This week’s 10 on Tuesday is Ten Things To Love About the Holidays, or something close to that. 

If you’ve hung around here for a while, you’ve heard my annual grousing about things I don’t love about the holidays:  the rampant commercialism, the stress people impose on themselves, the unrealistic expectations, the fact that the hype begins earlier every year.  The ugly sweaters…

 You also know I’m somewhat of an odd duck in this pond of swirling red and green joviality.  I’m a Jewish adult who was raised in a Christian family.  I have lovely memories of Christmases growing up.  Simple stuff, like the smell of the tree, the thousands of cookies my mom baked and iced every year, the family being together for a day no matter what.   And the magic – there’s always the magic for a kid, and it was lovely.

We (my spouse and kids and I) still celebrate Christmas day with my family, and it is still lovely.  It’s a day of peace, fellowship, favorite foods, and laughter.   I always look forward to it, as I look forward to other traditions, like getting together with close friends.

What I don’t like about this season, now that I have a different perspective on it, is the following:

 (1) The assumptions some people make.  These come in different forms.  First we have the assumption that everyone is focused on Christmas, and the inevitable elevator question:  “Are you ready?”  I never quite know what to do with this.  I’m all for being forthright, but usually this question is the equivalent of “it sure is cold out there.”  So I just say “I’m getting there,” and smile.   Then we have the assumption, generally made by people who know I’m Jewish, that I simply have no appreciation at all for the Christmas holiday, am offended by someone’s cute Santa or wouldn’t want to see their tree.   Well, hello!   Not true.  And we do exchange gifts with close friends and family.

(2) The idea imposed by some that my December 25 is going to suck (and worse yet, that it will suck for my kids) because we don’t celebrate it the way they are accustomed to.  Boy oh boy, is Christmas ever loaded with emotional baggage.  Seriously, I don’t even want to touch the latch on one of those bags.  Suffice it to say that when it’s just a day, it’s an excellent bonus to get to spend it with family, eating yummy foods and relaxing.  No further expectations need apply.

(3) The equating of Hanukkah with Christmas.  I’ve ranted about this before.  The world at large still does not get it.  Hanukkah is not the Semitic equivalent of Christmas.  It falls in December, and there the similarity ends.  The commercial world has encouraged the notion of giving gifts for Hanukkah, but that idea is purely 20th-Century, and very tied to the assimilation of Jews into a Christian environment.  (And yes!  We do give our kids Hanukkah gifts – we’re not ogres.)   But the idea that a Menorah should always be displayed next to a Christmas tree in a public setting, to me, is just goofy.  As a PSA, the things one should know about Hanukkah are the following:  It is a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar.  It celebrates independence won in a battle fought against a much larger army, and (more importantly) the miracle that followed involving sufficient oil to keep the eternal flame in the temple burning for 8 days when it seemed there was only enough for one day.   Working and going about normal life through the holiday, which lasts 8 days, is expected.  One lights the candles each evening while reciting certain prayers.  One eats traditional foods (potato pancakes, donuts fried in oil) and plays traditional games (dreidel, which is a sort of gambling game played with a wooden top).  There is no single day that people are expected to gather together for a big to-do.   Like all other Jewish holidays, the date of its occurrence is determined by the Jewish calendar, which is a lunar calendar.  So it begins on a different date in the Gregorian calendar each year. 

I’m sorry if I seem weary but I seem to explain this stuff fairly frequently, and it doesn’t sink in all that often.  I guess it’s just a loaded topic for some.

For me, I say, live, let live, and enjoy.

Gaelic Mist is coming along.

Recall that I blocked the cabled portion last spring to see what I was dealing with.  I then let it sit over the summer, and finally resumed knitting at the reverse stockinette portion of the bodice.  So the top has never been blocked – the whole thing will benefit from a good blocking but I’m debating whether to knit the button and collar bands, first.  This yarn is so crispy and crunchy in its pre-soak state that I’ll certainly have to do it again after they’re complete. 

It does appear to fit, thus far.  Blocking will help with getting things rearranged a bit, no doubt.

I started a sleeve.

This is the cuff, which is about 5 – 6 inches long.  Now I’m on reverse stockinette again, having to pay attention only to increases and decreases.  Still, sleeves take forever don’t they? 

What are you knitting?

1.  Over the Thanksgiving break, I had a fun literary experience.  I read Rebecca for the first time ever (how did that happen?) followed immediately by Daphne, a novel about Daphne du Maurier by Justine Picardie.  The latter had been reviewed and recommended by my talented friend Becky, who blogs at abookaweek.  (And she knits, too!)

Anyhoo, I loved Rebecca, with all its gothic decay and the creepy housekeeper and the narrator-without-a-name.  Daphne extended the experience, picking up on the themes in Rebecca, filling in blanks, ruminating on a mystery concerning the Brontes, and introducing characters that bring us to present day.   I so enjoyed this little journey – it was hard to come back to earth.

