If only his hat was right

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends, and… happy Thursday to the rest of the world.  Here in Canada it’s just a Thursday, and I’m spending it knitting tiny things.

starurchin2 2014-11-27

If all goes well, that will be a star (and a more clever pattern, I don’t think you could find) despite the way that it looks like a some sort of deflating sea urchin right now.  The tiny things are like this, I find.  I knit several odd looking wee bits, and then right when you can’t see any hope that it will resemble anything at all, you sew up (or stuff, or graft, or sew together) four or five little stitches, and bang.  A gnome pops of the needles.

I am here using the word “pops” incorrectly.  “pops” makes it sound like a quick process, or like it happens all of a sudden and really, it’s nothing like that. There’s something about the tiny things that means that they take much longer than I expect.  I’ll look at a tiny little Santa, think something like “oh, he’s so wee, it won’t take more than a minute to knit that” and then two hours later I’m crying into the waning light because I’ve sewn his spectacularly small beard on crooked, and one of his embroidered eyes has gone all wonky.  There is no room for error with the tiny things.  In a great big sweater, one misplaced stitch represents 1/15000th of the finished thing. Nobody will ever notice one little stitch that isn’t quite right, but in these things, one misplaced stitch and Santa looks like a bedraggled drunk elf who got trampled by a vicious band of reindeer on his way home from the local.  I took twelve runs at his stupid little nose before it was on straight, and don’t get me started on the gnome with the seemingly dislocated shoulder. As I noted on Twitter last night, if this project is what finally puts me off the rails, it will be the sewing, not the knitting that does it.

It’s three days ’til deadline, and I have nine to go, although only two more are knitted, and the rest are lovely, woollen felt.  I labour under the bizarre notion that although it’s the sewing that’s giving me fits, those will go faster.  I’ll thank you not to disabuse me of the notion, because I’m pretty close to the end of my rope.  Last night (as I attempted to sew the arm on straight to some bitty thing with arms)  I said something out loud like “^$#!% this *&^$*()ing *&#$, I (*$#¬˚˙ƒing hate it.”  Joe inquired gently about maybe I wanted to buy a few little ornaments and put them in the remaining pockets.  “This doesn’t appear to be super-fulfilling” he said.

I stared at him.  “It’s fulfilling.” I replied.  “Just not… now.  It’s going to be fulfilling the whole month of December. Just. Not. Now.”

With that, I realized that this time, it’s not the process that’s the payoff.  It’s going to be the product.  Three more days of tiny things.

If you don’t look too hard

Here I am, four days until deadline on the ornaments, with 11 to go (don’t panic early. I think I’m fine) and I snapped.  I think there’s something about knitting tiny, teeny little things that just gets to you after a while.  Last night I was just about moved to tears during the making of an itty bitty candy cane, and that maybe explains these.

warm hands 2014-11-26

It’s a quick pair of Super-Bulky Fingerless Mitts, and I knit them out of a skein of Super Soft Merino (very, very aptly named) that I’ve had kicking around for a while.  These bad boys took about five minutes to knit.  I sneezed and they fell off the needles.

warm hands2 2014-11-26

While five minutes may be the tiniest bit of an exaggeration, there’s no way they took more than two hours. I started them on my way downtown to a meeting, knit only a tiny bit during the meeting, and finished them up when I got home. Two subway rides, a ten minutes walk and a cup of tea. That’s how long they took, and they’re a perfect foil for itty-bitty things on itty-bitty needles.  They’re a Christmas present too, so I feel like I still got something done. I have a real sense of calm about this Christmas – which might mean I’m delusional rather than ahead of the game, but I’m worrying about it in four days.

I followed the pattern as written, with one little exception.  I made the hand a little longer (it is so cold here) and finished with two rows of ribbing.  I like it better.

warm handswhole 2014-11-26

It’s a good thing that I don’t have any more of this yarn, or I think I’d be tempted to pound out another seventeen few pairs. One skein, two hours, one present. What’s not to love?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to figure out if I can knit a tiny truck. Can you?

