In the eye of the beholder

Sure, why not...

I have been given this award by Lili.  Thanks, I feel quite honored.  I enjoy reading her blog, which keeps inspiring me to break out the red lipstick ;)

This award comes with this "requirement":

“When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!”

Here are the 10 honest things about me:

1. I hate driving.
   
2. I am not ticklish, at all.  An extreme advantage in tickle fights.
   
3. While I have reasonably good coordination and am able to pick up dance steps relatively easily, I lack hand eye coordination when other objects are involved.  I am worse than terrible at any sort of ball games, video games, or anything that involves coordinating while handling other objects.  Obviously, juggling is out of the question.
   
4. When I really get involved in a good book, I will neglect sleep hours and will keep reading as much as I can.  Took me about two weeks to read "War and Peace".  Had to sleep it off the weekend after I finished.
   
5. My favorite simple spring pleasure: stroll around and smell the lilacs.
   
6. I am a slow eater.  Partly because I tend to chat too much while I eat, and I also usually drink about 2-3 glasses of water each meal.  And partly, because I believe there is no need to rush enjoying a nice meal.
   
7. Pencil lead in my nose as a child. Been there, done that.
8. I started doing flamenco because the performance of the flamenco group at my university looked cool.  Also figured that a predominantly rhytmical style would suit me, as I had enjoyed tap dance as well.
   
9. I cook an entire batch of food for the entire week.  I don't usually follow recipes, and sometimes it does not turn out so good, but it is very handy to not have to cook for work every night.
   
10. I'll stop to pet any dog I come across, if the owner is OK with it.

I am probably the last one to do this :(

Since I had leftover yarn, why not make matching mittens for my just completed hat?  This was my first venture into mittens, thumb shaping and all that DPN fun.  Initially, I had some trouble reading the pattern, but then I managed to adapt it for my bulky yarn and the cuffs to match the hat flap. 

Buttoned up mitts

I finally got around to knitting a hat I intended to make last year, from a pattern I found on Ravelry (I love that site!).  I think it is a pretty decent hat for being my first attempt at DPNs, although it is a little too roomy.  I did knit a swatch, but I guess my knitting is a little looser when using the DPNs than knitting straight.  It is still a decent fit, and the extra room might come in handy for adding lining.

Buttoned up hat

Luckily (or unluckily!) it is still snowing out there, so I won't feel silly testing out my shiny new hat in the midst of spring.

To feel more spring like, BF brought me some flowers. 

Tulips

I learned to knit in high school.  I signed up late for crafts class, and all that was left was either sewing or knitting, so knitting seemed the lesser of two evils back then.  I made a sweater, but was not particularly fond of the activity.  Mainly because I was forced to do it, I guess.

In recent years, I have taken a liking of it again.  But my memory is a disaster.  When I held needles on my hand again, ready to make a scarf, I had to check a book to remember how to cast on.  Since I remembered I used to hold my yarn in my left hand, I deducted I was a continental knitter, and consulted how to do the knit stitch on a book.  The purl stitch came back naturally, so I did not bother checking instructions on how to do a purl stitch.  Everything seemed to be coming back to me....  Although, it puzzled me that everywhere I read that people hated the purl stitch, and I never found it to be particularly difficult. Also, when doing patterns alternating knit and purl (seed stitch being the one where it was most obvious), loops on the needles did not seem to be facing the right way...

And then I find this...

Well, that is exactly how I purl!  Well, not exactly, as I hold the yarn in front of the needle, but quite close.  Looked up a video of the matching Eastern European knit stitch, and it feels way more natural, plus my knitting seems much more even now.     I was not entirely wrong...

That's right.  The official airport bag is done.  I started this bag almost a year ago (I know, shame on me), looking forward to a bag with precisely the design and size I liked.   I started hopeful and excited, but things got busier, and the bag got abandoned.  Well, mostly abandoned, as I did take the bag along to all my trips last year, and did a fair amount of knitting in the airport.  I was glad I had my trusty bag when my flight got delayed and I was stranded for 8 hours in Denver, but not so glad when I ran out of yarn four hours into it.  Well, finally, and not in an airport, I finished it, felted it, and added the zipper and magnetic closure.

Isn't it pretty?

Felted bag

Well, after a wonderful time off visiting family and friends in lovely home, I'm back in the freezer. 
So many posts and tags to catch up with!

And with the first snow falls come colds.  I feel pretty crappy, probably because I've been working quite late these days, and since I was starting to feel sick today, I was not feeling hungry at all either.  All I want at this point is just crash into bed.  And I think precisely that is what I am gong to do now.

Sigh.  I'm flying to visit home next week, so I hope I'm good by then.  Flying sick is not fun.