2.  My Gaelic Mist cardigan  - last discussed long ago when I blocked the cable portion of the body to see if it would actually function as a wearable garment, rather than body armor -  has been officially revived from hibernation.  I completed the body and joined the shoulders – again, to test fit.  I’ll be darned - I think it’s gonna work.  Now I just need me some sleeves, which I think I’ll knit both at once so I don’t flake out.  Here’s the thing:  the photo of the two sample sweaters shown in A Fine Fleece  depict models who are clearly wearing versions that are WAAAAYYYY too large for their waif-like frames.  That’s not immediately apparent, but when you see the actual projects people have completed on Ravelry, at begins to become clear (and I have read this criticism of the modeled shots of other sweaters in this book).  So I have had to adjust my mental picture of what this cardigan will really look like when knit in the proper size for me. 

3.  In other knitting news, I have a Swallowtail on the needles as my “comfort knitting.”  I’m working it up in laceweight, so I’ll have to do the version with 19 repeats of the first chart, and even then it won’t be large, but I’m beginning to appreciate the functionality of the shawlette.

4.  Still can’t seem to finish those socks I’ve been working on since last spring. 

5.  A couple of people asked and I forgot to timely report on the Halloween run.  As it turned out, we decided not to do the 15K and instead ran the 5K at a nice clip.  The decision was based largely on the truly crummy weather forecast for the day of the race (it was raw and windy and rather unpleasant).  As it turned out, when we actually saw the 15K course we were highly relieved that we didn’t run it – it was repetitive and involved a run up a yucky long hill.  So, we made a choice that worked for us, had fun, and decided we’d definitely do it again next year – the people running in costume were a hoot, and it was low-key and well-organized.

That’s all for today…  what’s random with you?

It was dry in time to wear it on Thanksgiving day!

I found some groovy buttons – sort of hard to capture their full effect in the gloomy weather, but they are carved of wood, in black and a natural tone.

I’d say the fit is just about perfect .

Sorry I didn’t get a shot of the back – we were hurrying before hungry guests arrived.  It’s cute – really!

Pattern:  Heather Hoodie, Knitscene Fall 2009 (scroll down the page), size 38 (see errata for cable chart on Ravelry).

Yarn:  Cascade Eco + colorway 9459 (in some lights it looks olive, but mostly it looks brown).

Needles:  Knitpicks Options Circular, size 10 (for the body); size 9 (for the hood and button band); size 8 (for the sleeve bands).

Modifications:  (1) I couldn’t get gauge with the Eco Wool – it’s not quite a bulky weight (the pattern calls for Lamb’s Pride Bulky, which I don’t care for).  Well, I maybe could have achieved gauge but the fabric would have looked horrible.  So I knit at a gauge that gave me a nice fabric, and followed the directions for one size larger than I normally would have made.  I also measured my work constantly as I went to make sure that it wasn’t wildly different from the schematic.  (2) I had read that  the hood was ginormous, so I went down a needle size from the body, and knit only 10 inches rather than 11 prior to decreasing.  It’s still really big, but I never intended to wear it up – as I have told those who don’t like hoods, to me it’s just an accessory.  (3)  I did not like the look of the sleeve ribbing on some of the examples on Ravelry – it looked too long and sticky-outy.  So I went down two needle sizes and knit only about half the length called for in the pattern.  (4)  The pattern called for picking up about eleventy-billion stitches for the band.  I could see that wasn’t going to work after I picked up about 20 stitches, so I just eyeballed it, and also made sure that I picked up the correct number so that I ended with a k3 so the ribbing matched up.

I love it.  It’s cozy and very much my style.   The funny thing is that not one person at our Thanksgiving gathering asked if I had made my sweater.   I was feeling a little bummed about that, but then it dawned on me that it might not have occurred to anyone that I could manage such a project.  So I decided to feel pleased that no one asked me “did you make that yourself?”

Hope your holiday was fantastic.  Happy Black Friday, all!

Whoever came up with that stuff about watching paint dry or waiting for pots to boil obviously wasn’t a knitter.  I think the worst torture has to be waiting for a new sweater to dry so you can wear it!

I can’t get a decent photo in the room where it’s blocking  - here’s a tease.

Hope your weekend is happy!

This is the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Museum of Art, designed by Santiago Calatrava.   The “wings” are generally open when the weather isn’t terribly windy.  They close and open each day at noon,  just for grins.   You can see what it looks like inside here. 

The coolest thing?  This is the view from my office window!

Happy Friday everyone!

Today, I’m thankful for…

Breathtaking moments…

A fresh beginning, every day…

Moments of quiet.

How about you?

Today’s Ten on Tuesday:  Ten Things You Wish you Knew How to Do.  Does this go perfectly with my learning theme, or what? 

1.  Woodworking.  I love watching Norm build furniture.  

2.  Crochet.  I can make a chain, but that’s it. 

3.  Dye.  I have a sweater in a light pink that does nothing for me.  I want it to be orange, or brown, or even plum or burgundy.  But not that pink.

4.  Make puff pastry.  This is probably a matter of objecting to working with giant sheets of butter more than lack of sufficient knowledge to do the job.  It’s also an idle wish – Pepperidge Farms is perfectly sufficient!

