Counting Blessings

A lot of unfortunate things have happened in the past couple months. Not just to me, of course, and really I suppose I haven't had the worst of it. Although I've lost two pets, I haven't lost any of the people I love, and I'm in good health and fortunate not to have felt the effects of the financial crisis. I'm always cursing my bad luck, but I rarely stop to think about what good luck I've had. I have a really wonderful family that loves and supports me. I'm in love with the most amazing man I've ever met, who is so perfect for me, it's like I dreamed him up myself. And recently, I was able to travel to one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and I had an incredible time while I was there.

The end of the year always makes me feel reflective, and right now I'm reading Little Women, which has made me reflect on my blessings. Last night I read the chapter "Meg Goes to Vanity Fair," in which Meg travels with a couple of rich friends, dressing up and attending parties. Although initially vain and envious of her friends' fine things, in the end she realizes that the more she has, the more she wants, and she'd rather be poor, content, and loved.

Sometimes I feel like I get lost in everything that's going on around me. The world moves so fast, everything has to be done right now, everybody's always wanting more. Lori Ann recently wrote a post about anti-multitasking, and it got me thinking about slowing down. Concentrating on one thing at a time. Putting all of my love and energy into the little details of a project before moving on to another one.

So love and contentment will be my pursuits for the next year, being thankful for my blessings instead of dwelling on my misfortunes. My hope is that this inner peace will be reflected in my outer behavior. I've wasted entirely too much time being moody and sullen this year.

Comments

I think I've fixed the comments on this blog, so they should work now. They're working for me, except when I choose 'OpenID' and type in my LiveJournal username. If this is the problem you've been having too, I've changed the comment settings to allow unregistered users to comment (as anonymous or with just their name). Try using this option to comment. If you see this post, please comment so I can test these settings to make sure they're working. Thank you!

And also, thank you for all of the sweet comments about my cat.

Madeline Mitts

[ raveled. ]

I finished my Endpaper Mitts yesterday, just in time to wear them home from work tonight, during our first snow of the season. I wasn't entirely happy with the way the colors came out, but they're so warm and fit so well that I really don't care anymore. Next up (after I finish Flavio's socks, of course) I want to knit Heath's Socks, a beautiful new pattern written by my friend Andrea. I think I want to try Malabrigo, but I don't know much about it. Does anybody recommend/not recommend it?

P.S. I've named my mitts after my cat, Madeline, who was killed by my neighbor's dogs today. I'd had her for 12 years, half my life, and she loved to lay in my lap while I knitted. Whenever the world felt like it was falling apart around me, she was there for cuddles and comfort.

There's Always Room for Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I've had a really wonderful holiday weekend. Although I never got around to baking cookies, I have almost finished my second Endpaper Mitt, and I also finished one of Flavio's socks. I even did some Christmas shopping too!

My grandparents came over for dinner this afternoon. We had turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, cornbread stuffing, hot rolls, cranberry sauce, a couple of relish trays, and two pies (dutch apple and pumpkin dream). I think my mom makes the very best pie crust on earth...so light and flaky, it just melts in your mouth.

I set up the Christmas tree around 3AM. I couldn't find my ornament hooks anywhere, so several ornaments have yet to be hung. It's pretty so far, though.

Now I'm watching a House marathon and finishing up my Endpaper Mitts!

New Oven Day!

my mom peeking into the new oven!
merry christmas to us!

Our new oven was installed this morning. It's really beautiful and shiny, but it doesn't make the creak-and-bang sounds like the old one, and I know it's going to take me a while to adjust to buttons instead of knobs. Still...it's really lovely. We're breaking it in right now with a mushroom pizza, something we've been desperately missing for the past six weeks. I'm also eager to try out the puzzle-shaped cookie cutters I bought at Muji on my last day in Milan, along with a lot of other baked yumminess.

Other news:

• I had a really bad day yesterday. And the exclamation point at the end of it was being pulled over by an officer from the sheriff's department, not fifty feet from my house at 1 AM. I'd never been pulled over before, and I knew I hadn't been speeding and had used my turn signal every time, so I really didn't know what was going on. Anyway, I guess the light above my license plate was burned out, and the guy was really nice about the whole thing, and I didn't get a ticket. Still, it was extremely frustrating (and a little humiliating) to be pulled over right in front of my neighbor's house, when all I wanted was to just get home.
• I've been told by a couple of people that they're having trouble commenting on my blog. I don't know if this is a general Blogger glitch, or if it's an issue with my blog in particular. Is anyone else having trouble sending and/or receiving comments?
• Be my Twitter friend!
  

