Three on Thursday

I'm joining Carole for Three on Thursday with three very random things.

1.  I miss my car.

My toy VW Bug replica

Sarah gave me toy replica for Christmas and I enjoy procrastinating playing with it.  It's the kind that flies forward after you roll it backwards a little ways.  But it's not the same as driving the real thing.  I'm happy that I have my MIL's van to drive while Mike works on my bug but... It's a mini van.  No matter how nice it drives and how space-aged it is inside, it's a mini van.  I'll admit though, the heated seats are sweet.

heated seats

2.  Sarah introduced me to the Spotless series written by Camillia Monk and I'm loving it!  I'm almost half way through the third book and I only started reading the series about a week ago.  The books contain the perfect amount of innocent sexiness and dramatic and sometimes scary comedy.  Just when the story takes a dark turn and you think it's about to get too violent to stomach reading more, something ridiculous happens and you find yourself laughing out loud while sitting alone in a coffee shop.

mitered square afghan

3.  I'm back to knitting on my mitered square blanket.  My goal is to finish knitting it by the end of February.  It's only been on the needles since sometime in 2015!  I have 54 squares to go so if I average two a day, it will be done.  Of course it will still need a border... but that's a goal for another day.

52 Weeks - Hobbies

Woo-hoo!  I'm following through on my 52 Week Blog Challenge!

Today's topic:  One hobby I would like to start.

I have three.  You know me - always the rebel.

photo courtesy of mayaweavings.com

1.  Weaving.  I really want to learn to weave.  On a machine/"real" loom, not that plastic thing they sell at the big box craft store.  I'm hesitant though.  I want a to learn on a "real" loom and "real" looms are expensive and what if I hate it?  Because honestly, I'm not fond of weaving on the plastic looms from the craft store.  Do I not like craft store weaving because of the cheap loom?  Because you can only make potholders?  Or because I don't actually like weaving?  

Polonaise Spinning Wheel from Knit Picks

2.  Spinning.  I really, really want to learn how to spin my own yarn.  But every time I come close to saving the money to buy a loom, I go yarn shopping instead.  And I know nothing about spinning wheels.  Which one is best for a beginner?  Are there different types for beginners?  And sadly, I don't have a lot of interest in learning about wheels if I don't have the money to buy one.... and like I said.... yarn shopping....

photo courtesy of thesprucecrafts.com

3.  Embroidery.  Actually, I know how to embroider.  Or at least I used to.  It has been years, decades really, since I've embroidered but I used to be able to do it.  I'm sure I could again.  But the knitting always seems to take precedence.  One day...

On the needles

My ragland sweater is coming along.

Easy Ragland from Green Mountain Spinnery

The body and one sleeve are finished and I'm knitting the second.

And yes, I knit my sleeves individually rather than two at a time.  I'd rather constantly measure than have to deal with two skeins of yarn hanging off my project.  And yes, I know that makes me weird but I am what I am.  

Catching Up Part 4

I can't believe it's January 28th and I'm still talking about Christmas.  Just goes to show how far behind I actually got.  Sheesh!

Despite all the December problems, I actually had a lot of fun.

It was the park's first Winterfest and working it was a joyful experience.  It rained RAINED practically the entire month of December (except for that rare blizzard we got) which was disappointing, but when the weather cooperated, Winterfest was a blast.

We had Craft Day in the office and made paper snowflakes and ornaments for our tree. Some of us were much better at cutting out snowflakes than others. The tree's star was made out of money straps.

I had told my boss that I needed two nights off during Winterfest.  One so that I could attend Winterfest as a guest and attempt ice skating, and the other to recover from the broken leg I was going to have from attempting to ice skate.  Being the good boss that he is, he complied.  (Although he did tell me I could work on crutches.)

Luckily, I did not break a leg.  Or any appendage, for that matter.  But I'm also not sure you can call what I was doing 'skating.'  Sarah and I were crying laughing at my pitiful attempts, which were made even more embarrassing by the fact that no less than 98 employee friends happened by and waved or shouted out to me as I 'skated' around the rink.  But despite the resulting sore muscles and embarrassment, we had a great time.

Next, we made our way to the living nativity scene so that I could pet the camels.  You actually got to pet and feed the camels!  (And goats, donkeys and a cow.)

We did a little shopping while we were there and we each bought a few gifts.  Okay, okay.  I bought things for myself.  They had quite a few small artists/creatives set up craft-fair style plus all the park shops that normally sell t-shirts and stuffed animals were selling Christmas decor and giftables.  I was quite impressed with it all.

