Every year I get a bit obsessive about taxes. When the calendar year changes, I start thinking about them, and as time goes on, I get a pit-of-the-stomach feeling and it doesn’t go away until I have all the numbers and all the forms and all the paperwork ready to send off to my lovely brother-in-law. That finally happened yesterday and it’s a huge relief. The actual dollar figure doesn’t really matter; it’s not going to be huge no matter what. It’s winding up the year, adding things up, recording this and that. I try to be diligent all year long so there’s not that much to do at year’s end, but it’s always a lot more than I want to deal with. At this point in my life, I want to loll about eating bonbons and saying “Oh, la-di-dah!” whenever some mental task that requires organization and clear thinking looms on the horizon. When can that happen, I wonder? When I’m 80? When I’m 90? It didn’t happen at 70, anyway. I mean, I do loll sometimes and eat bonbons definitely, but the la-di-dah? Nope.
Anyway, I can now knit with a clear conscience and not a vaguely guilty feeling that I should be getting some paperwork done. The infinitely humongous blanket is still growing – two more stripes and the border and it’s done. I do 6 rows (approximately 1″) every day unless I just can’t stand it. How is that for a plan? “I’ll do it unless I don’t want to.” But those 6 rows are an hour of my day and sometimes I’d like to be doing anything else, like working on my pretty cardigan, which is getting bigger slowly. Here’s a detail of the front:
The little lace column surrounded by garter stitch is just enough to keep you focused and on track, but it’s easy to memorize and to figure out what row you’re on if you do lose track. So it’s interesting without being taxing, and that was just an accident, not a joke.
Good news – we’ve finally received most of our order of Lucky Tweed. It’s such a lovely yarn, beautiful merino tweed made in Ireland and all that, but it’s been on order since last June! Here are the colors that arrived:
A photo (especially mine) can’t do the subtle colors justice. That middle light seaglass green, for instance, has tiny pops of light blue and pink as well as darker teals and grays – it’s really lovely, as are they all. Come and see for yourself – make yourself a Napa that you’ll have and love forever!
And I’ll leave you with this image to contemplate, from the NY Times account of the fall fashion shows – this is from the Coach show, and should make you feel better if your puppy chews up your knitting, because now you can just wear it as is:
