That leg will be 15 hours, following a Great Circle, then we’ll change planes and fly 3 hours to Phnom Penh. We’re flying Cathay Pacific, which may well be a great airline, but it’s not Singapore Airlines, which is the airline we flew to Vietnam. But I don’t care! It’ll be my 2nd flight over the North Pole, I am a very very lucky girl. Here are the specifics, once we’re there:

I just finished watching The Big Sleep and spinning – what a nice morning! I slept in so late – 9:30! – and wish the day weren’t half over, but what to do. You need a lazy day now and then, right? Now I think I’ll make some bread, my favorite ciabatta recipe, and then do some knitting, and maybe a little more movie watching. One of my goals is to see all the AFI’s top 100 films, so there’s an abundance waiting for me. I hope you’re having such a lovely Sunday too!

Related posts

• let me decode it for you (0)
• update-ey stuff (1)
• today’s mission(s): (1)
• they make me happy (2)
• jiggedy jig (0)

On the knitting front, I made it through the entire part of the shawl chart with the big set of nupps. And they were fun! I definitely learned how to do them better by the last row of them, but I was happy enough. Then, knitting the last set of lace rows to complete the chart, and *clunk*. Something was way wrong. After each row – partly due to overweening pride – I’d stopped, stretched out the lace, admired it, looked for problems, found none. After each pattern repeat, I rechecked the stitches. If each pattern repeat was correct, and each row was correct, I’d be in good shape, right? And yet I’d really screwed up something, somewhere. How hadn’t I seen it in all my looking?! Too much pride, too much “look, isn’t that cool what I did?” I guess. And so I had to pull that whole section out. Had I put in a lifeline? NO.

So I held my breath, got out a small tapestry needle and a roll of dental floss, and tried to put one in, below the nupps chart. A tiny little stitch at a time, through the cobweb-weight lace. plink. plink. plink. plink. plink. Across the row…..and then pull pull pull pull, unknitting. It worked, and so now I begin again. At least this time I’ll do the nupps pretty well from the very first row. So with the shawl too, I’m back where I started.

My sweetheart and I have been dieting – him on Atkins, me on low-cal – but here it is, Valentine’s Day (tomorrow). We’re going out for dinner at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant, Awash, and then we’ll come home for something sweet. He really loves blueberry coffee cake, so I just popped one in the oven. Photos of a slice tomorrow, but for now, The Making of the Coffee Cake, followed by its recipe.

rich batter chock-full of blueberries

sprinkled with a yummy streusel topping, ready to bake

Want to make it yourself? Here’s how:

Related posts

• i know you know what i mean (9)
• fearless knitting bag inventory (3)
• good. grief. (2)
• wowie zowie (6)
• WOTN Mondays (3)