 

Better late than never

I’d planned on this post going up much earlier than this today, but a quick knitting rescue for my Mother-in-law turned into a very handy shopping trip (if you finish a hat, you should get the ribbon straightaway, before the urge fades) and poof. My afternoon evaporated in the most pleasant way.  (I am not cursed with a difficult Mother-in-law. In fact, she’s rather lovely, and knitterly.) It seems like the days pass so quickly right now, at least the part of the day that’s not candlelit, cozy and… well, rather frankly bad for finished knitted stuff pictures, but Sam had a little time this afternoon, so a quick photoshoot while Nana sipped her tea was in order.

againsam 2014-11-24

I finished the shawl I’ve had on the needles as travel/anything/got a free minute knitting, and I love it. I’m crazy about it.  I’m insane with the desire to keep it just for myself, although it’s a Christmas present, and it’s about to be December, and frankly, this is no time of the year for shawl envy.  I’ll wrap it tomorrow, and get it ready to go under the tree, despite how much I want it – and despite the lingering and quiet belief that I could knit another before I even have a tree.

samlooking 2014-11-24

My Christmas spreadsheet is in great shape, and I can’t let greed screw it up. Besides, I have another skein of this, in a colourway I like even better. So there.  This one though, is a gift, and it’s CaterpillarGreen Yarns shawl stripe, in Concrete and Tulips (the large skein.)

samwholeshawl 2014-11-24

Needle was 3.5mm, and the pattern was inspired by the Simple Yet Effective Shawl. I did garter stitch when the yarn was grey, and stockinette when I hit a colour.  Simple, yet effective, indeed.

samlookingup 2014-11-24

I love it, and I want to keep it, and I think Sam (still the worlds preeminent knitwear model) agrees.

(PS. I have twelve ornaments finished, and 6 days to go. The heat, as we like to say, is on.)

Perhaps

Let’s say, that you were very much a knitter, and less so a sewer – and let’s say that you decided to do a very simple sewing project.  Let’s say – even, because it’s true, that you only decided to do that sewing project because when it was done it would be a vehicle for knitting, and that made it seem all right to you.

Let’s say also, that you have a brand-spankin’ new sewing machine that you said you wanted, and even though it turns out that your husband really got that sewing machine so that he could learn to sew and make things for the boat, you really feel like you should use it. (Let’s say that things are also more or less square between you and said husband, because you delayed telling him that you can buy bias tape until he’d made a few million metres of it.)  Let’s say also that you may, or may not have had the best plan (read – no plan) for this project, except that you’ve been thinking about it for a while, and really, 90% of your plans work out, in one way or another. (Eventually.)  Let’s say that had finished embroidering all your numbers on the thing, and let’s say that you ran out of red embroidery floss as you finished the 4 in 24, and that’s a pretty good place to run out if you’re making an advent calendar, which you are.

numbersdone 2014-11-21

Let’s also say that after you drew about nineteen really weird/wonky/crooked trees, you finally got one that’s just the right amount of whimsy, without being all Seussian, and let’s say that while you had a pretty hard time sewing it on, you remembered a thing or two about turning corners while you were doing that, and so you only swore like a sunburned sailor for about half of the time.  Let’s say too, that despite a few incidents with the reverse button – which let’s also say that you’ve discovered is in the least intuitive place that it could possibly be in, which (let’s just say) might have meant that the corners aren’t quite as tidy as they could have been, that you’ve managed to sew down the embroidered strips for the pockets, and got them turned into pockets, with a little more stitching, and really – that reverse thingie? You’re still mad about where it is. (Let’s say too that you’re not quite ready to release all your rage at the machine, because you know that it’s probably just 25 years of having a different machine with the reverse in a different spot that’s actually the problem.)

accessories 2014-11-21

Let’s say as well, that after consulting the internet, and your mum (who’s very, very handy with a sewing machine) that you figured out how to sew on 24 buttons with the machine so that it only took like… an hour instead of three, and let’s say that it could have been a lot faster too, if you could have figured out how to get the “feed dogs” down a little sooner, and if you didn’t have to look up how to get the *&^%$#@!!ing presser foot off, and if you had figured out that the tension was all wrong and was making those weird loops on the bottom before you’d done, like… ten buttons.

allon 2014-11-21

Let’s say too, that you decided that only a fool would change the thread in the machine for one button, and you sewed that one on by hand.  (Let’s say that’s the yellow button, and let’s say that you decided that the top one should be yellow, purely for reasons of ornament.)

yellowone 2014-11-21

Let’s say that all of that is true, and that you cut a piece of dowel to go through the top, and let’s say that it took you a while to find a handsaw and mitre box in the basement (because it was in an even less sensible place than the reverse button, and also there are spiders down there) and lets say that you sanded the wood, and got it through the casing at the top, and let’s say that right now it’s hanging in your living room where you can admire it.

snowman 2014-11-21

Wouldn’t you, let’s just say, be rather smug that it was all going so well, and completely willing to overlook that you only have 6 ornaments made, and it’s 9 days until deadline?

