1,000 Shades of Gray

We awoke to a dense fog this morning. Heavier than any fog I've ever seen. These pictures were taken about and hour after I got up and it had lightened up a little.

I took Mr. W to work this morning and we went over an overpass where the visibility was so reduced that it looked like the road would end any second and we could see nothing but fog on either side. From a safety standpoint, it was pretty scary. From a cool standpoint, it was awesome in a sci-fi way. I really wish I had had my camera with me.

The weather was dreary yesterday too, but not nearly as interesting as the fog. It was more stir-crazy weather. Can you tell I've been a little bored? I'm loving the free time I have to craft right now, but you can only do so much.

Knitting Bag

* how can I not make at least one gift?*

My 9 year old nice has started knitting. I taught her how to purl when I visited over Thanksgiving and she learned it easily. I'm really impressed with how quickly she can knit, especially since she uses really long straight needles. They reach from her fingertips to just past her elbows - forearm length needles.
Her yarn was all in a tangle too. It's hard to keep a yarn ball in neat order when you drag it around with you everywhere.

So I couldn't resist making her a knitting bag. Well, knitting backpack. I bought the bag pre-made at Joann's and stenciled it. I bought the star stencils, but I printed and cut out the stencils for the knitting skull and her name. (The weird snaky blur thing is her name I scribbled out in Photoshop for privacy.)

Her last birthday party theme was pink and black pirate skulls so hopefully she's still into it.

Growing up, I had a family member that I rarely saw and persisted in giving me ceramic carousel horses years after the very brief period in which I collected them was over. It's not the gift, of course, and as an adult I see that clearly. But I would like to give gifts that are thoughtful and relevant, even if I only get to see some members of my family once a year or so.

Also, I worry about being the crazy aunt giving homemade presents, but I think a homemade gift from one knitter to another is always welcome.