I fell in love with this paper Christmas tree but couldn't begin to afford it.  It's made entirely of rolled up paper.  One of these days, I'm going to dig out all my scrapbooking paper and attempt to make my own.  (I knew there was a reason I was hoarding keeping all those boxes of paper.)

Winterfest was a blast but eventually our feet began to hurt, the skating muscles started to catch up with us and thankfully, it was closing time.  (Yeah, we had to leave because the park was closing, not because we were out of shape.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

Since I didn't have to spend my second day off hanging out in the ER, Sarah and I took our annual Christmas lights tour.

We hit all our usual stops, got out and walked around at the James Center, and found several new houses that had been added to the Tacky Lights Tour this/last year. (Christmas, 2018.  I really should have shared this a lot sooner.)  And, I'm proud to say, we didn't get lost.  Past years, we've always ended up lost in some neighborhood and it takes us 30 slightly panicky minutes to find our way out.  We may have finally mastered the use of a GPS!

Sunday Supper - Pork Ribs

I've missed my the Sunday Soup posts although if I'm honest, I was feeling a little limited by the 'soup' part.  I've decided that for 2019, Sunday Soup will morph into Sunday Supper.  Supper because I'm just not a Sunday 'dinner' kind of girl.  My husband wishes I was but...  

I grew up eating Rice Krispies for dinner most Sundays because the Redskins were playing and Mom couldn't be bothered to cook for the family when Theismann was on the TV.  We didn't even have Thanksgiving one year because the Skins were playing that afternoon.  

Besides, Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest, right?  Not a day to spend slaving away in the kitchen.  So....  Sunday Supper recipes.  Simple, easy to prepare meals...  So the plan is to share a recipe that I've either tried over the past week or I'm planning to try in the coming week.  

This week's recipe is pork ribs in the Instant Pot.  Although every other meal we've made in the Instant Pot has turned out fine, Mike was skeptical.  Being a manly man, he feels ribs need to be cooked outdoors, by the man of the house.  And with beer/alcohol involved.  We were all pleasantly surprised with the female prepared Instant Pot ribs.  The whole process took less than an hour and the ribs were so tender the meat was falling off the bone.  They were so yummy, I forgot to take photos!  Oops.

Pork Ribs in the Instant Pot

4 pounds of ribs
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs paprika
1 1/2 Tbs chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbs kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
BBQ sauce (bottled or homemade)
1 cup of water

Cut the ribs into 3 or 4 equal-ish in length sections.  

Mix the seasonings together in a small bowl and rub them all over the ribs.

Add water to the Instant Pot then place ribs in, standing on end and leaning against each other, sort of teepee style.  Secure lid and make sure the steam valve is closed. (It's sad that I still have to be reminded of this.)

Cook on Manual, high pressure for 30 minutes.  

Near the end of the 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with tin foil.  

Once the Instant Pot is finished cooking, use Quick Release and place ribs on the baking sheet. Brush both sides of ribs with BBQ sauce and bake 7 minutes on each side.

On the Needles

Chevlace Hat

Somebody hasn't been keeping their fingers crossed.  I have 31 more rows to go and my tiny remaining ball of yarn is barely bigger than a quarter.  

So now, the question is - do I frog the whole thing and go buy some yarn in colors that I actually like?  Or do I rip the stockinette portion and reknit the crown in stripes?

Three on Thursday - Catching Up Part 3

I'm still playing catch up with all the Christmas hoopla.  Christmas was nice, but there were a few... issues.  And since I'm joining Carole for Three on Thursday...

December didn't always go our way this year.  It felt like we were in a bad country song.  Sing it with me - "My car won't start and my dog died..."  (actually that last part didn't happen until January.)

Anyway...

1.  The vehicles -

Sarah's car wouldn't start one morning so I had to get up and take her to school on something like 30 minutes of sleep.  Mike replaced her starter and all was good.  Luckily, Mike is a gear head and performs all of our auto repairs.  

Two days later, my car wouldn't run.  It would start, but it wouldn't go.  I ended up having to drive Mike's pickup truck to work.  Mike quickly got my car running, but in the process, the blower thing (very technical term) died and now it won't blow heat, defrost or air conditioning.  It's not a problem on warm, sunny days but with me working nights, in the constant and very cold rain (2018 was the second wettest year in recorded history!) and sometimes ice....  I need NEED defrost.

