Winterish

    The much-ballyhooed January storm didn't arrive, but we did get one on February first. It was my first day of work at the fabric store, and I was allowed to leave a few minutes early, although I didn't actually get *home* early as I had to wait for Fred's car pool to arrive... we ended up at home by 6. However, the power was out, so we couldn't cook, and the house was cool-ish. We lighted all the candles we could find, and got the wood furnace going, with the gravity-feed panel open at the back. I'm thinking of putting it on a hinge, it gets opened so often.
    Anyway, we ate cheese and crackers and dip, and went to bed to keep warm, and shortly after the power company came and we had power again. It is amazing how quiet the house is without the mechanical hum of the fridge, the furnace fan, and so on. It's also amazing how much warmer the furnace makes the house *with* the fan! Anyway, we now have a nice amount of snow, no more than 20 centimetres, but nicely piled up in places. I was out for a walk today, but the wind was bitter - fine when it was at my back, but excruciating in my face on the way back. It's a gorgeous day, though - bright and clear, with a few big flakes every now and then. I wouldn't be surprised if there was quite a bit of solar gain.
  Knitting continues apace, with another pair of Cloisonee mittens in the pile for next year's Christmas presents. It's so nice to make something that takes two days, rather than two weeks (like socks).

    I invested in a few skeins of Patons Classic Wool - went to M*chaels first, as they had a sale on - 2 skeins for $10 - but they had very few colours. I bought black and orange there, and then went to Owl's Hollow, and got a lime yellow and magenta - for their regular price of $8.99. Eeek. Anyway, they are nice big skeins, over 200 metres each. Good for a couple of pairs each, almost.
     The current pair use the black and magenta, and the blue and the white are Aran yarns I have in abundance. (I tried out a pair in Briggs & Little but they are so scratchy I don't think anyone would wear them. I'll wash them and see if there's any improvement.) Once the ends of this pair are darned in I will have a look at another colour combo. I made these in size small, and they really are tiny. I'll have to think about whom they will fit.
    Speaking of tiny, I made a 'selbu' pair of mittens in sock yarn - a fairly dreadful self-stripe from S. R. Kertzer in pinks and turquoise - with which I had tried to make Jaywalker socks long ago. I discovered that the Jaywalker pattern made the leg so un-stretchy that I couldn't get my foot through, so they were frogged, and the yarn's been in time-out city ever since.

    This pattern starts out with 40 stitches, so the mittens are really, truly tiny, but the stripes are set off quite well with the white, I think. Or perhaps it's just cute because  it's so tiny? Anyway, everyone else on Ravelry who made this pattern used worsted or DK weight and made mittens to fit adults, so I may try that myself at some point. It's quite an easy pattern.  I liked the stripes so much that I may have to find some stripey DK! Another time I might make a corrugated rib or a braided edge, as, again, I'm not keen on the stripe by itself.

   I managed to get my deck table grouted, despite the frustration of only finding grout in large boxes, so I ended up with much more than I really wanted. I mixed it up in a yogurt tub, and underestimated twice, so had to mix three batches in all. On the up side, I didn't have to throw out much.

      I suppose that the spaces were quite wide between the marbles, compared to the granite tiles which were our last grouting project, so I needed more than I thought. However, it's finished now, and I have enough of the charcoal-coloured grout to do a couple more projects.
     I have a book on mosaics home from the library, so everything that isn't moving should look out!

     The table will have to be sealed before it goes outside, of course, and I'm looking for a small amount of grout sealer - Home Depot seems to think that we all want a big $40 jug of the stuff.

 

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.

Winterish

We had another storm day on Wednesday - schools, uni, college closed, no mail, etc. Great day for staying home and knitting! I have two shawls on the needles. One is JUST for Olympics watching, so I keep it upstairs where the TV is. It is Multnomah and I'm making it in a hand-dyed yarn which I won a long time ago in a sock-a-month competition on Ravelry. The colours are, shall I say, not ME, being orangey-red, purply-pink and brown. However this pattern seems to look good in the wild variegated yarns so I'm giving it a go. It's garter-stitch with a feather-and-fan border, and the colours do look better together when you get to the border part.

