Works-in-progress Wednesday

There's not a single thing I can show you. My Little Child's Socks have been finished and washed (and are just hanging there droopily because I don't own sock blockers), and everything else I'm working on is a Christmas present. I hope to get those presents finished up this week so hopefully I'll have something interesting next Wednesday!

What kind of reader are you?

Found this over at Beth's Knitting.

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Book Snob
Dedicated Reader
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

For some reason the bar graph isn't working, but at least you can read my result. I don't usually do quizzes but this one caught my attention.

It's a good light day

So you get some pictures! I've had some new yarn for a while but never took pictures of it - first, this is "Blueberry Wine" from Hill Country Yarns. (Purchased from Discount Yarn Sale.) I would say that "Blueberry Pink Lemonade" would be a more accurate color name; I still like it but it is not at all what I was expecting (and yes, I know hand dyed yarns vary).


Also from the same company, "Prairie View" (though in my book it's "Huskies"):
I also scored some Fleece Artist for 40% off from Simply Sock Yarn. "Midnight" is a mix of deep purples and blues:

And "Marine" is bright blues and greens:
The Fleece Artist is calling to me. Must. Knit. Christmas. Presents. First.

I hate it when I do that.

Works-in-progress Wednesday

But first, a couple of finished objects to show you:
The if-it-is-a-girl hat. I still need to go buy something to make the if-it-is-a-boy hat.

And, my finished pair of mittens. They are fine for a first pair, but next time I will definitely alter the pattern a little to fit my hands better.

Now, on to the in-progress:

We have a dark-but-clear photo and a bright-but-blurry one. Take your pick. (As always, click to see a larger photo.) You'd be able to see the pattern much better if I was actually wearing the finished sock, but at the moment I don't feel like contorting myself to take that sort of a photo, so you're out of luck.

I also have a pair of socks that I just cast on so there's not much point in taking a picture, and a few Christmas gifts on the needles but you can't see those for obvious reasons.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Stuff and Things

("Stuff and Things" is, by the way, the name of a secondhand store in Oregon.)

I have too much stuff. I have mentioned this before, and I have thought it for some time, so why do I still want more stuff? It is human nature to be selfish and greedy and to not be thankful for the things that one already has. Americans in general have too much stuff, and yet we are never content. A Bible verse that really struck me is Ecclesiastes 5:11:

As goods increase, so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them?

I tend to make resolutions throughout the year, not just at the beginning. I resolve to be more grateful for what I have, and to do my best to focus on those things rather than on the things which I don't have.

Along those lines, if someone you know has too much stuff, you might consider giving a donation to Samaritan's Purse or some other charity in their honor in lieu of a Christmas gift. I personally have never done this because I am always afraid to step out and do something different. However, I think I will do this for a few people this year. I know that I would be thrilled if, for example, someone bought a goat for a poor family in my name. They could use a goat much more than I could use more sock yarn, I'm sure.

Yes, yes, I'm still alive.

Last night my husband and I went to the symphony. We have been four times, and going by our last three visits we average about once a year (the first time was several years ago). Last night we saw Grieg's Peer Gynt, John Williams' The Five Sacred Trees (a bassoon concerto), and Schumann's Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major. Peer Gynt was outstanding, I was really enthralled by it. I was unimpressed and bored by The Five Sacred Trees, though there were some good parts in the second movement. Honestly I believe that a large part of my feelings toward it are because it is modern (1993); I don't care for a lot of modern classical music. Schumann's symphony was good, but it didn't "speak to me" like some music does (Beethoven's Ninth, for example, or Mozart's Requiem). I am really glad that I got to hear Peer Gynt performed but I went away feeling a little disappointed that the rest of the concert wasn't as good.

These all were led by a guest conductor, Arild Remmereit, and I thought he was really good. He was very animated and seemed very good-natured - I saw him wiggling his eyebrows at several musicians before the concert started - and I was impressed that he only used a score for the bassoon concerto.

The baby is definitly reacting to sound now; after that first cymbal crash in Peer Gynt he woke up and started jumping around.

Last year for Christmas we were given a Seattle Symphony gift certificate and we used part of that to buy tickets to see the Cowboy Junkies in April. I'm really looking forward to that, and we still have a balance left so we'll get to go see another concert as well.

I had a really good, really long blog post written up in my head last night but unfortunately this is all you get....