We decided it was a good excuse to take away the keys from Grandma.  She really shouldn't be driving and it was going to be a while before Mike could get my car fixed.  We went and picked up Grandma's mini van.  Sarah decided that she'd rather drive the van than her car, which tells you something about the state of her car.  Anyway.... Sarah's first trip out in the mini van and the brakes catch on fire.  I mean, like flames shooting out of the wheel well on fire.  Poor kid ended up hanging out at a WaWa for three hours waiting on her dad to come rescue her.

2.  The house -

Things seemed to go wrong in the house.  The shower hose sprung a leak and now the majority of the water hits the wall instead of you.

The washing machine sprang a leak in the hot water hose.  Every time you use any hot/warm water, the laundry room and nearby bathroom floods.  (It took us a while to determine if the washing machine or the toilet was the culprit.)

We had a slight mishap with the door at the bottom of the steps.
We replaced the upstairs carpet with wood flooring and my silly husband chose the wrong time to listen to me.  We were trying to get the old, heavy, rolled up carpet down the stairs and I suggested pushing it instead of carrying it.  Mike gave it a hard shove and...  

It flew down the stairs and slammed into the coat closet door.  It actually pushed the door into the closet and we ended up doing even more damage trying to get the door to open.  (We had to open it - all our coats were in there!)

3.  The family -

Sarah's newish (6 months old) laptop hinge broke and she can't shut the computer.  The computer she has to take to class with her every day.  And of course, this happened After we'd bought all her Christmas gifts, naturally.  And the dammed Best Buy won't warranty it.  After their lack of response to mine having issues on Day 32, I will NEVER buy another computer from them.  Just saying.

Sarah was my Christmas baker since I was working 11 or 12 hour shifts every day leading up to Christmas.  But she got the flu and it completely threw our schedule off.  Poor baby, she was so sick she didn't even get to attend the Christmas Eve festivities.  Amazingly, it was the first Christmas ever that one of the kids was too sick to participate.  Oh, and on top of me having to do the baking when I got home from work at 4 or 5 a.m., Minnie, (the dog that was so old she was having trouble walking, and would sometimes face-plant while just standing,) managed to get a container of 48 freshly baked Toll House cookies off the top of the refrigerator and ate all but 4 of them.  Dammed dog!  (Dammed dog that we all really miss!)

I cracked a tooth eating Cheez-Its.  Cheez-It's!  Not something exciting like special Christmas spiced nuts, hard Christmas candy or popcorn from the tree... Nope.  Cheez-Its!

Huh!  I just noticed - I have three sections for today's Three on Thursday and each of those sections has three items under it.  How weird/cool is that??

Happy Thursday!

52 Week Blog Challenge

So, I was flipping through Pinterest the other day and stumbled across a 52-week blog challenge from 2014.  It had some cute, doable post ideas and they seemed easy enough that I might stand a chance of keeping up with the challenge once my summer work season starts back up. I decided to give it a try.  So....

(By the way, in case you take a look at the original challenge - I'm not going to do them in order.  For one, the challenge is 5 years old so who cares.  And, more importantly, my blog, my rules.  I'll do it any old way I feel like.)

So, this week's topic - What's always in my grocery cart?

Well, I'm not sure what it says about us but, every single time we go to the grocery store, we have to buy water, mayonnaise, American cheese and toilet paper.

We buy a lot of water because we drink a lot of water but we don't drink it from the tap.  We spent too many years drinking THE most delicious well water on earth and got pretty spoiled.  Now, none of us can stand to drink chlorinated public water from the tap.

The toilet paper because... well, there's all that water being drunk....  But it's also because my dear spouse insists on buying the crazy expensive "soft" brands that come with something like six sheets to a roll and costs $12.99 for a four-pack.  It makes me nuts because I was raised on good old, el-cheapo Scott where each roll costs something like 25 cents and has 1,000 squares of toilet tissue on it.  But apparently, buying the expensive toilet paper is a marriage deal breaker around here so...  Into the cart it goes.  Every single time we shop.  Every. Single. Time.

As for the American cheese and the mayo, who knows.  The boy child did eat a LOT of American cheese growing up but he hasn't lived with us for several years.  It will be interesting to see if now that we are dogless, if our cheese consumption changes.

How about you?  What's always in your cart?

And on a totally different topic, don't forget to come out for Sit and Stitch tonight if you are in the Richmond/Ashland, VA area.