Travel plans are coming along. It looks like we'll stay in Galway City for the first week (with J. and E. and maybe Steve!) and Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, is looking good for the second week. We've been emailing about a gorgeous 3-storey townhouse with 5 bedrooms!! The place in Galway is an apartment.

Two years after finishing a Luna Moth shawl in Pixie Floss from VV, I dyed it (it was a hateful pale yellow). I used butternut husks we gathered last October. The colour is a beige more than a brown. I do like it better than the yellow. It's blocking now, so I'll see how it looks unpinned. I just have SOO much beige yarn! Why do I do it?

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can

This is busy week. I foolishly signed up for Sock Madness III on Ravelry, and the pattern came out on March 19. It has a few curves, and a pattern that has to be watched constantly. The cast-on was OK (German twisted) and then there's an afterthought heel, which is good to know, but hard to do for the first time. I've posted my beginning photo, but I doubt the pair will be done by the end of the week. And many people are done ALREADY. What was I thinking?

And this is Evita week. Rehearsals every night from 5 to 10-ish, then Dress on Wednesday and Opening on Thursday and then Friday and Saturday. It's pretty exciting for everyone, the show moved to the Confederation Centre yesterday, so the run-through (without costumes) was last night, which gave us all a chance to work in the space. There's a LOT of chatting and giggling off-stage, it will be interesting to see how it is tonight. We had lights backstage last night! But none henceforth. Must remember to get my stuff in place early. I also can't speak to Evita backstage because she'll be miked.

We have been continuing with the ballroom dance lessons (with new teachers) and have been having a good time with it. I feel much more like we are actually dancing most of the time - a combo of more experience, better music with a stronger beat, and good teachers. We're waltzing, foxtrotting, jiving and have done a bit of quick-stepping. No tango or Latin yet.

The previously predicted St. Patrick's Day storm has arrived a week late. Schools cancelled, whiteouts, slippery roads and quite a bit of snow. Will it never end?

Time's Marching On and Evita's coming soon!

...but the weather continues dreadful. Minus 14 this morning, and once again the car was reluctant to start - and go - and I was full of fellow-feeling. At least the sun is shining, and the house is always warm when we get home - thanks to those westward-facing windows.

So, all the excitement of March is approaching - St. Pat's of course, with several opportunities for dancing and playing music. There's a parade, too, but it's held on Sunday. We don't usually go, as it ends at St. Dunstan's for Mass. Not exactly non-denominational. And Evita is on at the end of March - the 26, 27 and 28 (She's above there, with Peron, in her "ugly pyjamas"). I picked up tickets yesterday for Fred, he wants to go on Saturday night (as well as Thursday) and there were very few tickets left. Looks like full houses!

And of course March Break! Doesn't mean as much when there aren't any children to plan trips with, but it's still a change in the daily fabric, and usually we can plan - or hope - for an improvement in the weather, once the traditional St. Pat's/March Break snowstorm is over.

I've been having fun with word-play books lately. Cat's Eye Corner is a kids' book, one I would have loved when I was one. I've been reading Percy Jackson books too, but finding them a bit - juvenile and talk-down (I'm reading them because my sister's working on the film version).

And on the adult front, The Stories of English. It's a survey of where the amazing variety comes from in the language, and gives much more credence than is usual to regional dialects (I find myself discussing this a bit with tutors who are determined to eliminate such from the vocabularies of people who have been speaking this way for 50 years!).

I've been knitting too - but also frogging. I made a sock that was just un-wearable, and decided to take it back and re-use the yarn for something else. I got a big batch of Briggs & LIttle yarn and am making Fred a new winter scarf 'n' hat set using the Palindrome pattern - amazing designer figured out how to have cables on both sides. I am also hoping that determinedly continuing with the wool knitting will fool the weather into thinking I actually LIKE all this wintry continuation. But we know differently, don't we?

It Has Snowed, It Has Been Snowing, It's Here!

Now that winter is officially here - first real snow is much more significant than mere dates on the calendar - I'm all about knitting - or, as I knit all the time anyway, I'm all about finishing old projects and starting new ones. Today I spent a lot of time looking at cowl patterns on Ravelry, and I think everyone should get one from me for Christmas. However, they all seem to be made of very, very soft luxury fibres, so I am going to go through my stash, with particular reference to that bag of stuff from Belfast Mini Mills, and get at casting something on! They all look so lovely and easy and quick.