This is a month I won't miss much

February can be quite unattractive any year, but the one we are having in 2011 will certainly be a record-beater. We aren't out of the woods yet - there's another system barrelling its way toward us as I write - this time, we will get rain and freezing rain as well as snow, so perhaps we will lose some of the piles and piles of snow left from previous storms. And, of course, perhaps we will lose our electricity and be in the dark for days. Only time will tell, and luckily I have knitting to keep me busy. I suppose we can count this a sign of spring, that we are getting rain as well as snow. I'm trying for optimism here.
This is the last day of Fred's medical leave (per se) so he's in town today getting errands done and the like. We went to the gym at lunchtime, so after work we'll be able to pick up a couple of movies and a big bunch of groceries, and head straight home to hunker down with fingers firmly crossed that the power stays on.
My lovely sister sent me a care package of yarns from the West coast with a friend who was visiting - 2 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca (colour above), 2 skeins of Jacques Cartier Qiviuk Merino Silk (80% merino, 15% qiviut, 5% silk) in lime, 1 skein of Jacques Cartier Cashmere in dark blue, and 2 skeins of Jacques Cartier Heavenly Alpaca in green. The latter is laceweight - I think a shawl or fine scarf is in order. I have one other skein of the same, in a blue-green, with which I tried to make the Yarn Harlot's Pretty Thing - but it's too fine for that. I don't know if it would work for my cowl-and-fingerless gloves combos. The Berroco surely will, however, as it's a worsted weight. Ah me! Off to seek out the perfect pattern from my patterns drawer in the filing cabinet!

Islander Day or February Holiday - whatever, I'll take it.

It's been another few days of bad weather - not a storm per se, but chilly and flurrying and, on Saturday when we got back from Halifax, quite a lot of snow and blustery. Ah well. It has to be over soon.
We had spent 3 days in Halifax because Fred had a medical procedure - didn't do any yarn shopping but I did get a nice haircut - and we visited the new Pier 20 Farmers' Market too. There were free outdoor concerts every noon and evening because of the Canada Games. Katie was going to the evening ones. We ate at Heartwood on Quinpool and the Wooden Monkey too - that was lovely.
We did go for a walk in the outdoors today (it's better than having to take the car to the gym) and, except that I didn't really wrap up properly it was lovely. I'd wished I'd taken the camera with me (but I didn't go back afterward). High tide and lovely pristine snowbanks make a really nice combination. I love the look of the land covered with snow and open water.
Got a fair bit of knitting done on a shawl today - I am trying to get back into the 11 shawls in 2011 - and there's a KAL in the Beginning Lace group on Ravelry which is working on "Ethereal" which is quite nice. Because of all my lace-yarn shopping I have quite a bit so I should be able to make 20 or 30 before running out of yarn or patterns.

The FO thread on the 11 in 2011 group is an inspiring place to find new patterns and great colour combinations. I saw a two-tone shawl in KidSilk and thought - that might be the solution for the several single balls of KidSilk in stash. I am thinking a green and beige or red and beige might be nice. I have two of sapphire blue so those should make a proper size shawl (they are 212 metres each). And I still have that big skein of fleece artist Mo which is over 500 metres. I must be afraid of the mohair as I avoid it so sedulously. Anyway, this ill-placed photo is Ethereal in Knit Picks baby alpaca. As usual it looks like a pile of tangled string, but when it is blocked it should be quite nice.
I forgot to mention that I was wearing my Bitterroot on Thursday when Fred went in for his assessment at 7 am - I found a parking spot, paid for an hour, and went to Starbucks for coffee, where I knit and listened to podcasts (and read The Coast). Then I did the haircut, and then realized I'd left my Bitterroot at Bucky's! Went back (parking by the Public Gardens) and it was there! Some kind Haligonian had turned it in. The one girl who was working there told me how VERY nice it was - I think maybe she was going to get to claim it if I hadn't turned up by the end of her shift. Then later I almost left it at the Wooden Monkey. Sheesh. You would think I don't appreciate the amount of work that goes into these things.

Another One! Oh No!

