Monday, January 05, 2009

Ooh Baby It's COLD Outside!

Well I'm back. All the falderal and hoopla of the holidays is finally over. We had a lovely Christmas and I caught the first baby of 2009 for the city at 0028 on 1/1/09! Whoohoo! I've spent the last several days de-Christmasing and de-cluttering the house. Sent bags of clothing and clutter to the Salvation Army.

It has been COLDER than snot for the past week or so. Temps have dipped to -28 (yes that's a negative number!) and we've not risen above -7 in 5 days. It's been clear and sunny in the few hours of daylight we enjoy at this time of year. And we are gaining almost a minute of daylight every single day now!

First FO of 2009.....an alpaca hat for a sweet young man. Araucania Atacam in Blue Granite (a blue/grey variagated) knit on size 4s for a dense fabric. Very soft. Love this yarn. About 1 skein for an 8yr old boy, probably would need another half skein for a grownup man size. I made up the pattern as I went. Deep ribbing for folding up over ears, stockinette on the crown. bottom up.


Next up, and blocking as we speak...Helena from Knitty.com in one of my favorite mother friendly yarns...Lion Brand Cotton-Ease. Love this warm TerraCotta color. Pattern is as easy and cute as can be. Just need to hem and do the neck/front edging and then decide upon a closure. I'm thinking double loop button closure instead of the ties. We'll see. This is for the new daughter of one of our CMAs.



One the needles is YET ANOTHER HAT. My standard top down earflap "Churro" in Needful Yarns Kaleidoscope. I LOVE THIS YARN and seriously wish I'd purchased more instead of the few measly balls I picked up. It's superwash wool, cable construction. So soft. So sproingy. So washable! Don't mean to be a yarn-ho here or anything, but if anyone reading this has any extra Kaleidoscope that they won't be using...I'll buy it off of ya...I lurf it. This hat is a going away gift for one of my favorite male L&D nurses. He just finished his MS and took a job with the State. I'll miss you Reynaldo!

There are two bald eagles in the cottonwood tree behind my house this morning. Their feathers are all fluffed up and they look fat and sassy. It's so clear, so crisply cold. I'm staying warm inside doing laundry and reorganizing the stash. I have an overnighter on-call tonight so I'll try to get a nap this afternoon before going in.

In my neverending quest to abort the depression that comes with isolation and winter in Alaska...I joined a BUNCO group. It will start on Jan. 12th. I am SO excited. I was snubbed by the Bunco queen at an office I worked in years ago...it scarred me for life. So it was a total Sally Field ("you like me, you really like me") moment when I was invited. I'm also looking forward to a VACATION in February. Why is VACATION capitalized? Because it's a real, honest to gosh, going away VACATION. I'm taking DD to Zihuatenejo, Mexico for 10 days in February. We. Cannot. Wait. Just us two girls, doing the beach. oh yeah! More on these developments later.

I'm not going to try promising to post more often. It's frankly just not in me right now. But as new FOs come off the needles, you'll continue to see just what it is that the MIDWIFE KNITS! Until next time....knit on!

9 comments:

Scrabblequeen said...

I am sooo jealous! I too, was snubbed by the Bunco Queen in years past. Still not looking good...guess I'll have to start my own deal, show them. Meh. Lucky DD, too, to get to go to Me-Hi-CO in Feb!

Joan said...

Happy New Year to the AK lovlies, including Grandma Clara. Mexico in February? You've been a veeeeerrry good girl! Don't know what a Bunco is but they are idiots to have snubbed you in the past. I knit 7 cowls for men & women and we loved them as the temps hit zero. Have you considered it as another project? Seems perfect for AK.
Congrats on the New Year baby. What did you win? ;-p

junior_goddess said...

Bunko! YAY! Make sure you don't sit next to the biatch with fake nails, or she'll hurt ya!

I have some Kaleidescope. Consider it on call for your house, mmm k? I have the one evening sky, sun setting over the sleeping lady color, and wine. You can't have the wine. Pttbbpp! just drop me a line.

Grace said...

Bunco---I don't think anyone in NJ playes Bunco

Love your knitting, and oh I can so relate to coping with the blahs of winter, I am not at my best this time of year

Arctic Knitter said...

Great sweater - very, very cute! Yup - it's cold - I'm jealous of your warm vacation to Mexico - sounds perfect right now!

Robin said...

Hi Lisa!
I'm not into blogging much right now either. Do you think the novelty has worn off, or we are just having some kind of winter hibernation period...
It's pretty cold here too. I am temporarily REFUSING to snow blow the driveway, because whenever I do, it snows again the next day.
Yeah. I'm gonna win the battle against snow. I'm determined.

Laura Jane said...

So, I seem to remember having this conversation with you last year.

You know....the one where you say its really cold, and I say ....ummm, its 37C here all week?

Happy New Year hon! I don't have any yummy wool for you, sadly. And our NEw YEar baby born at 0015 was born to a client of the drug and alcohol service, and the baby was for apprehension by the state. Not exactly a photo opportunity for the local paper eh?

What on Earth is a BUNCO? No, seriously I need an explanation, in an email please.

And I am very jealous of the thought of a trip to Mexico. But you deserve it.

((hugs)) Stay warm!

smariek said...

Happy New Year Lisa! What is BUNCO? I've never heard of this before. Cute cute sweater! Sun and beach in February, sounds like fun, but I hope you thaw before that. Brrr, -28 is too cold for me! Stay warm!

Tara said...

Congrats on joining the Bunco group! I was in one as an L&D nurse, and we had the BEST time. Have fun!!