Yes, that would be a photo of me knitting a few rounds with amazing knitter and designer of incredibly cute patterns Ysolda Teague. I love her patterns—she is the master of the floppy beret, her patterns feature details which are exquisite, but not too fussy, and she looks like she walked out of a story book. She was very nice to talk to and sweet about all kinds of people snapping photos. I was a little bit giggly and awkward, but I'm like that even meeting new people who aren't famous knitters.

My good, knitterly friend Sarah was largely responsible for getting Ysolda down to Champaign-Urbana. She worked with our favorite LYS, Klose Knit, to get a little tea and book-signing going. (Ysolda is touring the US to promote her new book Whimsical Little Knits.) All the samples were gorgeous. I got to see the twist collective Little Birds sweater up close. I've been thinking about making that one on a gray sweater with read birds. Love, love, love.

What luck. What fun. Hope she has a great trip.

It may be ridiculous, but before this year I did not know how to really dress for winter. How is that possible? I guess I just didn't realize that I was so cold and there was something I could do about it--isn't that weird? It is, and it bothers me more than a bit to look back on my poor little cold self and just think of how much more comfortable I could have been if I had known. And, we all know that being more comfortable makes you happier--just think of how unbearable a tight waistband can be. Knowing how to dress warmly has actually made the winter something to cling on to. I could be more excited about spring, and I'm not yet ready to give up the woolens.

Theory of warms
my theory on dressing warmly to enjoy the winter

1. Good socks are very important. Smartwool or similar are the best. (I'm sure handmade are also very nice, but I don't have those. yet.) I get annoyed of my sock doesn't come higher up my leg than my boot shaft. If I'm out of the best socks, then I wear knee socks--they keep your whole lower leg warm! If I am out of kneesocks, then I wear regular socks with legwarmers. Actually, I think legwarmers is a whole other item. Plain cotton socks are not enough.
2. Legwarmers. People mostly think of these as a fashion element, but I think they're highly undervalued as a functional element.
3. I wear an undershirt. I tuck it in. I am my mother. Arrrgh! Actually, she is a very nice person, but she tried for years, possibly my whole life, to get me to wear undershirts and to tuck them in. I would not. I couldn't think of anything more dorkily constrictive. Mom was right. Tucking it in makes me warmer, plus it hides any unsightly pants gaps.
4. Something around the neck. I recently finished the cowl in the picture. It's from some cashmere + other fanciness blend that I got at xmas. It is so warm and so cozy, and I can hide in it like a turtle when necessary. Necks have a lot of skin, and covering it makes you warmer. I think my friend Jeanne taught me this. She wore some kind of scarf every day, and it looked good and was her thing, like a cross between crunchy and guerrilla and librarian. She said it was her defense against the drafts in her old house.
5. I wear my fair isle hat that I knit all the time
6. Last year I wouldn't wear a sweater every day. I was always cold on days that I didn't and had to wear my office sweater, which has gotten weird over the years of hanging in my office. Sweaters always.
7. I tried to get myself a new pair of boots 6 times this winter, but no luck. None as are good as the Keen London boot I wear almost every day. Next year I am going to cut the nonsense and just get another pair of Keens. Thinsulate actually works. I tend to think that stuff like Thinsulate is just marketing people trying to trick me, but in this case, it's not a lie.

That's about it. If I do these things I am warm, but not too warm. I can enjoy the cold weather and the one season where opening a pickle jar doesn't make me break out into a sweat.

So, no one wants to hear about how busy work has been, right? Right! And, everyone wants the DL on the knitnight group gift for a baby, yes. Yes!

Check 'em out. Booties. Traditionally, when knit night does a baby gift, it's a blanket. But, I think people got tired of blankets, so we decided to do booties, in varying styles and sizes. (Also, I think everyone thought booties would be quicker, and everyone was wrong.)

Personally, I love how different they all are. Mine are the blue saartje bootees with the vintage green buttons. I was happy to have an excuse to knit them—they are so cute! The elf-ish booties in the natural cotton were made by Laura, the little-man loafers were knit up by Erica using her handspun yarn, and the faux maryjanes are the work of Sarah. The photo is short a pair or two, including Karen's square-toe bootie-booties. I love variety.

I actually made three booties. The first one came out just perfectly for a baby who has Hammer Toe. I plan on filling it with catnip since the cats have claimed it anyway. Possibly they would not have claimed it, had certain individuals in this household (ahem, me. eva.) not put it on hen's foot like a ballet slipper.

If you're hoping to attract the right kind of people, then may I suggest wearing your February Lady Sweater to the Valentine's Day showing of Coraline? Eva and Elie and I went to see the movie today, accompanied by a couple other knitters, and had a lot of fun. The movie is that good, and I am a Neil Gaiman fan from back when I read Sandman in high school. I wore my February Lady and had not one, but two separate people give me a shout-out. Hey Knitta Lady! It gives me a cozy nerdy feeling—internet community extending beyond the internet. Plus as one of the knitters put it, "With so much knitting in the movie, there were bound to be a few of us here." You betcha.

Pre-movie, this lady was sweet enough to invite Beebs and I over to share in their Valentine's Day tradition—decorating cookies. Good fun and good company. Kristin and Co. decorate cookies a few times a year with a different palette for each season. I love the creative abandon within a confined set of colors. Lucky for me, the winter season includes chocqua and red.

I've been working on a few little things, both portable. At the moment, if it's not portable, it's not getting done. Portable sewing and knitting are two more reasons to love carpooling! And, it's light out until after 5:00 now, so sometimes can even do it on the way home.

It got unseasonably warm here. Quite possibly it did the same thing for you. I enjoyed taking a walk on my lunch hour, but the warm waether also put me in a bit of a panic because we're not ready for spring. The garden is not prepared, house projects have not been prepped. These things need attention, and quite honestly, I am still in a boots and wool sweaters mentality.