Yes, incredible as it may seem, we had another considerable snowfall yesterday and last night, combined with 70 kph wind overnight and this morning. Schools are closed, and the Bridge is closed to high-sided vehicles (it's a NW wind this time, you see). Most of our storms to date have been Nor'easters. I come to work on the private road from Mt. Edward Road to the Mall, this year the site of the Jack Frost Festival (on this weekend) and they are having NO trouble keeping their snow sculptures and skating rink frozen *this* year. No indeed.
It's all good for the knitting and the manipulation of seedlings. Looking at garden catalogues does engender a bit of a sense of disbelief, however (looking out at the hip-deep snow in the front yard). Working on the second of my Mockery socks, and trying to NOT cast on anything else until I get these two pairs of socks well and truly finished. But my mind is reeling with possibilities.

Yet another Snow Day!

This is getting to be a habit. We have had *two* snowstorms this week - Wednesday night and Sunday. Luckily the expected 25-30 cm. of snow came in the form of rain this morning (changing back to snow later), so we don't have quite as much of the white stuff to shovel. The wind's picked up, however, and it's not a great day to get out and walk, as it was yesterday! The photo on the left was taken when we walked up "the back road" on a beautiful, sunshiny yesterday.
Ah well, we will get our exercise shovelling!
Two at-home days mean that I got lots of reading and knitting done - making good progress on Kilt hose stocking No. 2, with the top bit all finished and just about the amount you would have to do on a *regular* sock left. And of course it's in a much bigger gauge than my usual socks - so it should be a breeze.


Just to keep things interesting I'm making a regular-sized sock from a pattern called "Mockery", with a subtle flat cable - looks really interesting! In a cotton/wool/nylon mixture I got at WalMart or Zellers in a mill ends bag. It's looking like I will get two socks out of a skein, and I bought two bags of the mill ends, so enough for 12 pairs of socks. I am loving the subtle colouring - light ecru background, with striping in light grey and beige. I may well get sick of it by the time I make 12 pairs, but I'm fine with it so far. I am using 2.0 mm. needles which is making a lovely firm fabric. The yarn has been confirmed as Patons Stretch Sock (mill ends are *usually* Patons or Bernat) - they have just released seven new colourways (and the formula seems a bit different as well) and mine is called "nougat". I am so pleased to finally identify it! I've been checking back at Z and W but no joy finding any more. Makes me realize I should go with it when I see something interesting, though!
I got Robin McKinley's new book, "Pegasus" at the library on Friday and I've just finished it. As usual with McKinley, I'm a bit breathless at the end, more so than ever this time because it is a 2-parter - and the second part isn't yet written! I was going to hold out until they were both finished, but when I saw it on the new books list at the library I clicked - and I got it! I must be the first person to read this copy. Now to wait - until 2012 - for part 2!

Winter's Beauties

I spotted this beautiful frame on a piece of open Eastern sky this morning when I was heading upstairs to the shower. Didn't have the camera with me(!) but luckily it was still there later (though the colour had changed from the light green it had been earlier).
We have had a snow day - a proper one, with schools, offices and businesses closed! And even though it has been blowing quite a bit the sheltered space we have built and grown over 20 years in this house means that the snow has stayed in place on the trees - and everything else. And in some places the warm sun has created actual icicles from the snow. It seems I do like winter!
Due to the snow day I did get seeds started - not on the actual snow day, as it happens, because I found my seed starter mixture frozen in a solid lump in the garage, where it has been fine until we had those few days of -17 weather. I brought it in to the house, and on Saturday was able to start my Rudbeckia "Cherry Brandy", and Delphinium Centurion Lilac (both from Thompson & Morgan) some Lavender augustifolia from Vesey's, and some (a FEW, of the many) Cleome seeds I collected last fall. I have so many I may just have to broadcast the rest somewhere and hope. The one thing I intended to plant, my F1 Hybrid everbearing strawberries (also from T &M), I can't FIND! I remember getting the packet out to look at the germination instructions, and then I set it down somewhere and it got - I suppose - tidied away. I am being forced to spring clean just in the hope of finding it again - I am sure they should be planted in January...and today is the last possible day!
On Saturday I checked the weather (on my iPod Touch) and discovered that the relatively mild week we had been anticipating has been replaced by another spell in the deep-freeze. The temperature will be in the negative 'teens all week, with corresponding N and NW winds to bring the wind chill down to the negative 'twenties. Thank goodness for a large stash of yarn and an infinite number of patterns to go with it.
On the knitting front, I've decided I must finish up Alister's "60th Birthday" Kilt Hose, as his birthday is just over a month away. I did the fancy cuff, and now am working on the ribbed garter - and after that, it will be straight travel knitting, K5P1 rib until I start the decreases for the calf. Don't know why it took me over a year to finish the first one!!
And I have three cowls and two pairs of mitts finished - only - hmmm - 7 or 8 more sets to go? They do work up quickly, when I concentrate.

