Notable

1. Happiness is a purring cat on one's lap. Even if said purring cat is on one's lap because we haven't turned up the heat yet. (We aren't participating in any macho contests involving leaving the heat off until you can see your breath in the morning, because the furnace is also what heats the hot water. Hot showers are non-negotiable, no matter what temperature the house is.)

2. A hat and mittens, which I finally got around to photographing. They sort of match, but not really, since the mittens are child sized and the hat is adult.


3. It turns out my burst of cleaning and carpentering industry last week has completely sapped my will to do anything but lie around and read.

4. I went to work and worked anyway.

5. The cold weather makes me dead keen on finishing the green Aran. Unfortunately I've concluded after about five attempts that the only way to get the patterns on top of the two fronts where I'm decreasing at different rates on two edges (you know, the absolutely most visible part of the whole sweater) is to rip them both back to the point where they start not matching and then reknit them both at the same time so I can make them match. This has not yet happened (see note 3).

6. Despite note 3, after a long heart-to-heart with the bathroom scale, I have resumed riding my exercise bike in the mornings. Cookie finds this exceedingly puzzling. So do I, if I think about it.

7. Seven items on a list are traditional. I don't know why.