Dementor Weather

So here we are at the close of the year, and I am finding it challenging to look back on 2008 with a friendly eye. But then with the weather we are having right now, it is tough to be upbeat about anything. It is clammy and grey, the roads are slick from an old rain that won't evaporate properly as any respectable rain should have by now. I can't even conjure a decent patronus, which is real trouble in dementor weather.

Fortunately, I can still perform the odd transfiguration,

(no, this is not the cat who chewed holes in my hat. Nor is it the cat who clawed my Coronet hat to pieces or who knocked a small but agonizing hole in Irtfa'a. Because we all know transfiguration should never be used as a punishment. This cat is, in fact, the only cat not under suspicion for the above crimes, as she was always in the bedroom when the atrocities were perpetrated. She also frequently volunteers for transfiguration practice, and particularly enjoys being turned into a pillow or a doorstop.) The old swish and flick is still working, too,

so I suppose all is not lost. I even made a hat in a day when I was in New Orleans for Christmas (the high point of my whole holiday season experience). It was a really enjoyable pattern to knit, and I needed a new hat (ahem) so I present Rose Red by Ysolda Teague, in STR Heavyweight "Pallas Athena".

I love those Raven Clan colors, I really do. But hold on a minute, you say. This is a beret! What's up with that?

You know, I never would have thought myself a beret person, but this is no ordinary beret. This is my power beret. It looks too cool on me, and that's just wrong in my world. And yet, there it is. No denying it, with the right beret, I am awesome. Still, even with a beret awesomeness power-up...
crap for Patronus.

What's a witch to do? I feel the dementors there, closing in. When I set out to make a list of things I'd like to knit in the new year, it ends up being titled "Stuff I will fail to complete yet again in 2009" When I look back, my list is titled "Crap the cats destroyed in 2008" Because that's a longer list than "Items completed in 2008". I would not be surprised to find a summation of my knitting year as an entry on Fail Blog. And I have crap for a Patronus. W00t.

And worse, I have rants in my pants. I really want to go off on designers with whom I have issues and with unknitterly behavior I have seen recently displayed, but it hardly seems worth the rant. And none of my friends are to be allowed to go out of town again, unless I am out of town too, because I miss them. I know they're on their way back, but they need to drive faster. So there. I will rant on a sunnier day, when dark creatures are not sucking away my will to rant, when I can strike while the irony is still hot.

Until then, I will leave you with my 2009 list of stuff I will fail to complete.

Williamsro
February Lady sweater
Isobel of Mar
Come Together
Magic Carpet Ride
Some socks.
Kauni Sweater (pattern TBA)
Some more socks
Rosarie

I think that's a good start. I will undoubtedly get derailed by at least 5 or 6 new projects, and that's being optimistic. I could really shoot myself in the foot and say I'll do Christmas knitting as well, but that would be thoroughly ridiculous and completely unbelievable, so I won't.

Now, I realize I may seem a little down right now, but there are many things I did set out to accomplish over the past year that really worked out well. The job change has done wonders for my life, and the surprising discovery of change ringing added a new dimension of enjoyment to my extracurricular life. So all is not lost by any stretch of the imagination. The only thing that is lost is a pair of estonian mittens. And if I find out those got eaten too, well lets just say don't be surprised if you find me with a few less cats and a bit more in the glassware department and with a revised opinion of the use of transfiguration as a punishment tool. Verre verto, you furry motherfuckers.

I'm just sayin' is all.