rainy day crafting

Things have been a dark and low and overcast here - so gloomy and cool they're even selling ranunculus at Lowes. It's like torture for me, of course, since I desperately want a little English cottage garden, and I manage to resist temptation most of the year because that kind of flower can't get within 100 miles of central Texas with a bloom still intact. Except in February, apparently. When it looks so adorable and delicate and perfect and not like a single beam of mid June sunshine would kill it dead. 

Anyway, since I can't have my cute little cool weather flowers, I've decided I need some thrummed mittens. Bizarrely I've grown up to be the kind of person who 1. - wakes up wanting something like that? and 2. - has everything in the house to make them. What's that? Some raw wool roving? Yeah I think I saw some in the back of the hall closet. 16 year old Kate doesn't know whether to be impressed or disgusted. Mostly disgusted I guess. With everything. Except Goldeneye and Kid A. And cheetos. We both still love cheetos.

Also consoling me for the lack of a delicate cutting garden in my future is my flannel quilt. I finished this a week or so ago, and it's 1000 times warmer and cozier than your average blanket. I backed it in an old worn-soft flannel sheet, and tied it with wool (which fuzzed down to little blue pom-poms in the wash). The fabric is Anna Maria Horner, from my birthday two years ago, and I can see a line of gray Februaries stretching out before me, when I grab my gorgeous bright warm quilt off the stack of blankets and feel somewhat better.

So. Mittens and blankets are my current strategy. Also paying the library $40 (FORTY DOLLARS) for the missing read-a-long CD from Sheep in a Jeep and being able to check out hip high stacks of books again. How are you coping? I've heard good things about meth- anyone trying that? My teeth are already pretty bad.