Eight Presents 2012

1. Purple infinity scarf - I knitted an orange scarf last winter, or maybe two winters ago, out of this Misti Alpaca Chunky yarn that I get from nina: a well-knit shop on Division. My skinny green spring work scarf is also made from this yarn. I pretty much only make scarves, and pretty much only out of this yarn on I think size 13 needles, and just sort of wing it for width and number of skeins which equals length, anyway, I wanted the orange scarf to be super wide and I might even have used three skeins, but still it came out slightly short, so sorry longest story about a scarf ever, I was thinking forever about taking it apart and reknitting on circular needles to make an infinity scarf, but it took forever to knit the first time, and I didn't feel like buying more needles, AND THEN, almost done, I read a tutorial whose link I've lost that said the secret to an infinity scarf is to fold it over on itself Moebius-style and join it like that, which is to say, it's not cheating to sew together the ends of an infinity scarf, which I had been hung up on. So I did that with a scrap piece of yarn, and it's amazing and perfect. OKAY SO then I have had this mushroom fleece winter coat that my sister got me years ago, and I will pretty much never throw out a coat so this will probably be my forever winter coat, only the orange scarf sort of clashes with its undertones. Which didn't stop me from wearing them together for a whole winter, but I've had it in my head that purple would look better, so finally, ta da.
2. Mason jar funnel - So you know I hate washing plastic containers, I like washing glasses, and mason jars are basically glasses with also easy-to-wash lids and did you know that you can put them in the microwave—I mean, not the lids—so basically now I use mason jars for ...food containers, I am genius. I have a dozen quart-size and a dozen pint-size jars, and of course the lids are interchangeable. And they have a smaller footprint in the fridge, so you can really load up your fridge with food for the week. And the only thing is that sometimes it's a mess to spoon things into the jars, mason jar funnel, problem solved.
3. Microwave-safe casserole with lid - I forget what this is, Pyrex or Corningware or something. I got it at Target. So steamfresh vegetables were great for getting me started eating vegetables and now that I like vegetables, I want more than just broccoli and green beans, so stage two, now I make regular frozen vegetables in this casserole in the microwave. At work, I mean. At home, I just make them on the stove.
4. Bowls - I just needed more bowls, both my little green ones broke and the little red one that was their replacement is unglazed, which means it makes a horrible scraping sound when you touch it with your fork or spoon. I got these from Target too and I totally love them, they're good-sized and yes glazed inside and I like having three different colors.
5. Cotton tights - OMG THE BEST. These are Vermont Country Store's Smooth Cotton Tights. I've been wearing Maggie's Cotton Tights, which are okay, but you have to wear underwear over them if you don't want the crotch of your tights to sink down to your knees, which is actually not okay. Because the whole point of tights is to wear them without underwear, so you're all smooth down there. They're warm, though, but the worst thing was that they stopped making black. Just "organic" colors like loden and bark and random acts of kindness. Look man, goths get cold too. I kid, not a goth. So first of all, it's super hard to find cotton tights at all. And second, tights are expensivish for something pretty utilitarian that you wear like underwear. So I just kept wearing my old cotton tights, three black and also three brown from back when I wore everything brown, which isn't is my palette anymore, alternately saggy or alternately with panty lines, and also even when they started getting threadbare at the heels. Okay so then, I sent out my black tights to be laundered... and they didn't come back. Because cotton tights are hard to find, somebody saw them at the laundromat and scooped them up? So then I debated some more with myself whether I could bring myself to buy six pairs of tights at twenty dollars a pair. Which what kind of debate is this, you have no tights now. Except for brown tights that weren't at the laundry because they weren't dirty because you don't wear them. You know, I never fight with people, like, on Facebook. I have my hands full with tights. Eight presents, though, is exactly for making yourself buy stuff that seems too extravagant, so now I have an embarrassment of riches in tights: two black, two grey, and two navy, so I can mix up my leg colors, and they're stretchy cotton somehow so they're warm but they don't sag at all.
   
6. Wallet - My Redtango wallet that I've had for years, like from back when I was married, finally started to peel away in shreds. And wow, it is surprisingly difficult to find a regular wallet. Or well, my wallet has to have one specific function, it needs a key ring attached so that my wallet and keys are always together. I looked on the internet and went to twenty different stores, and finally saw this on the counter at Brooklyn Industries, which I know nothing else about, I literally saw the wallet on the counter, saw the ring on the wallet, and bought it in two seconds.
7. Rubberbanditz - Love, love these, I already had the purple and black and I got another purple and black and actually two red with the Amazon bucks I've saved up. I love to train four out of the five basic movements—squat, lunge, push, and rotate—with just bodyweight, but for pull it helps to have a resistance band to use with your body weight.
8. Blue hat - I never really liked my WCR hat with my WCR dickies jacket, too many logos. Ma femme Helly has this perfect slouch hat in magenta that is my ideal hat that has been surprisingly hard for me to find, but this blue hat that I found at a secondhand shop—for a ridiculous not secondhand amount, I might add, though it is a Marc Jacobs hat, for what it's worth— is close and at least this color works.

One of the eight presents was supposed to be my new tattoo, I'm getting my number tattooed on my arm! Eeeee! I had some problems with escape velocity, though, and missed my tattoo guy before he went out of town for the holidays. Soon though, pics TK!

12/30/13
Eight Presents 2012: Where Are They Now?

1. My go to cold weather work wear scarf.
2. I use this all the time.
3. I only use this for steamed veg with slow chicken, which is coming up, but I got a new Pyrex dish that I like better.
4. I use these all the time.
5. Love.
6. Love.
7. I could use these more. Especially now that I have a doorway pullup bar, I can do assisted pullups. But.
8. Love.