5.  Stranded colorwork.  I plan to conquer this one soon. 

6.  Make cheese. 

7.  Change a tire.

8.  Speak a foreign language.

9.  Stay up later at night.  I’d get so much more done.  But I just. Can’t. Do it.

10.  Install a zipper.  We’ve discussed my hatred of sewing, but I automatically dismiss any zipped cardigan pattern.  This seems wrong, somehow.

I feel like I’m just getting warmed up.  What’s on your list?

I was AWOL last week when many people were posting their first installment of Thankful Thursdays.   Had I posted then, I would certainly have begun with the “big stuff,” like my lovely family, my health, my friends…  You all know I’m thankful for those things.  Today, I’m more in a “it’s the little pleasures that make life good” mood.  So today, I am thankful for…

1.  Coffee.   The first sip at 5:15 a.m., as I’m firing up the computer and thinking about my day – it’s the best.

2.  Cell phones.  I know they are as much curse as blessing, but seriously – how did we live without them?  

3.  Cute shoes.   No, really!  There’s something about putting on a fun pair of shoes that gives me a real lift. 

Happy Thursday everyone!

 I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the choices people make in living out their days.   It’s probably safe to say that there are as many approaches to life as there are people on the planet.   Some of our proclivities are hard-wired into us, but some are truly choice.  Do we choose a positive attitude?  Do we choose to be courteous and respectful?  Do we choose to lift others up? 

This is a broad topic, but the specific aspect I’ve been focused on lately is how we choose to approach the always-present opportunity for learning and growth.   I’ve noticed, and become somewhat sensitive to, a number of people tending to reject learning opportunities because they are “afraid.”  I’ve done it myself – I used to say I was “afraid” of yeast and therefore avoided learning to bake bread.  More recently, I thought I was “afraid” to try new knitting techniques (the cure for that was a shove into the deep end of the pool – lucky for me I have friends who are believers in tough love).

What are we really afraid of?  Certainly not single-cell organisms or sticks and string.   We’re afraid of failing, at worst, or even of just wasting precious time on an unsuccessful venture.

The thing is, what is life if not a string of continuous possibilities?  Do we really want to slog through our days, merely doing what must be done, sitting down in our Barcalounger every night to watch a few hours of crappy TV, only to get up and do it again the next day? 

One of the things I have come to love about the knitting blog world is the pervasive spirit of trying, and trying again.   Knitters start things all the time – and nearly as frequently realize that the yarn isn’t right for the project, the project isn’t right for them, or that there’s just something else more fun to try.  So they frog and move on.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained turns into something ventured, nothing lost.

It’s not just about knitting, though.  The idea of giving things a try translates to all sorts of pursuits.  Cooking, for example.  I find myself in discussion frequently with people who are what I would call “tentative cooks.”  “Oh, that sounds good, but I wouldn’t know how to make it.”   The idea of expanding horizons gets shut down immediately with the competing reaction of “I’m afraid.” 

Well, phooey.   Information is power, so how about letting that power conquer fear by arming ourselves?

To illustrate, I became interested in cooking in my early 20s.   Well, really, I became interested in eating food that didn’t come in a box in the freezer section of the grocery store, or from a can.  So I got myself a copy of the Joy of Cooking and read it, nearly cover to cover.  I took breaks to try out recipes that sounded good.  I mastered a few things and in the process learned that there wasn’t much to fear in trying.   If you goof, well, that’s why God made garbage disposals.  I still have that book, its stains and creases a testament to my efforts.  I move on, obtaining more books, reading and reading some more about various cuisines, techniques, and ingredients, trying out all kinds of crazy recipes along the way.  I screwed stuff up, I had some successes, I fed my friends, and nothing bad happened to me.  So I kept at it.

Today, after all that reading, trial, error, and practice, I have a nice sturdy repertoire of cooking knowledge – and a lot of it is just instinct.  I can tell you if the potatoes are done frying by their aroma.  I know that a certain recipe is going to suck because the ingredients are lacking, or used in the wrong proportion.   I know when the dough is sufficiently kneaded.  I can put salad dressings or marinades together by the seat of my pants.  Beyond all else, I know that when I just don’t feel like it, I can pull a frozen pizza out of the freezer and live to cook another day.

Knitting has been pretty much the same for me.   I was lucky to have that latent muscle memory dating to the Nixon era, when my mom taught me to do a long-tail cast on, and then to knit and purl.   When that little spark ignited a couple of years ago, I did what came naturally:  I started to read everything I could possibly find about knitting.  Blogs, web sites, books, magazines.   It didn’t hurt that my friends pushed me along, simply insisting that I get out of my garter-stitch comfort zone and man up, already.  Even though I said on occasion that I was “afraid,” and in fact botched some things quite impressively, nothing bad happened to me.  I wound up the yarn again and moved on. 

The bottom line?  Life is much more interesting when we decide not to let “I’m afraid” stop us.    I don’t ever want to stop learning.   As 2010 approaches, I’d like to set some learning goals – or maybe even just one. 

What about you?  How do you feel about learning, and what would you like to learn next?