I so didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. Winter has truly settled in Los Angeles and I could hear the wind howling outside my window when I woke up. Much more preferable to snuggle down under the duvet with a warm husband and warm cat. But the alarm kept beeping and I knew I had to stagger forth, so here I am.

We’ve almost made it. Almost through 2010 and into 2011. I’m ready for the switch, even if it’s just emotional and psychological. There’s a lot of baggage I need to leave behind in the old year simply so I can move forward. As a writer, I wrap things up rather neatly at the end of a story in order to give emotional satisfaction; that doesn’t necessarily happen in real life, though I believe we all wish it would. Maybe that’s why we invest so much in the idea of New Year’s Resolutions and celebrating this one night in the middle of winter. It’s an ending and a beginning.

One ending which I didn’t show you is the work on the Aeolian Shawl. Back at the beginning of December, I got the husband out of the house and blocked it on the bed.

The shawl in the blocking stage:

Yes, those are children’s playmats underneath. Next time, though, I think I’ll block directly onto the bed because the parts which lapped over the edge of the mats and onto the bed dried better. I wasn’t quite happy with the points and I think I need to reblock them, though I think I may do that via steam blocking instead of wet blocking which will give me a bit more control.

Here’s the shawl in it’s current finished state:

As you can see, the yarn has relaxed somewhat, though the pattern is still quite visible. This is how it looked when I wore it Christmas Eve for services. Had a number of folks oohing and aahing over it and it is lovely to hear “You knit it yourself?” Now, if I’ll just finish the sleeves on the jacket…