Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine finishes some things, and begins others...

It has been a rough few days, and it isn't over by any means. Mom was transfered to a rehab facility. Fortunately it is close to where my Dad lives, and he was able to see her through a glass door today, when he went over there to bring her some clothing and her eyeglasses. The two times I called over there it was almost impossible to speak with her over the phone, as there was a lot of ambient noise, and her answers were monosyllabic. I remain worried. I hope we can find a way to have her return home safely. I keep myself sane with knitting and other handwork, and watching Ruth Goodman on the BBC historical programming

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observe the proto-cardigan... the yarn I ordered from Iceland on December 2nd arrived on my front porch today! I foresee many pleasurable hours of slow knitting in my future, (even with all those three-color-rows) as I gradually work my way through making a Mandelbrot lopapeysa cardigan.

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~ 100 day creativity challenge - day 79 ~
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Finished knitting the new "dawnlight" partlet (to replace my beloved and long lost "nightsky" partlet). This time I left better notes on Ravelry about the changes I made in the pattern(s) for future reference. I really really like the textural Roman Rib knitting, which is simple but extra cozy, and the border I modified works really well with it... am considering the option of a self designed sweater using the same stitches. As always, midwinter brings with it a great desire to knit!

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beauty in the time of isolation - day 289:

The winter has been fairly mild, and all sorts of flowers are either still blooming, or have begun to bloom. This one is unknown to me, but lovely!

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We just finished up yesterday with our online daily reading aloud group for "The Dark Is Rising", and the consensus was yes for reading aloud continuing, but that once a week or so would be better than daily I was noticing that knowing that there was no reading today gave me a small sad, and concomitant with that, the realisation that knowing that there was a thing happening each day that was contact with other humans was somehow deeply reassuring to me...I am still mulling this over.

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started new navy mushroom knit top for SWAP 2021... cut out the pieces, and once the body and sleeves were stitched together, realised that I ought to have cut the neckline higher, as a turtleneck top usually has a jewel neckline. Since there wasn't enough fabric left to cut a new front panel, I am going to experiment by creating a shaped turtleneck collar, cut deeper in the front. Every project something new is learned...

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny patchwork	Nandina's nose	recycle bin
2	2 Kiki biscornu	worm bin rebedded	yard waste bin
3	2 sample masks	dainties bag patched	yard waste bin
4	spiral tea towel	x	recycle bin
5	new spice rack	x	knitting sets
6	10 wire stitch markers	x	moar cardboard!
7	dawnlight partlet	x	x
8	wall caddy	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - Yesterday my friend Marya brought me black-eyed peas from the grocery, so I am now set to be able to cook the ritual new-year meal. And we actually went out for a walk, all masked up and socially distant but walking around like friends do! I have not done that since maybe sometime a year ago... It felt not-lonely!