Well, I've felt oddly tired these past few days. To tell the truth, I'm blaming that on The Change - although it's hard to tell, since the part of The Change that we all want to change isn't changing much; and besides, it's hard to believe that a youngster like me could be at that point of life :). (And if you read symptoms at places like Power Surge, you conclude that you're either [a] perimenopausal or [b] dying of a brain tumor or [c] suffering from cancer or diabetes or some other terrible illness . . . ) At any rate, I'm once again going through one of those phases where I go to bed around midnight and have to drag myself out of bed at 10 am. Modern life really doesn't allow for 10-hour nights . . . I wouldn't mind so much if I felt rested after all that sleep, but lately, I haven't.

So let's just say it's the weather, which has been downright bi-polar lately. This morning, it looked like this outside:







Those of you who dwell in colder climes will understand, from the pattern of the snow on the car, and the tiny granules resting on the railing, and the way that it's swirled on the street, that it is Very Cold Outside. Today we're supposed to see a high of maybe 15F, with significant wind. (Last night they reported 75 mph winds in the Straits of Mackinac . . . I suppose I'm one of the few loonies - excepting my brother, perhaps - who wishes to have been there on the island for that.) It's 10 degrees outside now; I don't think we're going to reach the projected high.

Yesterday, it was 46 degrees F, completely gray, and rainy.

Tomorrow we're supposed to get another winter storm with, perhaps, 6 inches of snow. (We'll see.) I hope I feel peppy enough to ski on it if it materializes!

At any rate, since I'm not racing up and down the ski hills, I've been occupying my time by . . . knitting dishcloths. Dishcloths, it turns out, are incredibly satisfying to knit: They're quick, they're easy, you get to use wonderfully garish yarns that humans usually don't wear, and you end up with a completely useful and pleasing object. Here are my efforts to date:







That was my first one. It's now been pressed into service as the tub-cleaning cloth.

This one has found a job as the kitchen cloth:







And shortly after I took this picture . . .







. . . I wove the ends in on this one and used it as a washcloth.

There are two more on the needles:







That one, which is going to be frogged because it's being knit in a pattern which is not showing up, and this one:







. . . which is being knit in an entrelac pattern of my own devising, and which is making me very happy with its array of cheerful pinks. The colors remind me of my mother; I wish I'd discovered dischcloths (and shawls!) when she was alive, because she would have loved them. And so would my mother-in-law have loved face cloths . . . She believed in using a different one every day.

Next, I'm branching out to dish TOWELS. (I may be stark-raving mad by the end of Forevruary; stay tuned! :)

Actually, I'm getting a break from the Michigan winter: Next week I'm going to Louisiana to give some talks on distance education. I'll be going just after Mardi Gras, alas, so no parades for me . . . but I have to say, unless I went with a native who could explain it all to me (and furnish cover, so I would feel like I was "passing"), I don't think I'd particularly enjoy it. So I'm not sorry to miss it . . . and I am definitely (and rather uncharacteristically) looking forward to some warm weather! Here's hoping the hotel pool is open so I can swim outside . . . and I will be taking my rollerblades, too.

And tonight, the all-star break is finally over: The Red Wings are on! Yay, rah! I'm going to curl up in front of the tv, under a blanket, and crank out another dishcloth . . .