Pandas, scarves, gremlins, and cold

First, a Panda themed card for a friend I've known since kindergarten. The stamp set used is Party Like a Panda from Simon Says Stamp. The card design is from Dawn's Stamping Thoughts and is called an Angle Pop Up Wow card. The link should take you to that entry in her blog. I used Copic markers to color the images.

My current knitting is a mindless project but a slow growing one. The pattern is called Zick Zack and is a free pattern on Ravelry. The yarn is sock weight, the needles are US size 2. It is all garter stitch, therefore, easy. This will be perfect with my winter jacket, even if it isn't ready until fall of this year. I'm not that slow a knitter, this is my "between-other-projects" project.  

The first time I used this was after a winning a gift certificate at a yarn store and purchasing a set of smaller balls of hand dyed, variegated yarn and making this scarf that I thought might be okay. That was goal, just "okay". This has become my favorite scarf and gets the most comments when worn. 

Gremlins....we have to blame someone or something for the unexplainable, right? In a roughly two week time period, I've had a bogus charge on one credit card (resolved, thankfully), incorrect items delivered for the first time in a long history of ordering from one company (in the process of getting the correct one and returning the mistake), a break down in accessing my email on my computer (but all is fine on mobile devices), and the handsets on my house phones have been resetting their clocks at random. As I talk to others, many seem to be having unusual inconveniences. Residual 2020 crapola? 

And lastly, it is cold outside. In Michigan, in January. Who would have guessed, right? Better days are coming. Until then, I will continue to make things to keep me sane.