Hello all! I was surprised myself when I realized we were already in Week 3 of
Christmas in July!!!
But then I also remembered - this year, there are actually five weeks - count 'em FIVE weeks during the month, so you have an extra chance to win, or win again, or ignore the whole thing. 😁
This week, we have two books for the giveaway - one with knitting patterns, and one that is about knitting:
The book on the left is Knits About Winter, by Emily Foden. This is a lovely book, very evocative of time and place and gives background on what inspired Emily Foden to create the lovely patterns. It contains 12 patterns, including hats, mittens, sweaters, and shawls. (Please note that this one is the first edition - a second edition was published in 2019.)
On the right, is Vanishing Fleece : Adventures in American Wool, by Clara Parkes. As usual, it is written in Parkes' conversational way, and makes you feel that you took the trip with her during a year when she wanted to see just what it takes these days in America to create yarn. I really enjoyed it.
Here is your question for this week:
What is your favorite holiday symbol? A menorah? Thankgiving turkey? Your nation's flag on a national holiday? Sunrise on the winter solstice? Tell me which is your favorite and why.
Be sure to leave your comments on this post only, no later than 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 19. Then it will be up to the old reliable random number generator to pick a winner, which will be announced on Monday, July 20.
BTW, in a case of Well Who Knew, the winner for week 2 - Karen - turns out to be someone I know in real life!! We both worked at the University of Pennsylvania at the same time, and we were two of the founders of the Penn Knitters, which still exists today! This makes me all kinds of happy, since I lost touch with Karen after both of us left Penn, and though occasionally, I'd come across her one way or another, I'd often hope she was well and still crafting away, because frankly, she had some serious talent.
******
In other news, I - who has never even started the project during an "official" KAL (meaning one is actually officially joined), have completed Clue #3 for the current one I joined. WHO AM I?? I have to figure out how to get a photo of my progress so far to show you (notice I didn't say a *good* photo, let's not get carried away here). I'm pleased with how it looks, even though there are of course a couple of places where I successfully fudged things to make it work.
Today I have a single Zoom meeting but it is scheduled to last 3 freaking hours. That's inhuman. But it's also one of those where they are taking attendance, so you know you have to show up and look thrilled to be there. Wine o'clock cannot come early enough!
I hope the rest of your day is more interesting than mine will likely be.
9 comments:
It sounds strange but my little shortwave radio brings me the fondest memories. I used to love laying in bed on Christmas Eve and listening to all the holiday broadcasts coming from distant lands that were already waking up to Christmas Morning. The internet did away with the excitement I used to have being able to tune into fuzzy broadcasts from around the world. Now you can stream pretty much anything from anywhere but back in the day a glimpse of all the "others" out there was a real thrill. I was actually featured on Radio New Zealand once for being able to pick up their broadcast from so far away. I still have the cassette tape they sent me of the broadcast.
I think my favourite holiday symbol is definitely the Jack-o-Lantern. I love everything about it - playing with knives, the squishyness of the the pumpkin guts between your fingers, the smell of all those wonderful pumpkin innards... the creativity of designing a face (or six!) for your pumpkin(s). And of course, I love seeing them all lit up along people's walkways in the dark. Trick or treating is great, of course (CANDY!!!), but I'd be happy just going for a fall evening stroll to see everyone's jack-o-lanterns lit - kinda like driving around looking at Christmas lights.
I pity you and your three-hour zoom call. I've been working from home for ages now (about a year and a half).. we use Webex (similar to Zoom), but thankfully, we don't have to use our video - we use voice only. Only the presenter shares video, and then it's documents or presentations, not their face. This means I can sit and knit while they drone on.
Also - all meetings should be limited to max 40 minutes. If you can't hash something out in that amount of time, it's a bigger problem than a conference call will solve and you need to approach it a different way. Three hours is pure torture.
I cannot imagine a three hour Zoom meeting! I hope the meeting will be shorter than scheduled. Sure I would need a bathroom break.
OMG - a 3 hour Zoom call? That's just not right! I had a microsoft Team Meeting this a.m., but I turn off my camera so no one can see me. Same on my weekly WebEx calls - no camera for this girl!! I get figidity after about 45 minutes and I've been known to walk away from my computer for a break.
I don't know if I have a favority holiday symbol - I really like them all. I guess I would say Christmas trees all decorated with lights and pretty ornaments. I love sitting in the dark looking at our tree.
First... 3 hour zoom meetings should be against the law! Ouch!
My favorite holiday symbol has to be lights! I love them shining in the dark wintry nights. I love putting them on my tree, and on my bushes outside. I feel like the statement they make is... the lights on and if you need something we are here! It can't be the holiday without lights!
I love a menorah --- I've found some pretty and unusual ones over the years. But my favorite holiday thing is electric "candles" in windows at Christams. They seem old-fashioned and cast warm glows and there is no decoration I love to see more
We use Microsoft Teams for our meetings and there are many of them! I've taken to entertaining my colleagues with stupid backgrounds. One of my web developers who is a graphics wiz edited a livingroom background to insert items specific to us and our agency. When I use that one, everyone else on the call is busy looking for all the "easter eggs" in the background!
Yesterday I was in a long meeting with a lot of people and one guy actually fell asleep on camera! Of course I took a screen shot and sent it to him.
Ugh. I couldn’t do a three hour meeting of any kind. Glad I’m retired and those days are behind me. As for holidays I adore my New England Christmas village we set up on our mantel. It usually comes out about mid November until end December. I guess it is Christmas to me. Recently I split the village in half as we have downsized and gave half of them to my niece. On the promise someday she will get the rest. I love looking at all the wee lighted pieces.
Cheryl
My favourite holiday symbol is our family's nativity scene. It started out with a scene of figures carved from olive wood from the Holy Land that my husband bought for me for our first Christmas.
But as the years went by and our sons got older, those figures were soon joined by others. Sometimes it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Ghostbusters. Sometimes it was WWE Wrestlemania stars. Then, as my sons got into basketball and joined their dad at Cleveland Cavaliers games, the scene expanded to include the starting lineup of the team, thanks to giveaways at the arena. Add to that the goofy joke gifts that my brother gives to his nieces and nephews each year, and our nativity scene contains a jazz saxophonist and a griffin as well.
Every year, Jared and Sam make a special effort to come together and put up the entire nativity scene, which now takes up a lot of space. But it's a hit, and one of the highlights of our Christmases.
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