N O R B Y and my most prized possession

February: Groundhog Day is a snoozefest, President's Day is underwhelming and Valentine's Day is perennially fraught (short version: "forgot it was a holiday, we're celebrating it? blah blah, oops". Yes I'm aggrieved and petty, it's why you come here, remember?). However there are some mighty nice things that happened this February and it would be a shame not to mention them!

For one, I knitted a hat in the called for yarn, something that delights me to no end. You know that feeling when you see a pattern and remember you have a skein of that very yarn just hanging around in an unclaimed state? Sort of like Neely O'Hara when she found her vodka and the red pills in this beloved classic of American cinema:


The Specs
Pattern: Norby by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Loft in 'Longjohns'
Needles: size 4
Mods: none, except that it might have taken me a few tries to get the tassel just right.

The pattern was lots of fun to make. Sometimes knitting at a smaller gauge is just what the doctor ordered. I debated about doing the tassel, worrying that it might be slightly gimmicky. But I listened to good sense and did the tassel. I mean, it's basically why you're doing the hat anyway, right? The hat is a life support system for the tassel! And with that I have just referenced a corny/dirty/kind of funny joke from the 80s...

The yarn is beautiful BUT you must handle with care. Why? Because if you even look at it crossly, it was break. Just come apart. So my advice is to be gentle with it and DO NOT tug it. Trust me. Luckily its fragility is redeemed by the stunning panoply of colors it come in. So score one for Jared!

Funnily enough the name of the pattern is our family nickname for the elder model you see on this blog. Instead you see pictured here two of my fave people, sneaky tricksters who had a hand in the item pictured below...

Another really nice thing that happened in February was that I got together with some of my favorite people anywhere and they gave me an astonishing gift. They made a quilt 100% tailored just to me and my life! You see, when my dad died, I was supposed to meet up with them, but of course wasn't able to do so. So they hatched a secret crafting plan and made me this quilt:


Look--a phrenology head,just like my dad used to have in his museum, except this one is filled with my own preoccupations:


And a sad tomato (his favorite expression) and a hog de hedge:


Sometimes I just stare at it and think "I have friends...and they made me THIS?!!". It's truly one of the most exciting things that ever happened to me. There are so many touching, darling details on this quilt that I am overwhelmed by sweetness of it. When they gave it to me (at our last meet-up, just last week!) I thought I was going to come unglued. They made this--FOR ME. Since then I take a little time every day to notice a new delightful detail. As Gary enthusiastically put it, "this is our new most prized possession".

So I guess what I'm saying is that even with the lame-o faux "holidays", February wasn't bad at all...