‘tis better to give

I received the following email from my Dad this morning:

Hi Alyssa,

Just so you know:

MN (my little brother) took his car early to go to school.

NH (my stepmom) took the Volvo for a dentist appointment.

Dad's car's in Canaan.

MM (my little sis) had school this morning here in Wellesley.

Dad had to walk MM to school in her stroller.

Temperature at 2 degrees - Wind Chill at -25 degrees.

Dad wore his new hat (Alpaca).

Dad wrapped MM’s head in his scarf (...also Alpaca).

MM’s at school.

Dad had to walk home.

Temperature still at 2 degrees - Wind Chill now at -29 degrees.

Dad wore his new hat (Alpaca).

Dad wrapped his head in his scarf (...also Alpaca).

Dad's now home.

Shivering.

...but head and face are nice and toasty!

Thanks ...and ...

Love,

Dad

And THAT is why I will always knit for him. The hat in question is the one I made him this Christmas - my own design which I so brilliantly didn’t take a picture of. The scarf is the Bobble Blue that I knit him for his last birthday.

Nothing like a grateful recipient.

You haven’t missed much in my long absence - here are the highlights.

1. I have decided to go to French Pastry School. This is a complete departure from anything I’ve ever wanted to do with my life, and I think it’s going to be awesome. I’m scared shitless - most of the things I do have come fairly easy for me, and baking isn’t one of them. I think that’s why I’ll be successful. But it still makes me shake in my boots a little.

2. With our house off the market we’ve been exploring other options for leaving sometime next year (trying to sell again, of course, at that point). One of them is med school for P.Knitty in St. Kitts. This isn’t a new idea for us - we’d discussed the caribbean before - but now it looks very promising. Anyone else want to live in the caribbean? Yeah. No complaints here.

3. I knit something.

This was for a Scarf Exchange - this is the Angel Pearls Beaded Scarf by Sivia Harding. I am extremely proud of this. It took pretty much all of my knitting skills to pull this off:

I used one ball of Filatura di Crosa Superior, and I cannot recommend that yarn highly enough. One ball was plenty for this scarf, so even at $25 each I think it was a bargain. It’s so light and lofty you can barely feel the yarn going through your fingers as you knit with it, and the finished product is obscenely lightweight, even with all those beads. Those are 8/0 brown beads, and I used a US 5 Addi Turbo needle. Do you Rav? Click here.

I was sad to send this one away, but it felt great to knit something some delicious and complicated for a stranger. Especially around the holidays.

4. I knit something else.

This is Quant from Knitty Winter ’07. I’d never knit entrelac before, and was always kind of scared of it. One afternoon I was looking for a distraction from what seemed like endless Holiday Knitting, and I came across a ball of Rowan Tapestry in my stash and this pattern. I turned off the TV and started knitting. Several hours later and I feel pretty confident - the next afternoon I had an FO. It’s a bit big, but I’m proud nonetheless. Eunny’s entrelac socks here I come! Oh - I used some US 6 bamboo straights for this. Ravelry page is here.

5. On the needles now - a scarf for my sister that I’m basing on this Anthropologie scarf. She wanted me to figure out the pattern. I think I have. Once it’s done if I’m successful I’ll post the pattern here (it’ll be free, of course). Trust me, if I can pull this off you’ll want to knit it. It’s stunning.

I’m also knitting a double-knit argyle scarf from Son of Stitch n’ Bitch. I have to say, so far this is my favorite SnB book, and by FAR my favorite book for men. I think I would knit almost every sweater in here. If you’ve been looking for a good man-knits resource, this is it. I promise. I know there are some negative reviews on Amazon, but at least look this over next time you’re at the book store. The Rav page for the pattern I’m knitting is here.

That’s it from the Mongrel side of the tracks. I’ve missed blogging. Christmas was hard - I visited my dad, stepmom, little brother and little sister. I’m not sure my dad’s marriage is going to last, so there was the kind of fighting that brings me back to being a kid when I just wanted to hide in the bathroom and sit on the floor with my knees to my chest. Apparently this is a fairly common reaction, and it makes me feel a bit better to know I’m not the only one.

But the brighter side of things always prevails, I think, and I while I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolutions this year I did promise myself one thing: I will try everything I bake. Because hell, otherwise what fun would that be?

Want to be a taster for me? Nah, I’m sure you don’t like pastries.

As I do more baking I’ll post pictures. Mmmm. Pastry pr0n.

Happy and merry and all that to you guys. Hope Santa came.