Still no pictures, alas

I've been postponing this post all day because every time I went out, it was my intention to have my camera so I could take this one picture that I want to share with you all, but every time I went out, I forgot it. I'm sorry. Tomorrow, I promise. As soon as I hit "post" on this one, I'll put the camera next to my keys.

So, this weekend didn't go quite as planned. I'd thought I was going to get tons of knitting time in, as we had very little on the books. But life doesn't always work out that way. It wasn't a bad thing, though, and I'm not complaining. In fact, we spent a huge amount of time moving things hither and yon around the house to make it a space that more closely reflects the way we live. The way things were, our den had a couch, TV, Rick's desk, the piano, and my spinning wheels. Totally awkward. Now all the desks are in one room, and my spinning wheels have much more space (the hidden plot is revealed), and my rocking chair now resides in the den as well. And the girls have separate bedrooms; years ago they asked to share, and we've been waiting for them to decide that the time had come to not share anymore. Older Daughter reached that stage, I think, a little sooner than Younger Daughter would have liked, but they're both handling it well (with not too much bragging on one side, and not too much fussing on the other).

So I've been feeling thankful this weekend. Thankful for a husband who willingly schleps furniture from room to room with me, taking most of the burden so I can at least attempt to protect my back. I'm thankful for our relatives who asked the girls to stay the night on Saturday night (and in fact even gracefully made it sound like we were doing them a favor, since it gave their kids someone to play with, ha!), so we could go out to a leisurely dinner and have a real, live, uninterrupted conversation. I'm thankful that Rick's cousin (for whom I knit the spiral baby blanket) safely delivered a baby boy at 3:30 this morning (how well I remember what that's like!); I can't wait to meet him. Tilly and I went for a lovely walk this morning in an open space that I have recently come to appreciate, and I can't tell you how thankful I am to have found those trails, and to have a happy dog to walk them with me. The toyon berries are out, and it looks like holly -- very Christmasy and festive. And it was even cool, instead of being too hot (for my cold-weather readers, "cool" means low 50s; I know, I know).

Therefore, I'm not feeling too stressed out or unthankful about my Christmas knitting, which is proceeding, but not quickly. I was close to halfway done on the spiral scarf before I stopped to knit mittens and a hat for my brother-in-law. I'm done with the first mitten (except for that pesky thumb repair), and I'm hoping to finish the hat tonight or tomorrow so I can cast on for the second mitten. Then I'll start mitts for my niece (I've decided that walking away from colorwork mittens is the better part of valor here), and we'll see where we're at. I've finished one big pile of grading, and have four more big ones and a small one to go before the end of the week. And now, it's tamales for dinner and then some actual knitting time.