Hats Off!

So, our temperatures dropped suddenly and today's high was in the low 20's and we've experienced a few single digit nights... So you'd think I'd be frantically finishing my nice, warm, heavy sweater.... But no, that would just make way too much sense.  Instead, I've been knitting hats.

In addition to the Chevlace hat I started recently, I've also finished two hats with furry pompoms.

Firecracker Heather Hat

Have I ever mentioned how much I despise pompoms on hats?  You put the hat on and then you got this ... weird, weighted 'thing' flopping around on top of your head.  They drive me insane.  Completely insane.  But my Etsy shop customers seem to like them and you gotta give the people what they want so... I broke down and ordered a bunch of faux fur pompoms in different colors to sew onto a few of my hats.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/jeanniegrayknits

I knit this Firecracker Heather Wool of the Andes hat first. I love the color of this yarn, although it looks more like a vine ripened tomato than a firecracker.  It's a glorious orangey-red and I think I need a sweater knit from it.  Whatever.  I topped the hat off with a black with silver tipped faux fur pompom.  The pompom looks like it was made to go with that Firecracker yarn.

I liked the firecracker hat so much, I immediately started another, this time with Onyx Heather Wool of the Andes.  

Onyx Heather Hat

(Sorry.  Please excuse the creepy serial killer eyes, no make-up, still wearing my pj's at 3 p.m. look.)

I topped this one off with a 'natural' faux fur pompom.  I don't know what it is about this color combination, but I'm in love!  I despise wearing hats (LOVE to knit them, hate to wear them) and I think I've already expressed my hatred of pompoms but...  I just absolutely love this hat and am keeping it for myself.  No Etsy shop for this one!  I even wore it around the house for a while and the pompom didn't wiggle or annoy me at all.  

Now, let's just hope it stays cold for a while so I can actually wear my new hat out of the house sometime.  I might even put on clothes and brush my hair for the occasion.

What???

What???  Seriously???

I officially own no DK weight yarn.  How is that possible?  I have drawers and drawers and drawers full, entire dressers full, more bins full than I can count, a large cedar chest and two closets full of yarn...  And not a single skein is marked DK.  How is that possible?

The closest I came was something labeled "sporty."

So why the urgent need for DK weight yarn?

My local yarn shop (remember me talking about Center of the Yarniverse opening?) hosted their very first Sit and Stitch this past week. 

First ever Sit and Stitch, photo courtesy of Center of the Yarniverse

The shop itself is on the smallish side so they worked out a deal with Ashland Coffee and Tea to have it at their place.  Good thing too!  Twenty-eight people showed up for the event!  The location couldn't have been better suited for the group.  Lots of large tables,  sofas and comfy seating areas.  The cafe wasn't open for business so we didn't get coffee and cookies, but it was still a fantastic time. 

So, what does the Yarniverse's first ever Sit and Stitch have to do with my need of DK weight yarn?

Andrea Craig from Knitting for Sanity was there with her Chevlace hat.  I instantly fell in love.

Chevlace Hat

The only hitch - the pattern calls for DK weight yarn.

After tearing through my entire yarn stash and not finding any, I considered making the trek to the yarn shop but it was after hours and pouring down rain.  (When in the last 400 days has it not been pouring down rain???)  Unable to wait, I decided to go with two skeins I found called Ewe So Sporty.  I also decided to go with knitting the medium sized hat.  Because as you know, I'm not bothering with a gauge check... and I figured it would still be wearable by some human if the hat turned out slightly smaller or larger than expected.  The main goal here is to knit the pattern, not to have a hat for my own head.

So I'm using Ewe So Sporty in a pale gray and a pale blue.  The gray will be the inside liner and the blue will be the outside.  And I'm saying a prayer as I type this... because I was just reading the ball bands trying to find color names and realized the skeins contain almost 100 yards less than the pattern's recommended yarn.  Andrea did say that two skeins of the recommended yarn was enough to make two hats though so.... Keeping my fingers crossed.

And while you pray for me and keep your fingers crossed too, please ignore the weird coloring in the photo.  Apparently I'm running out of colored ink so everything I print has that weird stripey effect.  Lovely.

And, while you are praying and crossing your fingers and ignoring weird stripes on photos.... if you are in the Richmond area, come join the next Sit and Stitch.  It's going to be every Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Ashland Coffee and Tea.  Hope to see you there!

