the view from home

I've been a little down about the big debut of my Heart's Ease sock pattern. Maybe it's just that I put so much thought into it--while I was meeting other deadlines. For months, I kept thinking, as soon as I have a moment, I'll post that baby. Other people will see how intoxicating that two color, three stitch repeats are, they'll get lost in the nooks and crannies of this thing. I've sold one pattern so far. Only one. So, as Marti says, the end of my woolweek felt great. The beginning of the next week? Not so much. Maybe people do like simple patterns better?

Meanwhile, I finished knitting a new sample of my Cuddle Coat in only two and a half weeks, and I'll post that soon. I'm also spinning and knitting up winter time "keep warm" items for my family. This is the cranberry colored Cotswold and naturally bright white border Cheviot I posted about back in October. I'm going to make a hat out of this, and line it with some alpaca thrums for extra warmth.

I'm hosting my husband's big lab dinner, when all his research students come over for a meal, on Thursday. In honor of this momentous occasion, our dishwasher started leaking water yesterday. I'm slowly cleaning up the house, planning out meals that suit the dietary needs of multiple students, and oh...waiting for the repair guy to come help fix the dishwasher. 10 people eating dinner and dessert without a dishwasher? Ugh. (don't even say paper plates around here. That's not sustainable! These are biologists. We don't do that!) Luckily, if it isn't fixed, the professor/husband will do the dishes. All of them.

The weather's turned here, and we are finally having some of the brisk cold weather that I really enjoy in the fall and winter. We live at nearly the top of Reservoir hill here in town. This is a view from my upstairs bedroom window. We have a big sky here in Kentucky, much bigger than it ever looked to me in Virginia or North Carolina. The sunsets are spectacular (this isn't a great one, but it shows the big sky) and during tornado season, the sky turns this scary grayish green before a storm, and it smells almost like sulphur. You can smell the sky here.

The advantage of living with a Biologist? He's taught me to remember to see these things. I'm heartened by the big sky, even on a day without a killer sunset. Last night when I got up to go to the bathroom, I even stopped to admire the moon.