18 December 2010

A Few Things


Thing the First:


I recently received a care package from India.

120710Package01

The way they do this in India is that the cardboard box is stitched up inside a fabric bag, which is then sewn up and sealed with sealing wax.

120710Package02

Inside was a small container of ground-with-mortar-and-pestle chai spices and a couple of boxes of delicious Indian tea, which I have been enjoying.

Thing the second:


I recently got to work knitting up some yak/cormo yarn my mom bought at Rhinebeck last year from the folks at Bijou Basin. She decided she'd like some fingerless gloves, so she could keep her fingertips free for her photography, and a hat. I found the glove-in-progress very amusing once it was bristling with needles.

120610Mitt

When I finished the first one, Tolo graciously offered to model it for me.

120910Mitt_Tolo

I have since finished the pair, and I handed them off to my mom last night. For the hat, I have enough yarn that I can make it double thickness for the winter.

Thing the third:

We finally put up our tree tonight.

121710Tree

After the Great Monkey Massacre of Aught-Nine, I think we were a bit reluctant. It wouldn't have seemed like the holidays, though, without it. This year, it's back on top of the dog crate and has been lashed down with four holding points to minimize the potential for major crashes. I'm not entirely convinced Cougar won't kill this one, too, though.

12 comments:

Hanuman Das said...

Faaabulous!

Erin said...

Your tree looks lovely, and what a neat package from India! :)

My fingers have been itching to pick up the knitting needles again lately, and after getting the Red Maple package in the mail yesterday, I couldn't resist.

If you had one bit of advice to offer a rank amateur about knitting... what might that be?

Anonymous said...

I bet that package had the employee(s) of the Kittery Point, ME post office wondering about Dr. Mel.

For our mothers, we knit fingers -- her hands will be encased in love. (To me, fingerless gloves are the more common ones with one large opening for the fingers. Props to you for going the extra (eight) mile(s)!)

I almost don't want to know, but what on earth is that long yellow thing on the your tree?

Mel said...

Erin: Don't be afraid to experiment and mess a few things up. In the long run, it makes you a much better knitter, because it strengthens your understanding of the technical aspects and helps teach you to read your knitting.

Mel said...

kmkat: That's a banana ornament our friends' daughter, Gabriella, made for us 4 years ago, when she was 5. It's one ornament that's an absolute must for the tree.

Melanie said...

Great pics!!
That so interesting about the package!

Chris said...

No monkeys?!? ;)

Lisa/knitnzu said...

I was wondering about the long yellow ornament too... what a cool pkg! And given that the beasts are liable to knock down the tree, I'm surprised you can leave the pkgs under it... at our house the tree is OK, but pkgs are liable to be torn open. The girls love their paper.

Alwen said...

We've set up our tree on a table for lo these many years, since we got a big dog with a happy tail. I'm so used to it now, I don't even think of it as odd.

goblinbox said...

Them glovez is cute. And so is that orange cat.

Miss Trudy said...

I LOVED the package from India. I recently saw two small wooden boxes that were used to mail stuff from Europe to Latin America in lieu of envelopes in the early years of the 20th Century, and now your package from India. It's wonderful to see these lovely handmade things, especially when one is used only to plain bubble envelopes!

that's J-O-S-H said...

Holy fudge. Your cat is fuckin' perfect!