Sneak Peek

one down, one to go!
p.s. sorry about the bluriness...it's really hard to take a picture of your own arm!

I just finished the first in my pair of Endpaper Mitts. I thought the colors in the Noro would change more frequently, and at first I was disappointed because I was halfway through the thumb increases by the time I got something other than pinky-purple, but actually I really like the way this turned out. I'm not even going to try to match the other mitt's striping pattern to this one, so the two will be different colors. I think it'll be fun that way, right? Anyway, I'm really hoping to get the other one done by the end of my 3-day Thanksgiving "weekend" (Tue/Wed/Thu), but I'm also hoping to finish one of Flavio's socks, our oven will be installed Tuesday morning (and I've been going through baked goods withdrawl), and I've got a really thick book about fiancé & marriage visas to read. So we'll see what happens.

What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger

Sorry for my lack of blogging this past week. At first, I was having some trouble adjusting to being back in the US. I know, it sounds crazy since I was only gone for a week, but it seems to have been a pretty critical week in the States! Halloween, the election, and the start of the Christmas season (is it just me, or does this seem to start earlier every year?). This past week has also been plagued by several catastrophes, large and small. They're pretty personal, so I won't go into detail here, but the phrase, "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger," is pretty fitting, particularly when applied to my relationship with Flavio. I'm so eager for us to start our life together...I'm hoping that once we're living together, all of the chaos will end.

But I don't want to give you the impression that everything has been bad since I've been back! Actually, day-to-day life has been pretty good:

• We bought a new oven!! It should (hopefully) be installed sometime later this week, but most definitely before Thanksgiving.
• I finally got a new phone. I'm not in love with it, and unfortunately I had to get a new SIM card, so I don't have any of my pictures of Max or Flavio, but at least I can make phone calls now! :D
• Flavio & I have decided where we want to live when he moves here in April. I've been having fun thinking about furniture arrangements and daydreaming about going for sunset walks on the hiking trails.
• Driving home from work every night, my hands are always freezing. I've been shopping around for some fingerless gloves/mitts (I don't like gloves because I can't get a good grip on the steering wheel), but I didn't like any that I found. So I'm making my own! Last night I ordered some Louet Gems Fingering in charcoal and Noro Silk Garden Sock in S258 to make Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. This will be my first time using Noro...I've heard a lot of negative things about Noro sock yarn (and I've felt it myself at Twist...it's awfully scratchy), but I'm hoping that the silk blend will be a little better.

With Christmas approaching, I won't be blogging much over the next six weeks. But in January, I'll be back with lots of things to share!

Italia è per gli innamorati!

Lucky for you, I do kiss and tell! Italy was incredible. I've been home for about 36 hours, and I miss Italy already. Milan was a madhouse, but by the end of my trip I was getting used to the rain and the crazy traffic and the bumpy metro and the vendors shoving umbrellas in my face at every corner. These are easy things to deal with when you get to have a cream-filled brioche & espresso for breakfast and everywhere you look you see beautiful plants & flowers spilling over balconies and you walk past a gelaterie every 10 or 20 meters. As if that weren't enough, I also met a lot of really wonderful people.

Flavio's village, Vercelli, was really lovely. His family was so sweet and welcoming. We visited a street fair and Sant'Andrea (a 13th-century church in the city's center) and I had my first Italian gelato.

Then it was on to Venice! The train ride was cozy, and I got to see the sun rise over the hills. Venice was amazing. I ate four ice cream cones and we stayed at a beautiful bed & breakfast and we went to Murano and, oh, I can't even begin to tell you everything. Here are some pictures, but just believe me when I say that they don't do the city justice. If you ever have the opportunity to go to Venice, do it! I can't wait to go back someday.

Of course these aren't all of the photos I took during my trip! Although I took 300 photos, my computer is suffering from a severe memory drought, and I only managed to get about 56 photos transferred from my camera. See the rest of the photos I managed to upload here.