The Shortest Day

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!

- Susan Cooper

It's very foggy where I live today but the sun still came up anyway! Glad Yule, everybody.

(no subject)

So, at the beginning of this year, I decided to knit my sister a sweater as her Christmas present. I bought yarn (that she selected), and found a pattern, and started working on it.

And I hated every minute of it. Getting measurements from her was like pulling teeth, getting her to try things on was even harder, and the actual knitting was either boring or irritating. It was a hateful, hateful sweater, even before the fitting where it turned out I need to rip out several inches and do them again.

So I gave up - I don't want to give someone a sweater I hate because a) knitted gifts should be made with love and b) that sort of thing feels like it would carry a curse to the wearer. She gets on my nerves sometimes, but I don't want to curse her. I talked to her about it, she agreed that she didn't want a cursed sweater, and I promised to make her something else with the yarn (not for Christmas).

I settled on making her a complex lacy wrap/infinity scarf thing - she likes wearing those and I love knitting complicated lace. I rewound the yarn earlier this week and, since today is a holiday and I have the day off, I decided to cast on.

I am going to enjoy this project much more than the last, but it does begin with 368 stitchs of provisional caston, and I am currently regretting many of my choices.