, I guess . . . .
I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas

Saturday Sky - what a week!

Saturday, December 9, about 9 am CST:


Pretty wispy sky this morning--still cold, though. At least most of the snow is finally gone, except for those big piles you find in parking lots around town. It's just not been warm enough this week for them to melt.

As for me, I'm glad most of the snow's gone. I fell getting out of my car at work Tuesday morning. Luckily I caught myself as I went down between two cars, so I landed on my left side, hitting my left shoulder blade and my left arm on the runner of my car. I didn't hurt myself except to scrape and bruise the top of my left foot, but, man, was I pissed. It was a patch of black ice no bigger than a salad plate, and I caught it just right.

This week was absolutely insane at work-I don't know if it's because it's close to the end of the year and we have a couple of things going on that are coming to a head before then or what, but man, was I glad when 5 pm rolled around yesterday. The only bright spot in the entire week was stopping at Starbucks yesterday morning to buy a couple of travel mugs to replace my old standard that finally bit the dust. How sad is that?

I have nothing to show for the last week. I've been working a little on my cashmere scarf--now that it's cold enough to actually wear something a handmade scarf, I don't have it finished. I also pulled out the mohair Cherry Tree Hill Jumbo Loop yarn I bought about this time last year--it will make a spectacular scarf. I've not gotten far on my sock--I've had to rip back to the toe at least twice. Maybe I'll have better luck with it today.

I did finish spinning the first half of the BFL I dyed a few weeks ago. I think I came pretty close to having the same length of singles on each bobbin--that's a first! I'm going to ply it this weekend--we'll see how well I did.

And can you believe how fast December is passing by? It won't be long until it'll be Christmas, and I still need to put the wreath on the door and the icicle lights out on the rail. Where does the time go?

Saturday Sky - a little late

Saturday, December 2, 430 pm CST:


It's been sunny all day until a little while ago. It's really helped clear a lot of the snow. My parking lot is almost totally clear. Hopefully my windshield wipers have thawed out, too.

Yesterday's "snow day" wasn't very enjoyable for some reason. I could never get comfortable being at home, which is totally not like me. I guess it was guilt for not going to work. I'm still feeling a little "off." I need to go sit down and do something constructive for a while--maybe that will help.

Can you believe that I pulled my left shoulder scraping my car on Thursday? It hurt like hell. It's better today, but still--geez, just another sign I'm getting old.

Maggie and I have been total slugs the last two days. It's a good thing that we have tomorrow to get some things done, or the weekend would be a total waste.

What a difference a day makes . . . .

Yesterday . . .


and today . . . .


Today the sky is as clear as a bell, not a cloud in sight, and it's beautifully sunny. You would've never known that less than 24 hours ago the weather was totally insane.

This was the view outside my bedroom window this morning right as the sun was about to come up:


I'm not sure how much snow we had, but right outside my door measured 2 inches, and it's pretty well protected. I'm guessing 3-4 inches. Northern parts of the state had a lot more than that.

I decided to play "slacker" today and not go to work. My windshield wipers froze up on me as I came home yesterday afternoon, and I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to get them thawed this morning. So it's just me and Maggie, braving the elements together.


I guess I'll have to check back with her a little later . . . .