A Wonderful Time

I'm back from a cruise on the Norwegian Dawn out of Miami -- Samana, Dominican Republic; Charlotte Amelie, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.; Roadtown, Tortola, B.V.I.; and Nassau, Bahamas. There were so many beautiful, sunny, warm days. It is hard to be back in 40 degree weather, chill and damp. But spring will be here soon.

Isn't it lovely?

I recently purchased a necklace from Nina Bagley on Etsy, and it arrived today. I am thrilled to have this exquisite piece, love wearing it, and will not tire of examining the tiny details over and over.

2009 FO #2

Yesterday I finished my second knitting project of 2009: another Noro silk garden two-row striped scarf. Now on to more knitting . . .

Bloom

Sometimes, there is just nothing to say.

Get up, go to work, come home, sleep. Cold. Dark. Tired.

That's why it is nice to have a bloom in winter. Only two on my cactus, but they are enough.

Button Box

I was at a bit of a loss about what to write about today. The March for Life was today, and I saw some people who were clearly in town for the march near the White House when I went for a walk at lunchtime. But I didn't bring my camera, so I had no picture for that topic.

Then when I read Nina Bagley's blog today, she talked about boxes, and I immediately thought of my favorite box -- the button box that I made in the 1995-1996 winter. I was still in my condo then, and I had a lot of time to work on it during the federal government furlough when Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton were in a standoff over the federal budget, and the snowstorm that followed. That furlough was when President Bill Clinton and intern Monica Lewinsky really got to know each other.

But the box -- a cheesebox from Mom, painted and sponge-painted on the outside, covered with dogwood wrapping paper on the inside, and the top covered with buttons and seed beads, with white beading and ribbon around the rim. Sewing on the buttons and beads took a long time, and I was surprised at how heavy the fabric was when I finally removed it from the embroidery hoop in which I had worked it.

The whole thing was inspired by a dream that I had about a tiny, swirly, white button of Mom's button stash that I remembered from my girlhood. I asked Mom for it, and told her why, and she gave it to me along with many other buttons to use for the top. And it was her idea to fill in the smallest spaces with beads. And I keep my own button stash inside, the replacement buttons you get with new clothes.

Inauguration

What a day. From the moment I woke up around 5 a.m. and listened to the radio news of crowds at the Metro, etc., I knew it would be a huge crowd. So large, they closed the mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument by 10 a.m., as no more people could safely fit into that space. It was estimated to be close to 2 million people downtown to watch Barack Obama be sworn in as our 44th President.

People are very hopeful. I am hopeful, too, but I am also cautious. It remains to be seen what this new President can do. Accomplishing anything in government, with the bureaucracy, is difficult, and we are living in particularly difficult times.

Still, today is a new beginning, and I am hopeful.

Change.

Knitted FO #1 2009

I knit like crazy on Thursday to start and finish Calorimetry from Knitty Winter 2006 so that I would have it for a weekend trip to Staunton, VA, since it was supposed to be very cold -- and then I never wore it! It turned out not to be bitterly cold after all.

This took me about 6 hours to knit, but I ripped it out and knit it twice, so that was a lot of knitting. It is Colinette One-Zero in the pink tweed colorway and some mother-of-pearl buttons, both from my stash. I knew that stash would be useful someday . . . it was so satisfying to create something completely from my stash.

I love the way it worked up, the colors and the thick-and-thin nature of the wool yarn. The colors are closer in real life to those in the long shot, but I wanted to get a close-up of the buttons. It will come in handy sometime this winter, I am sure.