Chickenlips Knitting

Dang, I've been so busy with work that I missed this week's Wayback Wednesday pic. Sorry! Hey, were yarn skeins really that big in 1971? I mean, looka' the size of 'em, they're almost as big as her head! (The skeins. Chee.) Although I'm not a crocheter, I love this pic. It conveys that feeling I've had, of being breathlessly eager to get that just-purchased bagful of yarn home from the LYS/Michaels/Jo-Ann/Craft Warehouse or wherever, and start stitching. Whether your pleasure is 100% cashmere, 100% acrylic, or somewhere in between, Chickenlips is not here to judge. I just hope that if yarn is your vision of sugarplums, you get yourself lots of it! And if it isn't...well, whatever floats your boat, but hey--this is a knitting blog, after all.

The Christmas Song That Always Gets Me

I keep my alarm radio tuned to Soft Rock 103, which throughout December has been billing itself as "The Christmas Station." No aficionado of Christmas music am I, but interspersed with the wistful "Where Are You Christmas" and "Do You Hear What I Hear" they play this one song--I don't know the name of it, but it's "Silent Night" with voice-over by a gruff-voiced Santa, telling the story of a lonely soldier on a cold winter night somewhere far from home, trying to sleep. When it gets to the part where the soldier says "Carry on Santa, all is secure," I well up without fail. Though I've put my Log Cabin blanket, Salt Peanuts Cardigan, and current Shawl Ministry projects on hold so I can knit some Trekking socks for my dad, I've got a ball of black Patons Classic Merino in my stash, and I'm yearning to cast on for another helmet liner. Any other knitting calling to you despite the fact that you're hard at work making Christmas gifts? I'd love to hear.

The scent of fresh Noble fir is wafting through the house, waiting for the lights to be strung, and the current gaggle of teenagers (God help me) to decorate the tree. My sweet spousal unit is on the roof at the moment, because the other day's wind and rain storm tore shingles from our roof. It also blew down part of our backyard fence, but so far, neither Jimmy nor Buster have made a break for it.

I've finished the gusset of the first Trekking sock, and am now working on the foot. My goal is to cast on for the second sock by tomorrow morning. Chickenlips out!