The only thing broken is my spirit

We’re home again, after travelling westward from Quebec in a snowstorm yesterday, and I think that the whole adventure was a grand success, if you use that metric that I do, which is to say that my legs are not broken, some knitting was accomplished, and I didn’t meet anyone on the ski patrol in a formal sense.

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I skied, and this time there were a few moments that approached graceful, a few stretches where the skiing was easier than it has been in the past, and some periods of time where the panic I usually feel was downgraded to mild concern. The thing about being a new skier is that everything I do is the first time I’ve done it, and that means there’s a lot of empirical learning. I’d be headed down a run, thinking about how well it was going,  and there would be a flash of a wee dark thing in my way, and before I could make up my mind about anything, I’d be face down in a snowbank, with Joe standing over me saying “Honey, you should really go around rocks.”  (It is a credit to the sort of person I am that I did not once reply to this the way I wanted to, which was to say something like “YA THINK”, but instead murmured “Good tip” into the snow.) The truth is that I still lack the skill to make a whole lot of choices while I’m on skis, and I live in fear of one of the toddlers that skis faster than me getting in my way because I’ve really got no guaranteed way of going around them if they fall. (Luckily, it turns out that most or them ski better than I do – though this time there was a particularly inept six year old who struggled to keep up with me.)

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My biggest claims to fame this time around were that I didn’t fall off the lift even once (big improvement, I believe last time there was only once I didn’t fall off the lift) and that I can now proudly state that I can turn to my right at will – approximately 95% of the time. (That remaining 5% remains troublesome, unpredictable, and usually results in me sliding backwards down the mountain while smiling at the six year old like I planned it and it’s all part of my “style”.)

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I remain, as I was the first time, particularly good at Apres-ski. and much knitting was accomplished – leaving me only mostly behind on the Christmas knitting, not totally behind, as I’d feared.  I finished the Tool Box Cowl

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I freely admit that it was so cold while we were skiing that pretty much the minute I finished it, I wore it.  I know that’s not standard operating orders for a Christmas Gift, but I was really cold, and I’m sure the recipient won’t mind that I tested it. (For the record, it is cozy. I had my cashmere Pretty Thing on first, and that over top.  It was almost enough against the -20.)

I also finished two pairs of socks –

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Almost. One pair’s a secret, I’ll show you later, and that pair above was almost finished on the way home, I’ll make short work of it this evening. (Anybody who guessed the colourway was MustStash R2D2 from the series “These are the droids you are seeking” nailed it.)

Joe and I are still on track to finish getting ready by Friday, if the next few days are magical. I ran an errand or two on the way home from the dentist this morning… and now there’s a little wrapping and baking, and a few things on Joe’s list that I’m trying not to worry about, because it’s Joe’s list.  I’m focusing my concern on the fact that my yarn isn’t here yet, but hold out hope for tomorrow.  Cross your needles, I’ll be ready for it then.

Shall I get start getting caught up again?

Gifts for Knitters: Day 9

Looking for something fun for your knitter’s stocking? Good for you. Lots of knitters have knitting tattoos, but if your knitter isn’t the sort to commit, how about some temporary ones, just for fun? There’s these ones from Ragline Knits, and these ones from Soak, and these ones for the multicraftual, and then these bad boys from Tilly Flop. (I can quietly admit here that I think these are my favourites. Your knitter may vary.) There’s also knit related nail wraps here and here and here. (If you don’t know what a nail wrap is, your knitter might not be into that.)

Gifts for knitters Day 10

Look, I know we’re all having a good time here, and I don’t want to harsh on anyone’s mellow or bring up upsetting things, but the truth is that your knitter has a mortal enemy or two, and helping to defend against their dark arts would make you a hero on the side of light. I speak here, of Moths.  There’s lots of stuff to help. You can consider some of the natural deterrents out there like traps, or some natural deterrents, like this moth chaser, or this repellent, or this one, or cedar stuff. These blocks are a charming weapon, or you can buy bulk. If you know your enemy already dwells too close, think about this. I don’t know if it works of not, but as a knitter, I really dig the phrase “no survivors.”