Deep, deeper, deepest

    Brrr, it is COLD! We've had just two days of -16 degrees, complete with WNW winds around 40 k. making for just above -30 with wind chill. It's hard to get the house up to temp. (around 20 is nice) in the morning when we get up and in the evening when we get home. This is where being a knitter really pays. Throw on another sweater, and another couple of logs into the furnace! Our wood is quite big this year, and rather more white birch than we usually see, which isn't good. It doesn't have the heating capacity of beech or maple. The one advantage: it is self-kindling!
    We've been to Halifax, and I made another visit to LK Yarns while there. I've decided to make up a few sets of cowl (or scarf) plus fingerless gloves (I hate doing fingers, especially finishing them) for next Christmas, so I've been trolling my stash to find appropriate yarns. I found a fingering-weight alpaca in bright red, which I bought at The Loop a while ago, and made a Yarn Harlot Pretty Thing with Fishtail wristwarmers to go with. The Pretty Thing was easy, and I THOUGHT the wristwarmers were as well, but the second ended up shorter than the first, so it is on the frog-and-reknit list. No big deal. Then I bought three skeins of Balmoral, a wool-alpaca-silk DK, and made an Eleanor cowl and a pair of mitts with one of the motifs on the back of the hand. They are quite short, so I'm not sure how much I like them.
   Anyway, I was on the hunt for more fingering-weight yarns for cowls at LK Yarns. I am always so overwhelmed by choice when I'm there (compared to Owl's Hollow) that I am not sure I make good selections. However, I got some Cascade Yarns solid royal blue, a skein of Estelle Arequipa in oranges, Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in burgundy, and a skein of Fiddlestix Knitting silk in a light purple. It is halfway or more to being another Pretty Thing. I fell for a mystery skein of turquoise merino-and-angora laceweight too - 1000 metres! Whatever will that become, I wonder.
Then an couple of days later an order I'd made early in January to Knit Picks arrived. Mostly lace weight (2 skeins each colour, or 880 metres) in a medium gray, burgundy, bright red and basalt - which is a greyish-purplish. They are all heather colours. And two skeins of sockweight - in a lovely brown mix called "Kindling" and a blue mix. They are tonal colours so no mad stripes or pooling to contend with. Now, if only I didn't have to work, and could just cozy up at home and knit to my heart's content!
   I've been signed up for the 11 shawls in 2011 - even though I didn't get the 10 in 2010 finished - I just had seven completed. However, seven is pretty good! I must try to do more of the really small ones - just shoulder-size or scarf-like...Then I should be able to complete.

In The Bleak Midwinter

We have had another snowfall - actually with plenty of warnings, so we were all hopeful that we would have a Snow Day today - however, the wind promised did not materialize, so we just bravely swept and shovelled and went in to work. Rats! I have knitting I could be busy with right now!
The snow was sticky (it was barely minus 1 degree at the worst) so it stuck to the tiniest of branches. It has changed to wet snow/rain now, so most of the beauty is dribbling away.
I am getting right to work on next winter's Christmas presents, so I have a beautiful bright red fingering-weight alpaca which I'm almost finished making into a cowl and matching fingerless gloves. They are lacy and fine, which looks super with the red. I really should have photographed it in the snow, to make it look properly festive. Perhaps I will when all 3 pieces are done. I'm at work on the final glove now.
The cowl is The Yarn Harlot's "Pretty Thing" which I bought and downloaded from Ravelry. I really appreciate the convenience of this online shopping lark! And I also liked that I got to keep this pattern in my downloads - I bought a pattern from Fibre Trends before Christmas and you only get to see it - and print it - once before it disappears. I must put it in a page protector before it gets destroyed (I tend to be pretty hard on my patterns, lugging them about and stuffing them into various bags, etc.) But "Pretty Thing" is mine forever! And it truly is pretty. I may even use my precious skein of Qviuk to make one - for me!
Now that I've decided to make cowl+gloves sets, I'm looking at my stash and realizing that I really don't have much in the gorgeous hand-dyed fingering weight - most of my sock yarn is boring plain colours. However, a trip to Halifax next week may remedy this.