On a different note, we were in Chicago last weekend, where we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was fun, even though the poop show didn't go on that day, they did have the other major attraction Eva was look forward to—cow eyeball dissection. I sat that one out. By the end of the visit we had determined that we are more Science and less Industry. Possibly we actually knew that beforehand.

You can call it the second full sweater I've ever made, if you like. I'll just call it February Lady. Everyone's making it, and with good reason. I've worn this here FO a couple times already, and it's so comfy. It's a lot like wearing an afghan, but in a good, cozy way. The first day I wore it, I wore it to work. On this day, I was invited by co-workers to go to my favorite burger place (Ferrans—get the Motherlode), but I had to refuse because although the burgers are awesome, you will come back smelling like a burger and everything you wore mush be washed. I was not ready to launder February Lady.

For yarn I used Ella Rae Classic from my LYS, which is kind of like yarn brand yarn. You know, regular worsted in lots of colors. I picked the yarn color to match the fabric I used to cover the buttons. These are Liberty-covered buttons, and I love 'em. Fan-say. The idea comes from this flickr photo by lil' girl blu. I just thought it was so cool that I wanted it. I've thought about putting liberty buttons up in my well=neglected etsy shop, but I haven't yet. In this photo I am apparently doing my thing—allegedly being both cute and dorky. Photo by Elie.

It can be hard to find the right present for grandmothers, especially when they've told you that there really isn't anything else they need and there really isn't anything else they want. This year, my maternal grandmother, Lib, was particularly hard to "shop" for. Her eyesight is not very good, so she can't read all the books that I know her retired librarian self would enjoy, and her memory is bad, she has Alzheimers, so I don't want to get her anything confusing, and she has never really liked clothes and she feels like she has Enough.

But, she (just like my other grandmother) is very giving. In my head my grandmothers are like the two faces of charity–one giving locally, and fund-raising, and setting up organizations to continue helping people in the community into the future, the other giving internationally, thinking of herself as a citizen of the world. Lib is the latter of the two. When I was a girl, she always answered my letters on Unicef stationary, she had the AFSC calendar on her walls, and was the first person to tell me about Heifer, and that was ages ago. And also, Lib taught me how to knit, the first time when I was seven, the time it didn't stick, but perhaps laid the foundation for my future success. (wink)

I decided to give to someone who gives by giving. I made the mittens above for Afghans for Afghans, and brought them to our Christmas celebration and shared then with my grandmother along with a letter of explanation and love. It's a risky sort of gift—the person doesn't actually get anything in the end, you could be misunderstood as being cheap, and it involves and awful lot of explanation—but, I think it was well-received. I hope that she got what was at the very bottom of it—that I love her and that the person she is has left a mark on me.

This is where I depart from the sentimental and give you the particulars on the mittens. They were made from this kool-aid dyed yarn using this mitten pattern. They were my first mittens ever, and there will probably be more, but not this year.

Actually, I know exactly what you've been up to, all you folks who have been able to have a December and keep your blogs going. Hooray for you! I have enjoyed seeing all your Christmas, Channukah, and Solstice posts so much.

Eva made me the little mushroom for a Christmas present. In a totally non-biased parental way, I think it is the best. She actually did it one Sunday morning while I was still sleeping, but then she couldn't keep it a secret and she woke me up with it. Handmade cute present! Best wakeup evar!

OK. I am actually really happy to be back, But I will try to tone down the enthusiasm and use fewer exclamation points for the rest of this post.

We went away for Christmas and Channukah and visited the vast majority of our family in New Jersey. I ate soooo much good stuff, including pot roast, which I haven't had since before I was a vegetarian, which I no longer am. I am going to buy a slow cooker (crock pot :-)). Also, I found it liberating to call and order my favorite pizza ever whenever I wanted to from the place down the street. Why not? (In case you're wondering, it's floppy crust, fold in half, slightly burnt crust.) I also had the yummiest cottage cheese at Elie's sister's house. They get it fresh from a farmer and it is all whole milk and oh yum. I wish I knew a farmer like that.

And speaking of yummy, check out my new yarn. From my dad and mom I got yarn and Anthro gift certs respectively. I burned through them in one very enjoyable morning. Projects to come!

Love,
Dorie

I know that not everyone was at home on Sunday morning with nothing to do when we got our first snowfall of the year. I am really very sorry if you had to travel in it. I know that stinks--it took me double the time to get to work today, one day later. My Sunday was lovely though. There wasn't much to do except cozy up and enjoy the wintery light coming through my windows. I'll take it when I can get it!

Chickens aren't so sure about snow, but they'll eat it.

I know that you've all been wondering if that hat I made in July would really work in the cold weather. I mean sure, it was made with wool, but made in the summer! Hard to tell with these things, but I'm happy to report that it works.

This year's grapefruit shipment from my dad in Florida. I really do enjoy it. Grapefruit is so perfect for this time of year because after a glut of rich savories and sweets, it's about the only thing that sounds right to eat. And, it's like part food and part beverage.

Any time I eat grapefruit during November and December, I think of my Grammy Lib telling my sisters and me about what a treat an orange was when she was a little girl, and how very special it was to get one because they had to come up to New England on a train. My sisters and I thought it was funny that she scraped the entire inside of a grapefruit rind clean. Being grown, I get it now, and I tell Eva about oranges on trains and about how getting all kinds of tropical fruit at the grocery all the time is a relatively new thing.

I'm still knitting, and being very thoughtful about it. I'm not the only one, check Beki and Kristin, although knitting makes that latter friend-o-mine more wordy rather than less. Different strokes, you know. February Lady is about to get moved to the back burner in favor of Holiday Knitting. It's that time of year.