I’ve seen this going around blog-dom–show a picture of your favorite knitting spot.

Well, this is mine–my big, comfy chair in the family room. Chappy often curls up balanced ON the pillow and the arm of the chair to keep me company. (The dog bed there on the floor might as well not even be there for all the times he sits there. He does like to toss it around and vigorously fluff it, though.) The television is off to the right of the picture (you can just barely see its lower corner at the edge). Mostly, I listen to the television while I knit, more than actually watch it.

You can’t actually see my knitting bag, but it’s there, between the ottoman and the chair, so it’s right by my feet as I knit (assuming they’re not tucked up on the chair). The bag comes up and down with me each night, instead of living in the family room. That’s my current book sitting on the arm of the chair, too–I’ve got to have something to do when my fingers get tired of knitting.

  Here’s the view FROM my chair, to the left–the television. I either sit sideways, feet up on the arm of the chair, facing the TV, or . . .

Sitting facing forward, often with Chappy on the ottoman. Mom sits on the couch in the evening, often doing counted cross-stitch by the light we share. That’s Dad’s recliner over on the side.

Now, knitting news. I did both the heels on my socks and have about a quarter inch of the ribbing done. I obviously have a ways to go to get them a decent height, but having turned the heels (both of them) gives me a nice sense of accomplishment. I really WILL have these done by the end of the year, which will complete my UFO list.

Because I’ve also got the knitting on my Suede bag completely done and bound off. I just need to get the grommets and I can sew it together. I’d say that I’d be buying them this weekend (and I suppose it’s still possible), but we’re supposed to get a snow-ice storm tomorrow, so getting to and from work is going to be it for me in the car. No extra stops tomorrow!

Speaking of my car, though. I was going to bring it to the dealer last week for its annual service. (Yes, I know, dealers are ridiculously expensive, but see, the plus side is that my Volvo only needs to go in once, and I usually figure I’m not paying any more than I would for four trips to our friendly mechanic.) But anyway, last Friday was Stollen Day coupled with a snowstorm, so . . . um . . . no. Today, my Dad was nice enough to bring my car to our mechanic–who is also one of his golfing buddies and one of his best friends–for its oil change.This is very convenient because, for one, the garage is only about a mile from my office. (He’s a great, honest mechanic, and does really good business among my co-workers.) And two, Dad’s happy to hang around and chat while they do the work–so I also don’t have to feel too guilty about asking.

Anyway, he was bringing my car over for its oil change and to get it inspected. It’s four years old this month, and this is its first state-required inspection. I could get it done for free at one of the state inspection spots, but, well, it’s the middle of December, there are only a couple more weekends of the month, and there are holiday things to do, and ultimately, it was better to pay the $50 to have Frank do it for me while he was doing the servicing. (Still cheaper than going to Volvo!) But the really handy thing–one of my brake lights burned out. I got an error message on the dashboard this morning, every time I stepped on the brake. Isn’t that fabulous timing? Because, of course, Frank can change the lightbulb for me, and it didn’t require an extra trip.

The funny thing, though? After Dad brought my car back, he told me that message was still showing, but that Frank had checked all the lights before he left, and they were working . . . a little strange, I thought. But when I got in the car at lunch? It was like a Christmas light display, the Message kept blinking on and off, on and off, and so did the little orange triangle TELLING me I had a message–not that they blinked on and off together. Oh no. It was my own little light show, and very distracting. Not a good thing while drivng. So, when I left the office, I stopped by the shop . . . it turned out that a DIFFERENT lightbulb had also burned out. (The first one was a brake light, the second one of the “position” parking lights.) What are the odds of two lightbulbs burning out on the same day? This is the fourth time I’ve had a lightbulb burn out on this car. Frank and I are agreed–Volvo makes a great car (he owns one, too), but lousy lightbulbs.

Oh, and the new laptop saga? I told you a couple weeks ago that I was returning the convertible tablet Fujitsu I’d gotten. Its replacement came on Monday and . . . still not happy. And in discussion with Ivan at Portable One’s customer service (which has been excellent, by the way), am now considering this computer instead of trying yet another Fujitsu. Don’t get me wrong–I love the two Fujitsus I’ve had, and the only thing actually wrong with this one is that it runs really hot, and since I do most of my home-computing with it mere inches from my lap, that makes a big difference. It’s a perfectly nice computer, really–if it were sitting on a desk. I still definitely recommend Fujitsu, but he says this one is even better, though honestly, I’d never heard of Portable One as a “brand.” I did do a quick search for reviews, and didn’t find any negative ones at all, so . . .

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