Larry's look of scorn

Larry's look of scorn.

Larry is looking at me with scorn and disbelief.  

Yes, I did cast on another project before finishing the sweater, but in my defense, I needed a small, portable project.

Catching Up Part 2

I'm still trying to catch up with the Christmas knitting report.  But first, a giant thank you for all the recent love and support you've sent my way.  You'll never know how much it's been appreciated.  

Christmas Day is my mom's death anniversary and as much as I've always loved the holiday, I struggle with it now.  And December was just comically bad.  We definitely experienced a Murphy's Law December.  And then starting 2019 off with the loss of Minnie...  I haven't been in the best place, but your support and thoughtfulness have kept me going.  And I thank you!  I also apologize for all the whining I've been doing.  But mostly, I thank you.  

But enough about my weird head space.  Let's talk knitting...

Easy Ragland Christmas Eve Cast On

My Christmas Eve Cast On project was Easy Ragland from The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book.  The sweater's name says it all!  It's truly an easy ragland pattern that I've knit... gosh, probably 15 times.  

I got home from my December 23rd shift in the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning and knew that if I was going to get something cast on on Christmas Eve, it must be cast on then.  So, around 5:00 a.m., I started knitting.  

I started with a mock cable neckline...  And by 6 a.m. I decided the sweater needed some color.  An hour into the project and I was already bored.  Not a good sign!  (If you're wondering, the yarn I'm using is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Mineral Heather.)  

Being 6 a.m. and starting to get sleepy, I didn't put a lot of thought into modifying the design.  I simply grabbed my nearby copy of Alterknit Stitch Dictionary and quickly chose Beacon (p. 42) and a barely used skein of Blossom Heather Wool of the Andes that happened to be laying near my desk.  (It's these wee hours of the morning/end of shift times when I'm always glad I'm a slob and don't put things away when I finish with them.) 

If I had it to do over, I'd have chosen 1) a different ragland increase,  2) a different accent design, and 3) a different color yarn for said accent.  I didn't try the sweater on, or really even pay that much attention to my modification until I'd already knit more than half the body.  

My mods aren't Horrible but they aren't great.  I followed the written pattern for the ragland increases and they break up the color work.  Instead of being rounded, the design came out squared.  And I probably should have knit two repeats of the design instead of one but....  And the pink....  as pinks go, I love the Blossom Heather colorway and it looks good with the purpley Mineral Heather but... it's kinda a little too girly for me.  I just keep thinking, am I really going to wear a pink and purple sweater?  But like I said, it's not Horrible so yeah, I will wear it.  And feel like I'm a 12  year old girl when I do.

Three on Thursday

I'm joining Carole for Three on Thursday...

Three things about life without pets:

1.  I now have to remember to rinse my dishes before putting them into the dishwasher.  It's been 14 years since I've had to rinse a plate.

2.  I have a lot of spare time on my hands now that I don't have to keep putting the trash back into the trash cans for the second... fourth....tenth time.

3.  We need to be a little more careful about eating things like popcorn and Cheetos.  There's no longer a four-legged vacuum cleaner licking up the dropped pieces from the floor.  We can no longer brush the crumbs off the kitchen counter and have them magically hoovered up by the dog before they even hit the floor.  And dammit!  The family needs to remember to stop throwing tomato slices on the floor.  I never realized how many tomatoes we eat until we no longer had a tomato loving dog who lived to catch tomato slices mid air.

Christmas catch up

While the first snow of 2019 falls, I'm playing catch up with showing you some of my Christmas knits.  Please forgive the photo quality.  I was hastily snapping photos in bad lighting at 4 a.m. moments before cramming the gifts into their wrappings.

Hitchhiker

I knit my sister a Hitchhiker.  I used Knit Pick's Laurelhurst Hawthorne.  My sister lives a pretty busy lifestyle full of dogs and grandkids so I thought washable wool was called for.  I have to admit, I had a hard time parting with this one.  I came dangerously close to keeping it for myself.  I just love the 'pond scum' greens and browns in the yarn.

VCU Cowl

And a VCU cowl....

VCU Hat

And a VCU hat for my brother in law.  The hat turned out hideously bright, but it's VCU black and yellow so....  The yarn for the hat and cowl came from my new local yarn shop, Center of the Yarniverse.

