I’m impatiently tapping my foot, waiting for the Winter Solstice.  We’re poised on the edge of the shortest day and longest night of the year, waiting for the sun to regain its prominence in our daily cycle of dark and light. The Solstices and Equinoxes are very important to me as touchstones–the orbits of Moon and Earth gave us calendars and clocks, and our best tools to measure time and progress and change.  Out of all four compass points in the year, I am most enamored with the Winter Solstice, or Alban Arthan (winter’s light in Welsh), probably because of its importance to the Megalith Builders.*  We don’t know why they loved it so much, but we know it drove them to some amazing feats of architecture and design.  I wish I was going to be in Newgrange to see the sun illuminate the chamber tomorrow morning.

Instead I’ll be in Virginia, frantically knitting hats and trying to forget about the stuff I wish I was knitting.  And baking cookies.  Many many cookies. 

These giant jam thumbprints always remind me of suns, and are thus apt for the day.  I just pulled some Almond Blossoms out of the oven, and I think I’ve reinvented a classic for the better (Dove chocolate and almond butter are just plain better than Hershey’s kisses and peanut butter).  And maybe I’m also making a lemon cake?  Apparently I’ve been assigned a cake for the weekend family fete.  I also feel a strong genetic urge to make homemade tortellini.  None of this is helping the knitting.

But I have more important things to do than knit and cook, and this seems like the right time of year for them.  Three particular events have coalesced into something good, and not very big (no megaliths in this story), but nevertheless worthy. 

• My brother David, who was born on Christmas Eve back in the day, asked us to give him no gifts this year, and to just make charitable donations instead.  He’s essentially a minimalist, and I may just be the only person in my overly-generous family who will respect his wishes. 
• In an unrelated event, I bought four pairs of expensive shoes for myself a couple of weeks ago.  I really only needed one pair, so I left the others unworn because I felt like I was being greedy.  I could explain how I saved up to buy the shoes, including spending very little at both Rhinebeck and the KR retreat, but it would all be a bunch of nonsense.  I don’t need four new pairs of shoes–I need one new pair of shoes.  I figured I’d manage the resolve to return two of the remaining unworn pairs if I really tried.  Have I mentioned the shoes are both cute and comfortable, and one of the pairs is made with recycled rubber and veggie-tanned leather?
• And then Stephanie encouraged us to give to MSF again this year, but to give more, and to really struggle to make a difference. 

So the three things have serendipitously come together.  Say goodbye to the unworn shoes and hello to one honking big check to MSF, in honor of David.  He’s not a knitter, but he’s getting a nice new hat from me and a big donation, so I think that counts towards the MSF total.

And, what with my flirtation with voluntary simplicity and my abiding love for recycling, I give you this.  Anj the Awesome sent me the last few corks I needed to do it up right. 

I can’t believe how much I love this corkboard, but I know I love it enough to acquire the frame and backing to start a second one immediately.  We can’t decide where to hang it, and Scott isn’t yet convinced that it needs to be functional. 

And the hats continue:

The color is terrible–I know.  But there’s no sun left.  The stripey one is headless, so far.  The red is an alpaca/silk blend, and the blue is Odyssey (David’s only physical present–I figure it’s not naughty to give him that because he bikes to work and I’ve never knit for him before, and, you know, it’s not so much from a store).

*   And also, perhaps, because the sun itself is trying to kill me, but that’s neither here no there. 

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