Vacation is a wonderful thing. The first day back at w*rk after twelve days
off, on the other hand, can be downright depressing. The alarm's shrill sound at 6AM (well before the sun makes
its appearance) after nearly two weeks of sleeping until 9 is ... well ... not at all welcome.
The plans outlined in the last post were followed religiously; lots of reading, eating, knitting and
sleeping happened. The reading matter was quite diverse, including such titles as: Pride and Prejudice; Guards!
Guards!; You Don't Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps; Hogfather; and The Other Log of
Phileas Fogg. Foods included a wide variety of tasty tidbits, from quiche to key lime pie, occasionally in
amounts rather more than was truly wise, but then, it's the holidays...
Not surprisingly at all, a lot of knitting happened. The Hogfather brought me a lovely scarf kit
from Signature Needles, including a ball of lusciously soft yarn - 45% qiviut, 45% merino, 10% silk. 
For indication of scale, the needles are 7" long, with Signature's "stiletto" point, in a 3.75mm size
(US5). The yarn proved so soft and good-feeling in the hands that the project worked up amazingly fast. It was
cast on Christmas day, and cast off on December 30.
Some other knitting happened as well, with the Ice Queen cowl finally off needles, the first of the
Sassy Stripes socks done as well, and progress on both the Talia shawl and yet another "stealth" project.
New Year's Eve brought a less pleasant surprise:
That gray mass behind the amber glass is snow piled high on the living room windowsill. The glass
is 8" tall, which means the snowdrift was about 17" deep on the sill. My first thought on seeing it was, "Boy, am I
glad I went grocery shopping yesterday!" Thus, I was able to fire up the kettle, make some utterly decadent
hot chocolate, and revel in not having to go out in the storm.
All good things must come to an end, alas, and now I'm back in the office, embarking on another year
of rescuing people from the consequences of their mistakes. Let's hope it goes better than last year did.