I’d say so.

Are These Weeds?

This week has been a trainwreck. A giant tangle of complete crap that just keeps getting worse. Nothing terrible has happened, nobody is sick and another pet hasn’t shuffled of their mortal coil, but everything else that can go wrong has, and at this point I think it’s starting to be a bit of a joke, and I think it’s on me. I won’t go into the gory details, but I think it’s safe to say that I overextended myself a little (right now the voice of my inner monologue is screaming “YA THINK?!)  Two days ago I forgot to go to a appointment entirely, despite looking forward to it, putting it on my calendar and having an alarm set, and this morning Joe got up early and headed across town and reported for an appointment that’s tomorrow.  We’re scrambled.  Nothing’s working. For example, the Advent Tree is pretty much a disaster. I have four ornaments made, which is a very far cry from the two a day I was going to pound out, and apparently I completely hallucinated the red felt numbers I would swear to you I saw at the craft store, because when I went back to get them, not only were they gone, the clerk said that they’d never, ever had anything like them in the shop.  (I feel like she was totally gaslighting me.)  In any case, now I’m embroidering the numbers on, and that slowed me down a lot, especially since I was busy trying to fix the washing machine and we have to do something about the eavestroughs.

numbers 2014-11-13

The four ornaments that I do have are charming, beyond charming, and I feel sure the rest will um…. be there when I get back? Hell. I don’t know.  It will be fine. I’m not going to panic early.  It’s the 13th. There’s time to get it together, and I feel like it’s more important to get myself together, and then everything else will slide into place from there.

numberswithhat 2014-11-13

I’m writing this from the Vancouver Airport, on my way to Port Ludlow and the November Retreat, and even though it’s a working weekend, I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it.  The setting is so nice, the knitters so nice, and it’s a great place to refocus, sort yourself out and get back on track- and it’s hard not to feel like things are in great shape with a fireplace in your hotel room.  The five hour flight here  was the least busy thing I’ve done in weeks.  I tried to knit, but I fell asleep – I picked the nicest thing to knit on while I travel and get the retreat done… perfect, simple, comforting knitting, that even I can’t screw up, even in my current cursed state.  It’s amazing yarn, for starters.  I came across it when I was in Vancouver for Knit City.  There was a nice booth, with pretty yarn, and a couple of striped shawls hanging there.  There was some super nice self striping sock yarns, and I was totally charmed by the colours.  Then I started talking to the proprietors, and then they told me about the shawls.

shawldet 2014-11-13

It’s self striping shawl yarn.  Yes – I know, that sounds dumb, why would shawls need a different kind of self striping yarns? Well, it’s like this.  If you’re using a regular stripey yarn, and you’re knitting a top down shawl, one where the rows get 4 stitches longer with every right ride row, then when you start the shawl you’ll have short rows and big stripes, but as things go on, then you get stripes that are narrower and narrower as you keep going. This yarn? This yarn has stripes that get longer and longer.  She (she being Catherine – at least I’m pretty sure her name was Catherine, of Caterpillargreen Yarns) has done the math to make sure that the stripes stay the same width all the way through your shawl.

shawlabove 2014-11-13

I KNOW.  She told me that, and I looked at all the lovely skeins, and then I pretty much gave her all my money.  Just like that. Aside from the great dye job, the base is pretty easy to love. 70% merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon, cozy, pretty, clever, it’s a ton of fun to knit, and it’s totally not this yarns fault that I fell asleep on the plane.  I don’t really have a pattern for this – although I based my plan on Laura Chau’s Simple Yet Effective Shawl.  I wanted something simple (yet effective) and her idea of alternating garter and stockinette was perfect, and I’m not even paying attention to what I do.  If the yarn is grey, I knit every row, and when it changes to a colour, I do stockinette.  Done.  Absolutely, brilliantly gorgeous, perfect for my current state.  Comforting, warm, fun and going to go by really fast, I think. This weekend it should just run in the background, like a perfect soundtrack in a great movie.

shawlside 2014-11-13

(PS. I know that I could have looked at Laura’s pattern, and figured it out myself, and not bought the pattern, but I don’t think that’s very nice.  I looked at that shawl, thought “Good idea!” and she’s the one who had that idea, so she gets the money.  I have strong feelings about paying for patterns – even if I don’t need the pattern, I needed the inspiration, and that’s worth something too.)

(PPS. Something unbelievable has happened, and My latest book is nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award in Humour.  There is absolutely no chance my book is winning against the books it’s up against – mostly because two really different things happen if Neil Patrick Harris asks twitter to vote for him, or if I do (He has 11 million followers- which is pretty fair, because, well. He’s Neil Patrick Harris) but also because those are some very, very funny books, written by very, very funny people.  Still – there’s a chance you like my book better, so I’ll ask.  Please consider voting for my book if you liked it. Thank you.)

(PPPS. Taking pictures of knitting in the Air Canada Lounge totally draws attention.)

 

Keeping up with Yesterday

I’m starting another project. I know, I know, I’m a little out of control.   I know I have Fox Paws, and I probably have another pair of socks due, and the sweater… There’s a lot on the needles, and I’m tempted to cast on even more, which is all a sign of the times.  Three things are coming together here to put knitting forefront on the agenda, whether I have time for it or not.

First, the time of year. It’s cold here. Someone flipped the switch on this part of Ontario and there’s snow in the forecast, and it’s going below zero at night, and when it gets like this, some part of my knitterly intelligence doesn’t say to put on woollies.  It says to knit them.  I’ll be sitting in the house and get chilly, and I don’t think “Oh, I should get a sweater” I totally cast one on.  It’s a disease.

Second, in a week it’s the start of the November Strung Along Retreat, and it will be all knitting all the time for three days, and to get ready for the knitting I have to think about the knitting, and plan the knitting and organize the knitting and I’m just so excited about three days of knitting that I’ve been giggling a little bit when I think about it. (Technically, I’ll be teaching, not knitting, but it’s almost the same.)

Lastly, there’s Christmas.   I’m sorry, I know I just dropped the C word on you with no warning there, but really, it’s coming.  There’s no need to panic, but it is close, and I’ve got no interest in being hit by the festive train that flattens me some years.  I’m working the same spreadsheet as I have the last few years, because it’s changed everything – although I’m already a little behind, because there’s one gift that I want done early, by December 1st, actually, and if that’s going to happen, I have to start right now. Or yesterday.  Or maybe the day before that. Here’s the plan.  I have a whack of felt, and I’m going to cut out a tree shape and sew it to the background, and then knit/sew  24 ornaments that will stick on the tree. There will be 24 pockets on the background, and every day, starting December 1st, you take an ornament out of a pocket, and hang it on the tree, and when you’ve got them all on, you know it’s Christmas Eve.  I’m going to stick a dowel through the top and bottom so it hangs nice.

adventtreestart 2014-11-07

I have no pattern, and really, I’ve just explained the entire idea to you.  The whole thing. That’s as much as a plan as I have. Today I’m going to lay the whole thing out, and cut pattern paper into the tree shape, and see if I can get it sewn on.  Then I have to knit the first ornament. (Maybe two or three, I’m a little behind.) I don’t know what that’s going to be either, but I bet I can figure it out.  I was looking on Ravelry to see if I could find a starting place for knitted ornaments, and most of them aren’t quite what I was thinking.  They’re lovely, and so many of them are perfect for a real tree, but the ones I’m looking for need to be two, rather than three dimensional. (I suppose they could be slightly puffy, but that’s it.)  I’m on a hunt.  Not all of the ornaments will be knitted, but I’d like most of them to be. I’m going to embroider on a few pieces of felt, and I have some beads. I’m not sure what I’ll do with that, but we shall see.

The first step though, is laying it out, drawing the tree, tracing it onto pattern paper, figuring out where the pockets can go and how big the ornaments can be, sewing the thing together and then getting Joe to stop and buy me the dowels. Operation knittertree is afoot.

Unless I knit on the sweater. I’m a little chilly.

