a very merry birthday to ME! yep, march the first: the day i turn 26. i'm pretty happy about it, but i am one who enjoys my birthday every year-- alway have, always hope to. twenty six however has a slightly different feeling than all the others i can remember (i'd say since the last 25, but i don't honestly remember the first several). i don't know how to put it into words, but there is something around/about it that seems different from all the others. as i child, my birthday always seemed like one year older, one year closer to the next grand thing (13, 16, 20-- although as i think about those years, i'm not sure i liked them. 13 was awful, full of adolescent anxieties; at 16 i refused to learn to drive and had absolutely no interest in learning; and 18-21 were awful. i experienced a difficult 'leaving the nest' with my parents, a heart breaking death and grief experience (don't regret a day of it, would do it all over again if i had to, but it was still hard) a major break up with a boy, and a job change-- those were turbulent years) but at 26 i don't have the "next up" feeling. overall years 22-25 have been happy, full of love and new 'meant to be' experiences; feelings of satisfaction and contentment. Perhaps this 26 feeling is the wonderment of what will be next rather than the sense of what is supposed to be next. yes, that seems right-- i think i will sit with that thought for a while and see how it feels.


i took a little (like 1/2 an hour) break from baby blanket knitting to make gnomes. or rather korknisse. (norwegian, gotta love it. The Knitter's teased me about my Nordic winter. I laughed and said, "I know, what will i do in the summer?" A fellow knitter quipped back, "Norway has summer too!" Though perhaps not known for their summers, i'll have to do a little cultural research.) they are so charming. i want to make a whole village . they remind me of this-- tho for my birthday i would need more. people, please send me your wine corks!

speaking of baby blankets, i've finished another one, tho i can post no photo just yet. three down, two to go. however, i'm not feeling the love for this blanket-- i'm tempted to rip it out because i don't enjoy knitting the pattern, but don't have good design for it's two toned color (i.e not enough of one color to make one whole blanket, thus the color dilemma), any suggestions?

well, i think that about wraps up the news. wish me well as i turn 26.. or as my Poppa (who shared my birthday season with and i miss greatly during this time-- his death happened during those turbulent late teens) used to say, "As you begin your 27th year".

p.s. updated side bar. check it out.

I'm all about the ski weekends-- this one landed us at Devil's Thumb outside of Winter Park and Fraser. It was beautiful. Just when we thought we would go a whole week without snow fall, we got some flurries during our time outdoors.
I have however received a new "injury" (this one will not effect knitting, whew!) a lovely red blister that i managed to tear open while skiing. lovely.
in knit-knews: i'm makin' burp cloths. they're easy and functional. and for a gift. edit: i used the pattern from the Mason-Dixon book, size US 6 needles and cotton sugar 'n creme yarn.
gotta run, Rome is on.

i had another ski day today. what's that you say? You're wondering if it was windy? Just a little. Oh, yeah, part of the mountain was closed. Why? Gust of 100 mph at the top. As for the nordic skiing? well... let's just say that my 'ski day' turned out to be a day of knitting in the truck.

Yep, that wind (and icy packed snow) isn't for me yet. i'm still a fair weather skier ( i got about 100 yards away from the nordic center)

i was pretty disappointed. i wanted to feel that 'good mountain air in my lungs' again.

but the knitting was good.