Januarying

Januarying. It's not a word but it should be. How else do you describe what you do the month after Christmas, when the bustle dies down, the decorations are stored away, and people are back to their grumbly selves and good will to man (or woman) be damned for another eleven months?

Some people wish it was spring already, but I love winter. The weather finally turned cold, but some recent snow just missed us by thiiiiiiiiis much. Curses. It's the month of pottering about, keeping warm, drinking copious amounts of hot beverages, and using the indoor time (if you're me, anyway) to snuggle up and knit (or just to snuggle up, wink-wink).

I know people dislike the early darkness, but I love it, and I feel it quite noticeably creeps away not so long after the solstice. Just before Christmas, leaving work, the sky was back. Tonight, leaving work, those lovely colors of winter sunsets started to make their appearance. I will always and forever stop and gaze skyward when those pink clouds are out and about.

See that weeeeeeee bit of the moon? By the time I made it home, it was truly dark. I ran inside for my camera, and directed it towards that smiley little sliver trying to warm up an icy night sky (if I wasn't a city dweller I'd have tried for the stars as well, because they were out in full force).

I mean....don't you just love the moon? Do you wish on the full moon? I do. I honestly think it works. I'm a finger crosser, and a first-star-I-see-tonight sort of wisher (that's all kind of a secret, so hush-hush if you don't mind), but the moon seems to work best.

It's been a quiet couple of weeks around here. I had intentions for sock-making, but didn't like the feel of the yarn for socks, so I've decided to make a hat. After miles of stitches I've almost got the brim finished (it looks small but it's streeeeeeetchy):

I'm using Knit Picks Hawthorn yarn in Arbor Lodge, and I'm quite interested in how that pink zig-zag is going to turn out. The pattern is Sockhead, and can be found on Ravelry. It's very easy, but I'd suggest binge-watching something as you go as sock yarn is skinny and the needles are small, and it's an adult-sized hat.

Of course I was almost at the easy peasy stockinette section when I remembered someone asked me for a dozen dishcloths, so I hauled out the cotton stash and will be working on those.

And finally, I was having a rough few days last week. One of my best friends (whom I also happen to work with) dropped a present off at my desk because she knows that little things make me happy.

Ain't it grand when people just...know you?