F-bomb

And F-bombs for the supervisors at work.  The F-bomb project idea started off as me knitting one as a joke for a friend, then it sort of snowballed into all nine supervisors in my department getting one.  I was a little hesitant about giving them but they seemed to go over well.  I was a little surprised when several of the supervisors immediately sent pictures of the F-bombs to their mothers.  Thankfully the moms thought they were funny too.

And because it's snowing (sadly, more like sleeting mixed with a little frozen rain now)...

Snow on cedar

There's just something magical about the way snow hangs on the cedar's branches.

Lost

I'm lost.

This past Thursday, we said goodbye to Minnie.

She'd been showing her age for a while and we knew our time with her was short but....

Wednesday night, she seemed restless and kept walking up to us with her head hanging low.  She ate her dinner over the course of about 4 hours instead of her normal 30 seconds.

Thursday morning, I woke up and couldn't find her.  She wasn't on her bed beside our bed.  She wasn't on her bed in the hallway.  She wasn't on the upstairs sofa and she wasn't on the down stairs sofa. We have an always-open dog door so I thought maybe she'd gone out and couldn't get back up the steps to come in.  But nope.  Where was she?  I finally found her in a bathroom, laying on the floor, gasping for breath and unable to move or even lift her head.

I called the vet and changed that afternoon's pedicure appointment to a "We're having an emergency and are on the way" appointment.  And less than 45 minutes after arriving at the vet, she was gone.

Minnie was the last of our four legged children and I just don't know what to do with myself.  I feel lost and the house is just way too quiet now.

Three on Thursday - A New Year's Celebration

I celebrated New Year's by kitchnering my Hulk vs. Slytherin socks before I went in to work.  Why was it such a celebration?

Hulk vs. Slytherin Socks

1.  My kitchner job worked!  It's always questionable.  I always, ALWAYS, get interrupted and I loose my place while mumbling, "Purl on, purl off, knit on, knit off...."

2.  It only took me eleven months and two days to knit the pair of socks.  The first sock was on the needles for eight months to the day, the second sock took four days.  Eight months vs. four days.  How does that happen??

3.  It was New Year's!  Of course I celebrated! 

The socks are obviously not identical.  I didn't even try to make them so. Each sock was knit from a different skein and the dyelots didn't match.  One skein looked to contain much more green and purple (The Hulk) and the other green and gray (Slytherin.)  The colors ended up matching much better than expected.  About the only difference is that one sock has 'dirty white' grayish stripes and speckles in some of the stripes while the other sock has no speckles and the the 'dirty white' isn't all that dirty. It's more of an oatmeal color.

No matter what the socks look like, they fit and they're warm.  Exactly what I was hoping for.

Happy New Year!

Joy

So, pardon me while I just jump right in.  I've been away from the blog longer than I meant to be.  Christmas got the best of me.  And working full time through Christmas!  Good grief!  How do people do that year after year?  I know I'm spoiled, spoiled rotten, and I'm Way out of practice dealing with Christmas, a job and a family all at once but...  It has been 24 years since I worked at Christmas time.  But still....  Wow!  Hat's off to those of you who not only survive it but, thrive throughout it.  If it wasn't for Amazon and my daughter doing all the baking, we would not have had any Christmas at all.

Anyway...

Phew!  I'm glad it's over!  And let's move on to 2019.

Joy

My word for 2019 will be Joy.  And as luck would have it, the day after I put it in writing, I found this Joy cup in the dollar section at Target.   And it's already bringing much joy.  The cup itself is a nice gray color and I seem to be slightly obsessed with gray these days.  It has an awesome travel lid that doesn't leak when I'm my silly self and bend over to pet the dog with a cup in my hand.  (I can't count the number of times I have dumped my drink all over the poor dog and floor from doing that.)  My hot drinks stay hot much longer than in a normal coffee cup.  And of course, it's a constant reminder to find the joy in everyday moments, which is something I desperately need.

And speaking of joy....  Meet Larry.  Larry the Lama.  Is he not adorable?  He arrived in the mail the other day and has kept me company at my desk ever since.  He's so soft and a stroke or two of his soft fur calms me right down when I'm stressing over 2019 budgets, taxes and general to-do lists.  He may become my blog mascot of sorts.

So, as I mentioned earlier, please bear with me.  I'll get to the knitting soon enough.  So much has happened since I stepped away from the blog back in mid-December.  There was Christmas, New Year's, Winterfest, life, and of course, plenty of knitting.  I'll tell you all about it but probably not in time-line order and not today.  Today, I'm going to go be joyful and knit another round.  Or ten.