skip to main |
skip to sidebar
January, day two. Taking the better part of December and requiring every bit of determination I had, the throw was finally completed two, or was it three?, days before Christmas.
Knit three, slip three, ad nauseum. What unrelenting tedium,
and it will be a long time before I try something like that again. I still have two sweater projects that need to be finished, (I have developed this counterproductive tendency toward not finishing things),
but frankly, I would be perfectly happy to knit nothing at all for quite a while. Then, this morning, I thought, "I should knit myself a hat".
My inherited orchid began blooming on Christmas Eve. It's an Oncidium, Sharry Baby, and it is perfuming the living room with a delicious vanilla fragrance. My other orchids, purchased inexpensively as a result of some volunteering at a college plant sale, are still green, and in some cases, actively growing, but no promise of flowers yet. 
Alternatively, the cats are well and supremely happy and acting like kittens again, thanks to the success of their new diet, lavish amounts of playtime, and lots of love.
Here's to 2009. May we all find what we are looking for this year.
I am not a locavore, but I find great delight and comfort in knowing where my food has come from.
This week, I found Rainbow carrots, kale, garlic,and Delicata squash at the farmer's market. Honestly, I bought the carrots only because I thought they were beautiful. I have a bushel of carrots at home, but these were so extraordinary looking that I couldn't pass them up. Now, with Thanksgiving looming, I wish I had bought more. They are not sweet, in fact, they have an earthy, almost bitter quality. However, the kale, frost-kissed, is remarkably sweet and tender.
Finally, it's Mutsu season,
so a trip to Cold Spring Orchard was in order.
Cold Spring is a research facility of UMass Amherst and it is located in what is certainly one of the most beautiful sites in the Valley. They grow over one hundred varieties of apple including Goldrush, an apple I've never tried, but which is said to keep exceptionally well, retaining its crisp texture and developing its flavor over time. The Mutsu, developed in the Mutsu province of Japan, is a cross between the Golden Delicious and the Japanese Indo apples and it's one of my favorites. It's incredibly crisp, with a sweet-tart flavor. I've no pie-baking scheduled, but I think I could be persuaded to make the irresistibly toothsome Nigella Lawson Ginger-Jam Bread and Butter Pudding I made a few years ago. 
Someone is not going to be happy. An increasing dependence on that carb-laden Fancy Feast has turned la belle Foof into a frantic, snack-addicted tubster. My well researched plan for rehabilitating the dear one required a
longish investigative visit to Dave's, a local pet food shop. I left with one can of Wellness Beef & Chicken, one can of Wellness Core Something or Other with Peas and Flaxseed, one can of Nearly Raw, But Still Edible Chicken and Other Things, and one can of plain quail for Bob, who has been doing a bit of podging out as well. If success is dependent on determination, then these cats will like their new dietary regime. Day One dosing instructions; a soupcon of new glop mixed in with a modest amount of old glop. Result? She ate it! The whole thing! A modest victory,
but a victory nonetheless. Tomorrow is another day.
That's it, just pictures of cats.
Two weeks ago it was there, and then, today, it seemed not to be there, but then, there it was; the bundle of Berroco Smart Mohair in the delicious Blue Opal. Finding it was integral to the Christmas gift plot I'm about to launch: a knitted throw. For Mum. So when I began feeling anxious about not finding it, and then relief when I finally spotted it on a shelf, I thought, "I'd better get this right now, because, the next time, when I look for it, it will be gone!".
I drove off feeling pretty pleased with myself for having had the foresight to cheat an imaginary and wholly unlikely fate, and
this put me in mind of a phrase my mother has used once or twice in similar situations: Moscow Rules. This, supposedly, is exactly the sort of thing you say when you spot something you really want, embrace the "now", and resist dithering.
This is exactly the sort of thing I never get the chance to say because I am always dithering when I should be succumbing to wild impulse. So today I succumbed and now I get to say, "Moscow Rules", except I have the fundamental decency to admit that I really have no idea what this means, so it seems a little hollow. I know what my mother thinks this means, and she claims to have cribbed this from someone who attended a pretty good school, has affluent parents, married exceptionally "well", and is pretty much known for succumbing to wild impulse. My rule, which has nothing to do with Moscow or any other Eastern European city is, "When in doubt, look it up", so I did.
The Moscow Rules, (the word "rules" is a noun here; bear in mind that Mom, et al are using it as a verb),
refer to specific rules of engagement as developed by the CIA for use in espionage. They are as follows:
- Assume nothing.
- Never go against your gut.
- Everyone is potentially under opposition control.
- Don't look back; you are never completely alone.
- Go with the flow, blend in.
- Vary your pattern and stay within your cover.
- Lull them into a sense of complacency.
- Don't harass the opposition.
- Pick the time and place for action.
- Keep your options open.
See the Wiki link here.
No good reason then to say "Moscow Rules" ever again, I think.
The new sweater is now properly underway. The sleeves are being reknit in a rather impromptu fashion. As I'm using a different yarn, they were clearly going to be too large if I kept to the instructions, so I've been revising the pattern as I go along. One sleeve is completed, the other is in progress. The back is done, the front, yet to be knitted, features the same lace pattern as the sleeves. I'm hoping it will all fit together nicely and be wearable.
Post script: I hated this damn sweater. I took it apart.
