The Ant and the Grasshopper

At some point in my childhood, I was traumatized by Aesop's fable of The Ant and The Grasshopper. The grasshopper, after singing beautifully all summer while the ant worked, dies in front of the closed door of the ant in the midst of a winter freeze. The ant and his friends party inside -- warm, dry, and full of food from the summer and fall harvest.

I was not a fan of the ending. Why was the grasshopper so bad? Couldn't that ant find the compassion to slip some grains of wheat to the desperate musician? Why not invite him in? Who wouldn't want some fiddling throughout the long, dark winter?

In any event, I come to find out ...

I am such an ant. I have started my holiday knitting. I volunteered to produce many knitted things for this year's Holiday Bazaar at RWS and I have plans for many knitted presents -- I don't want to be stuck knitting late into the dark December nights. These stocking ornaments are addicting. I'm using up tons of yarn leftovers and having so much fun trying out different patterns that I may use for full-sized stockings.

Pattern: From Christmas Stockings: Holiday Treasures to Knit, edited by Elaine Lipson
Yarn: Leftover Jamieson Spindrift from these
Needles: US 3s dpn
Notes: Simple, easy, fast, ... addicting

I am also storing, freezing, and otherwise saving lots of the fresh, local, organic produce that we get weekly from our CSA: Amy's Garden. I've got a freezer full of oven-roasted tomatoes and sauce because a winter tomato from the grocery store is just a nasty thing. I've been using this simple, light sauce recipe here (I'm putting the tomatoes through the food mill at least twice).

I'm trying to encourage my inner grasshopper by spending days at the pool, eating fresh peaches, and being lazy in the 95 degree temps. But I might just be knitting Christmas stockings at the same time ...