flemmings | (no subject)

solaas and

kagenami, your Christmas cards came. Thank you so much, and A and K, thank you for the dragon stickers. Year of the dragon again. The last one must have been 2000, which was before I dragoned; before I Saiyukied, in fact, at least before August. A good year: may we have a repeat in 2012.

2. Stopping to retie my stupid bootlace this morning, I suddenly found a little star on my black boot-top. I was momentarily puzzled, and then realized it was a snowflake. How I've lived to almost 62 without ever seeing a snowflake before, I don't know; but there it is. Usually I suppose the snow is coming down too heavily to isolate individual specimens, and the ones that land on coats tend to melt immediately, or possibly look like fluff to my myopic eyes. But this morning was flurries (considers the tropical readers who may lack snow vocabulary: like the lightest of rain showers-- just a few flakes here or there) and if ever you want to go snowflake watching, that's the time to do it.

3. Since I (re)learned to crochet in mid-November, I've made two neck warmers. One is too narrow to be really effective against December winds, but one is just fine. It's fuchsia and goes with my poofy old rose beret-cap. In spite of these, I still get called 'sir', and by people who ought to know that fuchsia and old rose are gender markers in this society.

As I recall, these two neckwarmers were fast crochets-- well, once I figured what I was doing wrong with the first one, took out half my work and redid it. I've been working on two others since then and neither ever seems close to being finished. One is large, I grant you-- wanted a kind of cowl thing to pull up against the back of my neck-- but the other is the same dimensions as the fuchsia one. But it's a rayon wool, not acrylic, and slides rather more than the others. Maybe that's the problem?

4. Tuesday rained and then turned to sleet and then the temperatures dropped, so of course the world was encased in ice. This is why I hate winter here-- less than an inch of snow will break your ankle if given half a chance. But I walked in the thing and didn't break my ankle-- and did lay down ice melter on the stubbornly unsalted stretches on the street-- so evidently I shall survive this winter as well. At least I didn't have to wear boots once until Dec.28, which is a feat.

5. Speaking of being 62 (in ten days) I was most chuffed when the Japanese mother at work was surprised to learn my age. (This because my standard response to people saying 'Aren't you cold' as I stand around in my tanktop, is 'At 60 you're *never* cold.') 'I thought you were in your 50s.' When a Japanese thinks a gaijin looks younger than their age, trust me, you look young.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

*HUGS* - happy snowflake star incident. ^_^

Happy New Year to you my dear and may your birthday be bright and beautiful. (whether or nor you are cold. ^_^)

At least I didn't have to wear boots once until Dec.28, which is a feat.

I know! It's so weird.

But you do look young!

Glad the card reached you safely! I was born in a year of the dragon, so I'm hoping for a good year.

Dragons untie! :)

Which is to say, also a dragon-year child.

And it's a leap-year! :)

An early happy birthday!

Also, I apologise if I'm telling you something you already know, but the thickness (or "gauge") of your yarn may be affecting how fast the finished product is emerging. Most yarn these days has a note on the wrapper saying how many stitches/rows in that yarn make a 10cm square, and what size needle/crochet hook is recommended to get that gauge/sizing.

Ha! I'm relearning to crochet this week! It's nice to be mistaken as young at this point, though I'm sure we all hated it when we were young. Happy New Year!

And a happy new year to you, with your great sleeping weather.

Weird but welcome. I could do with more of the same.

Thank you. Always happy to hear it.

That only means a longer February...

Thank you. And thank you for the information, which I didn't know. Alas, made-in-China $1-a-hank wool from the dollar store has nothing about how many stitches are needed for a 10 cm square, even if the label is impeccably bilingual as required by law. I must start buying in more upscale places, though the only one I know of is a fortunate long subway trip away. I do not need another money sink-- though come to think of it, isn't that what all you guys said when you first started knitting?

Great! Let us crochet together.

It never bothered me when young, since I didn't drink in my 20s and so was never carded. Though I was amused when I went back to university to finish my degree at 27 and someone in my class started asking cautiously if I was married? No. Oh. Had I moved away from home very young? Hardly. Why? 'You're just so mature for eighteen.'

Awkward. (And yes, that is indeed what we said. Like all hobbies which you actually enjoy, it grows on you.)

And you too. May it be better than last.