Home is where the coffee is

Guess what I did this morning? I sat, in my house, in my pjs, drinking coffee out of an actual, ceramic, mug.

I don't think I can even begin to tell you how much pleasure that gave me. Especially the bit where I did that after sleeping until I woke up all on my own, not at 4:30 in the morning.

Heehee.

Yesterday went very well. I got up at yeurgh o'clock, and was on the road before 5. I got to see the sun rising over the Mojave, which is a sight to see, actually, in spite of my usual resistance to that time of the morning. (Although the sunrise time of morning is later than usual, these last few days before the winter solstice.) We had an incredibly productive day, and have decided on a working orthography for writing the language (this is a new group whom I have the privilege of working with; they've been very successful with some of the basic language learning programs, and the learners want to take it to the next level, both grammatically and in terms of documentation; for that, a regularized writing system becomes much more important). Although I was prepared and packed to stay the night and work today, I think we were all feeling the pre-holiday-ness of the weekend, so I headed home last night, and made it back in time to kiss the girls goodnight.

Today has been lovely. After that wonderful cup (OK, two cups) of coffee, I sat reading Clara Parkes' The Knitter's Book of Wool (that woman is an absolute genius; I want to be her when I grow up)(more on that book in another post), and finishing the scarf that I decided, in a fit of inspiration once I'd finished my niece's socks, to knit up, very belatedly, for a friend's birthday. I'll be seeing her on Tuesday, so I can give it to her then. Meanwhile, Younger Daughter has modelled it for me. First seriously:
And then not so seriously:
This scarf is from a Churchmouse Classics pattern which I bought last week after walking into my beloved LYS only to have Deb throw one of these scarves around my neck. Usually I run from ruffles, but somehow this one just jumped up and down and begged me to knit it. I bought yarn to knit one for myself, but then decided that this was also the perfect pattern for my friend. I knitted it for her out of the Briar Rose Grandma's Blessing that was left after I knitted Ondule last spring; my friend has commented several times on the color, and it's right up her alley. The pattern is Barb's Koigu Ruffle, and the only change I made was to stick with the size six needles all the way through the pattern, instead of switching to size fours in the middle. I have wound up the yarn I got to knit one of these for myself (which I'll show off next time), but meanwhile, I've become distracted by another Churchmouse classics pattern for this beaded tam. Which I'll be knitting with this Koigu.
I've had that yarn sitting in stash for ages and ages, ever since I bought it at Common Threads. I'd thought to knit a pair of socks for Younger Daughter in it, but hadn't done it. This tam was also first conceived as a hat for Younger Daughter, but it may not work out that way; if it doesn't look utterly stupid on me (with very very short hair, hats can make one look quite bald), I may have to keep it. However, I do have plans to knit one for each of the girls, and yarn to go with.
I just need beads, so I may take them out adventuring tomorrow to a bead store, we'll see. Meanwhile, the plan for this afternoon is to knit the tam while reading a book. I may even do some spinning (I've been missing my wheels something awful). Tomorrow will be spent baking granola for gifts, and making soup for tomorrow night's Solstice celebration.

It's good to be home.