A Road Less Travelled

I didn’t wish y’all a Merry Christmas, so rather than giving you belated greetings I wish you all a very happy St. Stephen’s Day. Today is the proper day to sing St. Stephen’s carols–er, carol. This last week has been busy with various Christmas preparations and gatherings. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, we had most of our Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve. The children (somehow) carried through on their plans to get up in the middle of the night open their stockings. The tradition has always been that they are allowed to open stockings as soon as they wake up in the morning—yes, even at two-thirty in the morning. I heard the yelling and promptly rolled over to go back to sleep until a decent hour for present opening. This year I knit klein bottle hats for James, Seth and my father. I’d been working on the hats for at least six months (counting all the times that I ran out of yarn). Certain select people knew about this, but I avoided mentioning to the recipients even the existence of such things. Since I’d already given them mobius scarves, it wouldn’t have been hard for them to guess what this year’s Christmas present was. When the words ‘klein bottle hat’ slipped out in a conversation with James I panicked. This panic was, of course, hidden beneath a cool and calm exterior. He didn’t suspect a thing… Just to make sure of this I stuffed his hat as far into a mug as it would go and put an empty cardboard tube around the rest of it before I wrapped it. The klein bottle hats were a success, and (I think) end the Christmas topological shapes tradition. I don’t think I’m up for making lorenz manifolds… I crocheted chokers for Theresa, Crystal and Gabrielle. (Note this–crocheted, not knit. There is a difference. There will be a test. Well, no, there won’t be a test, but do try to keep them differentiated in your mind.) I had a lot of fun trying to make each choker just right for the person I was giving it to. There’s a blue choker still in my workbasket that just wasn’t coming out quite right for anyone. In the end, Gabrielle’s choker was purple with plenty of sparkly beads, Theresa’s was dark red with silver-black beads, and Crystal’s was black with silver-black beads and one metal bead for a focal point. It’s now the day after Christmas and life goes on. This week will be busy with Gabrielle’s birthday, trying to get together with people who are on break from college classes, and a house dedication (finally) scheduled for Saturday. Still, now that all gifts have been opened I can’t help wondering–what am I going to make for birthday presents next year?