January Coffee Cup & stuff….
Finally, got my act together enough to do a blog post. It’s been a heck of a week starting last Thursday when I appeared to be coming down with a cold. Then came the weather changes and the migraines to put the cherry on top. The last two days I’ve actually felt human again and have started to get caught up on the job stuff, the volunteer stuff and my stuff.
This month’s coffee cup, I’ve had for a while. It’s sort of a girly tea-time cup and saucer but I wasn’t feeling well and I thought why have things if you never use them. I enjoy utility matched with beauty or silly or fun. So, I washed it out and started using it. The words around the edge say “Home is Where Heart Is” and the design is by Mary Englebreit. I love her artwork — it’s so bright, alive, funny, and homey. I usually get a big calendar for the kitchen and a small one for the desk. This year I also got a small one in a folder for my purse (my PDA died a while back and hasn’t been replaced and the blackberry and their ilk don’t really seem to be built for people who wear reading glasses who might not have them on all the time.
I digress. The only problem with this cup is the size — it means multiple trips to the coffee pot (and I only have half a pot each day). Smaller cups also mean they cool faster too. But drinking out of it makes me smile and I love putting it down with a quiet clink into the saucer. So, I’m a happy person this month.
I’m also in my copious amounts of free time — NOT — working on a sock. I’ve had this sort of vision in my head and I’m trying to get it to translate to the knitting. So far I’m on my third try with this sock. The top looks good but when I switch to the ribbing it looks sort of okay but not great — I’m still thinking about what to do with that. It fits okay. At first I thought it would be way to big but it fits nice up the calf.
Unfortunately, the heel is a bit loose. Seems to be okay when I try it on but I won’t really know until I walk in it for a while but I’m debating now on whether to keep going or rip it out to just above the heel flap and decrease some stitches on the first row of the heel flap or narrow down just above it. It’s something I’ll need to decide on soon but after ripping it all out twice already — I can do it again.
Besides, once I get this sock all figured out the second one should be a breeze and then I’ll post the directions here so any of you so inclined can give it a try. Meanwhile, I’ve gotten a couple of knitting books to read but trying to fit them in for reading when I’ve got so many books I need to review this month is going to be a real challenge. I figure if I get all the review books done and written up I can move to one of these new books.
So, far for review in SFRevu, I’ve read The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold. This one ends the Sharing Knife sage and is the fourth in the series. For Gumshoe Review, I’ve read The Book of Old Houses by Sara Graves and A Veiled Deception by Annette Blair. These will be in the February issues of the zines. I’ve started Oolong Dead by Laura Childs (also for Gumshoe). At least as far as the reading goes this month, I’m having a lot of fun.
Well, I’m off to finish a chapter, have a hot chocolate, and get to sleep. Hopefully, I’ll have a dream where I figure out what to do about my sock. I’m open to suggestions — not necessarily to follow the suggestion — but to take it/them under advisement.