Merry Thanksgiving

I am still here but the gloomy skies have been getting to me and I've just been in a blue funk. When I get like this I tend to withdraw so I've been on a knitting frenzy instead of reading blogs and ravelry.

I've finished a pair of mittens gloves for Zach that didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. I followed the pattern and the thumb gusset ended up too high so I had to short-row to fill in the gap. It looks a bit weird but fits okay. So I started on another pair and adjusted the pattern a bit. These are coming out much better. In Hufflepuff colors, no less. Not planned, just the wool that I happened to have left over from other projects. I didn't want acrylic for gloves. They just aren't warm enough for Wisconsin winters. (ETA...gloves, not mittens...slapping myself in the forehead)

But the hooded sweater (acrylic) is plenty warm enough for indoors. I love it. I need to wash it before I can get a picture of it but I will try when the sun comes out again (it did for a bit today but I'm afeared I slept through it and woke up to Peter Pan (with Jason Isaacs...deliciously evil as Captain Hook) and a dark house. And a stiff neck. I was sitting up at the time with my knitting in my lap.

I've decided to limit my time on ravelry. There is a certain board there that is immensely popular in which people have supposedly civil debate. But the truth is, they very politely insult each other's positions using inflammatory language. And one thread has gotten terribly graphic. I do tend to be a bit of a prude but this, in my opinion, is over the top.

There are a couple of boards that are nice, like the frugal board, and Via Media (the Episcopalian board) but I think I will delete the rest. Trouble is, it's like having cookies in the cupboard that you know are there but you need to keep checking on. sigh I went through this on AOL a million years ago with the Christian boards in which people got so nasty with each other that I finally canceled my account just to get away from it. It's way too depressing, especially when people can rate your posts on ravelry and I can post something about a personal experience and people will disagree with it in droves. A few people found a particularly painful experience funny.

So...because I need to focus on the positive, especially in light of seasonal depression and gaining some weight back, I am going to focus on the things that uplift me, like the blogs I read, my knitting, my church, my family and my faith. Not necessarily in that order.

I'm still working on the Christmas socks. I had to frog the second sock because I found a dropped stitch way back and it was easier to frog back to the second round than to try to pick up the stitch and ladder it up.

I want to find a challenging pattern, too. I'd never done gloves before and thought they would be challenging but while fun, aren't that challenge I'm looking for. Maybe a lacy scarf for the other Christmas present.

At any rate, I have a turkey roast in the oven that will be done in another 90 minutes or so and will make some StoveTop stuffing and some corn, with some sugar-free pudding for dessert.

And tomorrow I must get back on my diet before I lose all self-control and self-esteem.

Have a happy Thanksgiving all you Americans and a blessed weekend to everyone.

May the fleece be with you.