We are Amused

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Entirely Miss Reverend Lady Cindi the Simple of Puddleston St Droop Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Not sure I want my Dean to see the Simple bit. But I may ask my students to call me Lady Cindi this semester.

F.O.'s believe it or not

Yes indeed, folks, step right up and see the most amazing sight! I have actually finished a couple of things. Here's proof:

and more proof:


O.K., so the socks are knit from worsted weight yarn and the pincushion is just a wee thing, but they are, technically, finished objects. The pincushion is a practice piece for the Gansey workshop being put on by Elizabeth Lovick through the EZasPi Yahoo group. I've already taken a Gansey workshop, from Beth Brown Reinsel herself no less, but this one will be great, too. Liz Lovick knows so much about traditional knitting from England and Scotland, and given my obsession with all things Scottish, you just know I'm going to soak up all of the information I can get.

I'm still blogging from my office. Wanna see? Here's part of my bookcase, on which sits (sit? not sure about the grammar on that one) my GOP elephant and Democratic donkey. These come in handy as props during my boring lectures about political parties.

Here's the top of my filing cabinet:

For those of you who aren't from Sacramento, Heather Fargo is our mayor. I used to work for her, and the mug is from her first campaign. I haven't worked for her for a few years, but I still consider her one of the finest people I've ever had the privilege to know. I'd show you the top of my desk, but the messiness of it would scandalize my mom, should she ever get a computer and actually see this blog.

Still waiting!

I'm still waiting to find out what's keeping me from being able to blog from home, so I'm writing again from campus. I came in today to finish up the spring syllabi and start on the course calendars. Classes start next week, so I've got to get organized.

I recently bought a digital camera of my very own, and I've been taking a few pictures. Here's one of my friend Laura's dog, Rascal. You'll notice that I didn't capture Laura and Emmy knitting, which shows you what my priorities are when there's a dog in the room. I probably should have been focusing on my own project (the never-ending Feather and Fan shawl from GOL), but Rascal's just so blasted cute that I couldn't resist snapping a shot of him in his cool pimp jacket.

It's Not My Fault!!!

I've been meaning to post, and I even have pics, but for some reason, I can't get into this blog from my home computer. I'm writing this from my office at work, so it must be something wrong with the settings on my home computer. When I get it fixed, I'll post pics of our great Christmas in North Carolina. Happy New Year!

Christmas Cheer

I've found a group of friends through knitting. They're wonderful women, every one. We meet once or twice a week to knit, talk and laugh together. We might never have met save for our love of knitting; we don't run in the same circles, so to speak. We each have different sorts of jobs, we're a range of ages, and while we all live in Sacramento, we're not neighbors. But we certainly have a lot of fun together. Last weekend, we decided to have a holiday dinner together after our usual afternoon of knitting. Here we are, fed and happy:

And here's a picture of the absolutely adorable bag Beth made for me!

How cute is this??? She made one for each of us. Mine's a dog theme, because Beth knows I love dogs. Emmy collects pears, so hers is made of material patterned with pears. And so on. Honestly, I don't think I've ever met anyone as kind as Beth in all my life. It's the perfect size to hold a ball of yarn, and the stuff coming out of it is my first effort at dyeing.

Well, back to the facecloths. 2 down, 2 to go.

A letter to my Sockret Pal

Dear Sockret Pal:

I must apologize to you for neglecting this sad little blog for so long. I realize that it must not be much fun for you to visit me and find the same old post every time. So I am turing over a new leaf and promising to update more often. Today I thought I'd post on my Christmas knitting. Not much this year, but enough to keep me busy. First, there's this:


I'm making my mom a hat. She wants a red hat to wear when she goes on her daily walk. A bright red hat. Fine. Mom wants a screaming red hat, mom gets a screaming red hat. I was thinking maybe Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. But it doesn't come in bright enough red. In fact, in my search I found no decent yarn in the right color. So I settled on an acrylic/wool blend. Now, I fully admit that I'm a yarn snob. I like merino and cashmere and silk. But I love mom more, so I'm being a martyr and knitting away with yarn that makes my hands feel oogy. I swear, this stuff squeaks. But the color is great (for mom anyway). I plan to offer the hat to Santa, just in case Rudolph isn't available on Christmas Eve. It's a cool pattern: knit a cabled band then pick up stitches along the edge and knit the body of the hat. I have about 7 repeats to go on the band, then mindless knitting from there.

I'm also making these:


My sister lost a bet to me and had to buy me yarn as payment. She picked out this, and told me it was for ankle socks for her. Yeah, I won the bet, she gets the socks. She also got the blond hair and blue eyes, but that's another story. I'm making up the pattern for the anklets as I go. Unfortunately, I didn't write down anything for this first one, so I'll have to guess on the second sock.

I'm also making a couple of face cloths for my cousins, which will go into their stockings with some great soap. But they are extremely boring (the washcloths, not the cousins, who are quite charming), and not worthy of a photo. Even Cooper thinks the washcloths are boring.

An abundance of riches

Now that the weather is changing, I've been able to wear my handknit socks, and I'm enjoying putting some of the things I've made to use. But I've also been wrapping a beautiful scarf around my neck, and it's one I didn't knit for myself. It was made by Amber, my International Scarf Exchange pal, and it's beautiful! I'm sure this photo doesn't do it justice, but it's lovely and soft and many shades of blue. Absolutely perfect with jeans. I'm very sorry I didn't get a photo of it posted sooner! We're having camera issues.

As many of you (who am I kidding?) know, I am a bit of a sucker for secret pal type exchanges. I was drawn to Sockret Pal because I love knitting socks, and because I like the idea of being able to send someone enough yarn to make a whole project. Well, the other day I got my first package from my Sockret Pal, and I love it! She's done some research on me, because it included two Harry Potter-related patches, one for Gryffindor and one for Slytherin (boo, hiss!!). There is also the book Knitting Goddess, 4 beautiful and unique stitch markers and some lovely hand cream that I've already used a couple of times. Here's a photo:

While I'm not the sappy sort, I like knowing that all across the world, knitters are thinking about other knitters, picking out goodies they hope will make someone else happy.