Yeah, that hat

I had a whole big post planned for today, then eighty-four bad things happened with my laptop, and the whole thing wound up a hot mess.  Instead of that, I give you this picture of Lou wearing his owl hat, which is frankly more than I could ever hope for in the way of knitterly happiness.  See it, and know these are the moments I knit for.

owlhat 2014-11-06

More tomorrow, when hopefully this aluminium and plastic box of circuit chips is on my side.

Knitter out.

(photo credit to Carlos, who I think we can all agree totally nailed it.)

It’s almost a swatch

I have a small admission to make.  I started this new sweater without swatching. I know I always say you should swatch, for lots of really, really good reasons, some of which have nothing to do with fit,  and to be completely honest, I thought about not mentioning that I didn’t swatch.  It wouldn’t have been a lie or anything, just an omission.  Then I thought that maybe it would just be better if I told you why I didn’t, and why I’m okay with it, and maybe someday you would get to skip a swatch too.

Reason to swatch: You need to swatch to get your gauge, so that things fit properly, and because the only way your project will use the amount of yarn that the pattern says, is if it’s the gauge the pattern says.

beforewash 2014-11-05

Reason to ignore this: I am making a top down sweater without a pattern, and I can make it fit.  If things aren’t coming out right, I’ll adjust. I am the master of my destiny.  Also, no pattern, no yarn amount.  I’m guessing.  If I’m wrong, swatching won’t help.

Reason to swatch: You need to know how many stitches you’re getting to the inch if you’re making a top down sweater without a pattern, because you need to know how many to cast on.

Reason to ignore this: I am a good guesser, with lots of guessing experience.

Reason to swatch: It’s not just about gauge. It’s about how the fabric feels.  How will you know if it’s too loose or too tight or too sheer or, kinda strange? Do you want to make a strange sweater?

Reason to ignore this: I never assess that in the unwashed swatch anyway.  It’s pointless to like the unwashed swatch. Read on.

Reason to swatch: You need to knit a swatch so you can wash it, because gauge, and what the fabric feels like can change drastically after knitting has had a bath.  You want to know that before you knit a sweater that comes out as a freakin’ surprise after you wash it.

Reason to ignore this: I admit, that’s pretty compelling.  I can’t totally ignore that. What I can do is start my sweater, knit for a while, then wash and block it on the needles to see if there are any surprises.

afterwash 2014-11-05

I’m glad I did.  The gauge did change enough that I would have had an ill fitting sweater, and I actually thought I might be knitting this too tightly, but I love the washed fabric.  That’s a step I’ll never skip. If I’d have based this sweater on my unwashed fabric, I would have had a sweater that was too big, and too loosely knit.  I would have been seriously annoyed.

Reason to swatch: If you’re making something where you do something every certain number of rows, then you need to know your row gauge so that things end up the right length.

Reason to ignore this:  I’ll try it on a lot.  If it’s getting too wide before it’s long enough, I’ll screw with the rate of increase.  (It’s kind of getting too wide now.  I’ll skip some decreases so it gets longer without getting wider now.  Especially in the back. I’ll keep some extra width in the front.  It’s where my breasts are.)

fronton 2014-11-05

Reason to swatch: Something I’ve forgotten to control for that a swatch would have totally revealed that will rise up later and bite me hard on the hind parts.

Reason to ignore this: The worst thing that can happen is that I’ll have to pull the whole thing out and start again.  I can live with that, because I’m not the kind of knitter who wouldn’t.  Some knitters won’t rip things out, not even when they aren’t very good, and it’s those knitters who need to swatch the most.  If you don’t have it in you to take the whole thing back to the beginning when you took the risk, you’re better off risking less.

Knitter, know thyself.  Then skip a swatch, if you can.

(PS. This will really, really not happen very often.)

(PPS. I really think you can’t skip the washing part at all.)

(PPPS. If this sweater looks a little familiar, it should.  It’s inspired by the Easy Raglan from the The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book .  I have heavier yarn, and want the sweater to fit a little differently, but I loved the cable details.)

(PPPPS. Thanks so much for your sympathy for Sam’s wee Hedgie. She’s feeling much better, and the funeral was lovely – or so I hear. The service was private, which was fine. The deceased was very cute, but dreamed of nibbling yarn, and we weren’t close.)

