I was looking over some back issues of knitting magazines and thinking about the ways in which I am a sucker for certain images. Anything that calls out "peacefulness and calm and coziness" immediately grabs me. There was a feature in the winter '99/'00 FCEK on natural-color knitting (it had some sweaters, and some baby clothes, and socks knit of Classic Elite Tapestry). Everything was in neutrals and pale natural colors. I love looking at those pictures.

I also loved, back when it was available, the Lion Brand "Textures" collection - white or cream yarn in a variety of weights and fiber blends. Alas, it was discontinued, I guess too many found it boring or didn't buy it (the good news is I snapped up mucho skeins of both the white and cream worsted weight at a bargain price - the cream is for a someday-to-be-made cabled cardigan and the white is for a "Frost Flowers" shawl).

I like color - don't get me wrong, in fact, my house is quite chaotic with color - but there's something about those serene, pastel or pale palettes that make me happy.

I knit on various things last night - a bit on the scarf, and I turned the heel on the first of the Christmas socks for my mom. (Don't tell anyone, but I brought the socks in to work with them - I'm going to shut my door and knit and read research stuff. I'm not quite ready to be "out" about knitting and working together, though I suspect most of my colleagues would "get it" when I explained that it helped me to concentrate)