Grace in small things: six

1. The sleek cleanliness of a wooden floor in the ten minutes between the time it's cleaned and the time someone tracks in a new smattering of fir needles.

2. The single snowflake that fell on my cheek last night, which made me catch my breath and hold very still as if it might flit away like a butterfly.

3. The Mae Ploy yellow curry paste I used for the first time last night to make a perfect, delicious meal of vegetables in yellow curry coconut sauce over rice.

4. The seemingly everlasting nature of the enormous tin of cocoa I bought at Costco last year.

5. The silkiness of the cowl (my first) I finished knitting on Saturday. I am still unconvinced of the utility of a cowl / neckwarmer, but this particular garment is certainly delicious against my skin.

Sockcess!

I started knitting my first sock sometime back in...March, maybe? April? I found this very helpful online tutorial and knit away until I had produced one minimally screwed up ankle sock. Emboldened by my accomplishment, I immediately cast on its mate...and then that first half-inch of ribbing sat in my knitting basket for the next six months. Last week a few folks from work got together for a knitting night, so I pulled out the lonely second sock and returned my attentions to it again. Nine days later, I finally have a pair of socks!

Alas, this angle makes my ankles look enormous. Please don't judge me.



When I bought the yarn, I defiantly chose a colorway with all my favorite colors from about age 14. Teal! Purple! Blue! Why pretend I don't still love them; with these socks I reclaim my secret favorite colors once again. Next thing you know, I'll be carrying my dayplanner in a sparkly Trapper Keeper with a unicorn on the cover.



Alas, at knitting night last week I got a bit distracted, chatting and helping a coworker learn to knit. Can you see the sad wonky mistake I made, the first thing I notice when I see these socks?



CAN YOU SEE IT NOW?



It's okay, I'm still proud of them. I look forward to wearing them in the spring when ankle socks make sense again.

Already out of things to say

I am halfway through the knitting of a second sock. The first sock was finished sometime around...March? April? Clearly I'll never be a super sock knitter. One pair a year...that's not even enough to let me build up a collection of beautiful, handknitted socks. A collection I could likely never bring myself to wear, being too aware of the enormous investment of time and energy in each sock to risk wearing them out. No, I'll frame each one and gaze proudly at them on the wall or something logical like that.

Chloe had a vet appointment this evening. We haven't yet made any effort to find a new vet closer to the south end, so we had to drive nearly up to Shoreline to get there. It was just a routine check-up and vaccination, but she ended up getting a blood test for heartworms too, so she had to endure four injections. As I helped pin her down in a corner so the vet could stab a needle in her shoulder, she looked utterly woeful. Her deep and grievous sense of betrayal was quickly left behind after a small handful of treats, though. Then we went back out to the front desk and I had to endure a painful siphoning myself when I paid the bill.

Oh, well, she's still cheaper than a kid, even if she's also far less useful. She is a total drain on society! She has no inherent value! She benefits nobody, and her living expenses are an indulgence which should induce fits of guilt in my soul!

My counterargument? Well, just wook at dat shmookum widdle boo boo face:



Also, if you should ever happen to misplace a small tidbit of, say, dried cow liver, Chloe will detect and home in on it like a meat-seeking missile. Case closed!