Wednesday, December 30, 2009

It was either the 5th or 6th day of Christmas, depending

You'd think that roughly 2000 years after Christmas, and many centuries into the tradition, there would be a consensus on when the 12th day of Christmas is. But no, there is not. Some consider the 12th day to be January 5th, and some consider the 12th day to be January 6th. Complicating matters is the fact that Twelfth Night is after sundown on January 5th (for everyone that celebrates it, as far as I know), but in the Hebrew tradition the post-sundown period goes with the daylight time of the following day. ("There was evening and there was morning, the first day." -- that comes from a pretty good authority!) So I'm celebrating the 5th day of Christmas today, and watching several of my Facebook friends celebrate the 6th day of Christmas.

Calendars are sneaky critters, and good for deceiving one's self about the weather. Consider: "It's fall, and we're having a blizzard. Oh well, snow from fall blizzards never lasts long." One month later, with the snow depth still over 6": "It's winter, and we're having a blizzard. But usually in January there's a thaw." (I'm not holding my breath. 2010 is certainly not starting off with a thaw, at a projected -12 and 5F.) Several months later: "It's spring, and we're having a blizzard. Spring blizzards can dump a lot of snow, but it doesn't last long." The only season I have NOT seen a blizzard in is summer. But next year, I wouldn't be surprised at all if one happened. I'm not talking Antartica in a northern hemisphere summer, either. I'm talking about a I-90-closing-blizzard in one of the months which are known in some locales for their hot weather.

I just hope we have enough of a summer that the farmers can plant, God can water and give growth, and then the farmers harvest the corn for our beloved corn stove.

But back to my normal subject: knitting. In a continuation of HatWeek, here's the next hat to jump off my needles. Will's Hat, modeled by Not Will. Twined,with black sportweight(cough) Telemark and blue worsted Wool of the Andes. I used my standard top-down pattern, but shifted the last row of triangles just because.

Today's burst of organization is directed to closets. Clothes closets. My husband's half of the clothes closet. It looks so purty now! I hope to keep it away after today's laundry gets finished, too.

And today's knitting? Nothing on the needles except a traveling sock. If some yarn doesn't arrive in the mail, I'll have to knit another hat. Or see how much of a disaster knitting new soles for felted slippers is. Will felting them without the rest of the slipper attached, then sewing them on, work? Or not?


3 comments:

Pensguys said...

Very cool hat!

Deborah said...

I'm cold just reading about all that snow. You really should come down and visit for some of our rain. At least it is warmer.

Carolyn said...

I'll skip the warmer weather just now. Hot cocoa, blankets, warm puppy, knitting, and the corn stove are just dandy. For 6 months of the year. Above 65 degrees during the daytime would be nice for the other half, I must admit.