Wow!!!

I'm so happy! I've just had a sock pattern accepted by Knit Picks in their Indy Designer Program!! It's the sock that I designed for my husband for Christmas.

Plus, I have a design coming out in Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrot's new book, Sock Club: Join the Knitting Adventure. Here's a picture of the sock when it was in its infancy. It's called Zigs and Zags.

I'm currently knitting a couple of lace shawls -- an Escher-style design by Kalinumba and Moni's Panama shawl -- and also a test-knit sweater.

We had a great Christmas. Everyone enjoyed Christmas dinner -- including the cat -- who's washing up after the meal.

a squirrel

a picture of a squirrel at the corner of the back porch..... In the back is a row of evergreens lining the back of our property. The squirrels (and, in summer, the chipmunks also) act as though they own the place.

This year, I've finished up gifts early -- at least for me. I almost forgot to knit my DH something... But, I'm all done now.

The snow is deeper now than when the picture was taken (last week). But, it's not clear how long it will last. We're on the border line between snow and freezing rain.

dishcloths

This year it seems that I've been doing different kinds of projects in spurts. I hadn't knit any dishcloths since February -- except for the 2 k1b ones in October, including a honeycomb one -- and those were just to try out patterns. In the last week, I've knit 6 of them -- all Maile's designs.

The designs in the picture are: Angles, Rip Tide, Just Fancy, Diamonds Plus, Shield, and Tango Lace. I used size 7 needles and Peaches & Creme yarn -- a skein of Olive for 2 of the cloths, Potpourri for another 2, and Shrimp for the final 2. They're all just over 7" wide and long -- which meant that one skein worked for 2 cloths with a little bit left over.

I had trouble with Just Fancy. I couldn't wrap my mind out of how to do the stitch in Row 6. So, I finally figured out another way, I think, of getting 2 sts from 3. First I k2tog'ed. Then I moved the second of the 2 sts in the k2tog back to the left hand needle -- as shown in the picture. Then I knit that st and the next through back loop.

I'm also knitting one of Kalinumba's lace shawls -- which is why I felt the need to knit something with larger needles. And I'm looking forward to Moni's shawl KAL starting on Christmas and MMario's shawl KAL starting on New Year's.

We're having the first measurable snowfall of the season today. The others have been just dustings. Then tomorrow, an extremely low low-pressure system is supposed to come through. The local weathermen say that it is supposed to produce extremely strong winds and is the lowest one to come through the area since 1975 and the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I'll have to see how it ranks with Colorado winds. It's not uncommon for Chinook winds in Colorado to get to a hundred miles per hour -- gaining speed as they race down the front range of the Rockies. (And, as I've probably said here before, Chicago isn't called the Windy City because of its winds -- but because of its politicians.)

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. Our DS1 visited us from California. Our DS2 was here as well -- from DeKalb. It was nice having the 2 of them here. They put up some of our Christmas lights. The lights look nice -- if I do say so myself.

People in the neighborhood seem to have more lights this year than last. Also, a lot of people in the neighborhood put up their lights the Saturday before Thanksgiving.