Gently, softly, quietly

Every once in a while, everybody has a weekend that should just go back where it came from, and take its crappy Monday friend with it. This last weekend was like that for Sam.  For some reason, the last 48 hours have just picked her up in its nasty teeth, and shook her like she’s a plaything of the universe.  Sam wasn’t feeling well last week.  She thought she had a sinus infection, but those are mostly viral and don’t need antibiotics, so she just rested up, and waited to feel better.  By Saturday she didn’t feel better. Sam actually felt a lot worse, and she missed Joe’s birthday party, and felt terrible about it.   When Joe and I got home that night, she looked and felt like one of the horsemen of the apocalypse, and we took one look at her and realized that this wasn’t a sinus infection, or at least, not any more, or at least not only a sinus infection.  I don’t want to go into the details, because mouth stuff is gross, but on Sunday morning our amazing family dentist was meeting us for an emergency appointment,  and Sam’s now on antibiotics, and Tylenol 3 for the pain, and a more pitiful creature you’ve never seen.  She’s truly sick, the poor little poppet, and on soft foods and just feeling so terrible.

This is where she was at last night, already a rather sorry figure, when she called down to me from upstairs, almost hysterical.  Marty, the little hedghog she loves, was dead in his cage.

marty 2014-11-03

He’d been totally fine all day (I remember, because I was annoyed by him running on his wheel at noon) and Sam had noticed him eating and playing just an hour before, and in fact, she’d just opened the cage to give him a little snuggle and adventure time, and there he was. He was an older hedgie, but healthy and active, and had all the love and care in the world.  There was no warning at all.  It was like a hedgehog heart attack, or stroke or something like that, like he just fell over while jogging. Poor Sam’s just gutted.

 

There was nothing to do at that point, with a sick kid, a dead hedgehog and a few other things, except to slow down and try to make things nicer.  A big pot of soup went on the stove this morning, and I put down Fox Paws.   Right now things should be soft, and gentle and easy, and the family should be quiet, and kind and careful, and that really means that the mum in this family shouldn’t be sitting there muttering filthy expletives if anyone dares to speak to her other than at the ends of rows.

readysweater 2014-11-03

I fetched a treat from the stash room.  I’ve been wanting to make a sweater out of Greenwood Hill Farm Merino for years.  I see their booth every year at Rhinebeck every year, and almost buy it – and finally this trip I (mostly) blew my budget at their booth.  This yarn is cushy, bouncy, soft and so warm, and it’s what’s on my needles now.

Together with that and a bowl of warm soup, we’ll make things cozy here.  Since I’ve only got one row of knitting, can I interest you in a soup recipe? I like fast, easy, cheap soups, and although Sam isn’t a fan of soup in general, if she must eat it (and she must, her poor mouth) this is the sort she likes.  This soup takes a while to cook, but I still think it’s fast because it only needs me for a few minutes here and there, and then I can knit (and discuss “arrangements” for Marty the Hedgehog with the bereaved.)

Roasted Carrot Soup

Peel, slice and cut into chunks, four carrots (I had two freakishly large ones) two potatoes, one sweet potato and one red onion.  Toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and add sage.  I had fresh sage, so five big leaves went in, but I’ve used a decent sprinkle of dried stuff in a pinch.)  All that goes in your roasting pan and into a hot oven. (200C, 400F, Gas Mark 7.)

veggies 2014-11-03

Leave everything in there for a while – maybe about 20 minutes? Then add at least five  cloves of garlic. (Trust me. Roasted garlic is sweet and mild.) Toss and roast again until everything is gorgeously roasted, and tender.

roasted 2014-11-03

Take the pan from the oven and add a little white wine or water to deglaze the pan. Stir to pick up all the good brown tasty stuff from the bottom of the roaster.  Now dump all that into a pot, and add about 2 litres of stock (about 8 cups) and some parsley, if you have it. and bring it all up to a simmer.

roastedinpotwater 2014-11-03

Go knit for at least 20 minutes, and then come back and somehow (I have an immersion blender, but there are other ways) puree your soup.  The whole thing.

roasted carrotsoup 2014-11-03

Serve hot in bowls, with a little cream if you like it. (Sam does. I don’t.)

If that won’t make you cozy, I don’t know what will.  We’re settling in here, to have a simple day, with lots of rest, a farewell to Marty, and a hope that tomorrow will be better.  It usually is.