It is really, really cold here today! Right now it is 1 degree Fahrenheit outside and there is snow on the way; tomorrow will be colder. I’m wearing layers of knitted warmness and thanking my lucky stars that we are just catching the edge of this outbreak of polar wonderfulness.
I bought a laser pointer to play with Hannah and now she calls for me to come play with her a half dozen times a day… she loves that moving red dot even more than cookies!!
Let’s see… what else has been going on this week… I moved up 4,000 slots on the virtual Covid-19 vaccine wait list which means that I think I will get an appointment for my shot in just another couple of weeks. Yay!! My 23andMe results came back showing that I am ridiculously healthy (except for that little autoimmune thing…), I have elite-athlete type muscles (huh?), and that I have a genetic propensity to hoard unused items. Are you kidding me?! How did they learn about my yarn stash? Anyway, the ancestry results show that I am about half Swedish (which I knew) and about half British/Irish, which I wasn’t sure about as my dad’s family has been here in the US for over 300 years and the name is something… absolutely not British or Irish. There is a little French/German DNA in the mix, so I’m guessing the name came from that. This is kind of fun and I’m considering pursuing the family tree further.
No word on the systemic sclerosis study, but my DNA is now officially part of the data base. Yay!
Knitting
Knowing that the deep cold was on the way I hurried and finished my Tinsel Mitts so that I could wear them over gloves this week when I leave the house. The rest of my knitting time was spent adding the edging to my Julie’s Wrap which is pretty slow going as that ribbing uses twisted knit and purl stitches. That’s a lot of knitting through the back loop, people! It looks great and isn’t pulling in the way typical ribbing does, but it is definitely slow going. I have another inch or so to knit before I start the bobble bind off; maybe in another week I’ll be there.
Reading
I read the next book in the mystery series I started last week featuring a Roman doctor attached to a regiment in conquered Britannia. Once again he has arrived at a new posting just after a murder has occurred… I’m getting pretty fond of Gaius Petreius Ruso, the protagonist in these murder mysteries, and I especially like his disrespectful and independent slave Tilla who is quickly moving out of that status when it becomes apparent that she was illegally sold into slavery. There, I knew it!! I listened to this book on Audible as I knitted away on the wrap and there may be another book in this series arriving on my Kindle soon.
Did I mention that Hannah has perfected her cat loaf posture and hangs out with me while I’m listening to the book and knitting along on the wrap?
Have a great week, everyone!!
Read a little, knit a little, and garden like your heart can’t live without it.
And wear your (double) mask!!
Yarn, Books & Roses 
I imagine such cold is really bad news for you – I hope you warm up soon – get your jab.
It is bad news, but I have tons of wooly coping strategies and the facemask helps too. 🙂
23AndMe results seem a bit puzzling….. can these be relied upon? If these were not reliable, would the rest of the study drawn upon these data, be trustworthy?
Oh, I think they are pretty good. My great aunt made our family tree out using local records back the the early 1700’s and the DNA family tree matches hers. It even realized that my grandparents were cousins!
Hannah is such a pretty girl. I love true crime podcasts and now with so many people volunteering their DNA, many crimes are being solved using this ancestral databases. You best behave!! 😀
Always!!
I love your weekly updates! Hannah is such a sweet cat. How nice that she shows up to play. Those laser pointers are fabulous. Kitty gets a work out and all you have to do is twirl your arm. We actually play this game with our watches from time to time.
I’ve been seeing all the frigid winter weather spreading out across the country. I’m sure you are counting the days till spring.
As always, your knitting projects are fabulous and a testament to your skill. You are a wiz!
Thank you for the feedback. I was thinking of dropping the weekly updates but someone else told me to keep them up so I’m still at it. Hannah is the sweetest cat I think that I’ve ever had. She is such a constant companion I get worried if I don’t know where she is at… it’s like raising a toddler again. In my defense, she does jump into the dryer every time I open it…
The cold weather has really been something. Last night Hannah and I were alarmed by two rather loud bangs and something hitting a wall downstairs, but couldn’t figure out what had happened. It was pop cans exploding in the garage and at least two of them hit the wall of the house. Now, that’s cold!!
I am knitting exclusively on the wrap and I really, really want to wear it right now!
Oh my gosh! Exploding pop cans. Now that IS cold….and wild, too. Tessa also got into the dryer a lot as a kitten. I’m so relieved that she’s outgrown that habit.
Hannah still jumps right in if she sees me open the dryer to put on wet clothes to dry. I am sooo careful and a little paranoid too at this point. It really is like having a toddler again.
Yes! They are so much like toddlers at this age. Hoepfully she’ll grow out of it as Tessa did.
Thank heavens she isn’t interested in the washing machine…
Love your mitts! How pretty. Your kitty pictures make me miss mine so much.
Thank you. It is so hard when one of our pets dies. I was really struggling last spring after the death of my amazing cat MacKenzie and being alone in the Covid lockdown. I was able to adopt Hannah in June and she has proven to be the best thing that happened last year. Hugs to you. It is so hard when we lose one of the kitties.
23 and Me results are so interesting! So nifty to learn about the characteristics, as well as the family tree information. Your knitting projects are looking great, and Miss Hannah is so lovely as well 🙂 Stay warm!
The results are really interesting. I don’t have any of the mutations that they checked on (no celiac disease or BRCA cancer mutation) which was a huge relief. The autoimmune disease is rift with dietary “laws” that make me crazy. You know, no gluten, no diary, no sugar, and on and on. I keep a food log and track symptoms which has been really helpful; I eat gluten with reckless abandon these days and now 23andMe has my back! The family tree info was pretty much spot on in matching the records that I already have. Do interesting!
That is great! Good to have all the health genetics for sure. I haven’t gotten into family tree info, but still found the heritage genetics fascinating 🙂
Through DNA testing we were able to confirm a theory a guy had that his grandfather was also my grandfather, it turns out his theory was right and in 2019 we acquired 2 new cousins! I don’t think the Ancestry.com tests they did have any information about medical things but do talk about origin. Hannah makes a perfect cat loaf for sure. I do miss my cats when I see her.
More cousins! I have a huge slew of new 2nd cousins that I am ignoring for now. 23andMe allows you to build a DNA based family tree, but I’m going to have to go to Ancestry to fill in the gaps.
The loaf cat thing is new with Hannah. She is growing up so fast. My Amazon Echo displays all of the old pictures and each time I see one of MacKenzie I still feel the loss like it was yesterday. Those kitties sure to worm their way into our hearts, don’t they.