Works in Progress


FINISHED OBJECTS: *Fair Isle Wristlet *Sara-Grace's Shortie Socks *Collin's Socks *Sunshine Squared Sweater *Gramps

WORKS IN PROGRESS:*Bridgewater Shawl *Eidelon *Blue Shortie Socks *Resonation Shawl

Monday, March 31, 2014

Spring Begins


Spring is coming slowly this year.  The ice storms are gone, 
Picture is in color. Dreary!

and the forsythia is blooming.  
Aah! That's more like it.

Bees are starting to buzz. Birds are flying through headed for more northern climes. 

Next week, the Carolina Fiber Fest begins followed by Stitches South

What a great time of year!

Until next time . . . . 

Monday, March 10, 2014

Progress


There has been a little progress lately.  
Last week, I found a crochet hook and made a few granny squares for an organization in Milwaukee that will use them to yarn bomb the town in support of donating life. It has been years since I have crochet anything. Good thing Ravelry is around so I could find a pattern and review instructions. The colors were determined by the organization. I will be donating the squares to Vicki of DragonflySoars podcast.

I also took everything out of the yarn closet upstairs. I sorted and boxed the yarn by type. I have way too much yarn.  I especially have way too much cotton.  I need to put a dent in the stash. I found a lot of Sublime organic cotton. Twenty-two skeins!  Three shades of beige! What was I thinking?  I took out a set of needles and knitted a nice simple square wash cloth.  I liked the fabric so much that I plan to use this square as a gauge swatch to knit a summer sweater or two. 

I also knit a mitered square burgundy cotton dishcloth 


and a multidirectional variegated blue and white dishcloth. 

Now on the needles is another blue and white one  - Grandmother’s Favorite pattern.  

The dishcloths are like potato chips - can’t just eat make one!

Lent began on Wednesday. I got ashes on my forehead and decided that this year I would work on finishing a WIP that has been lingering. Lingering because I don’t want to knit it. I want the finished sweater - I just don’t enjoy the all over cabling of the pattern. Every row has to be knit following a chart. There are no rest rows. It will be a beautiful sweater when it is finished. I just hope it doesn’t suck out my soul in the process. The sleeves are finished. I have about 10 inches of the body finished. Another eleven to go! Then the button band with shawl collar. One saving grace is that it is in a beautiful forest green alpaca. The yarn is luscious. 


Sunday, I spent the afternoon carding some green dyed locks of alpaca that I was having trouble spinning from the locks.

I used my new hand cards and made a gallon ziplock bag full of rolags. 

They look nice and smooth and shiny. I have about 3 more ounces to card and then I will try again to spin it. 

So as I said - a little progress. Hope your projects are progressing too.

Until next time . . . . . . . . .

Monday, March 3, 2014

Winter Storms


Winter has really hits us hard. The last week of January we had our once every 4 years snow. We got 2-1/2 inches. It was beautiful. The problem was that we got a half inch of freezing rain before the snow during 28 degree F temperatures. So we had black ice under the beautiful snow.  Tractor trailers jackknifed on the highways, multiple accidents occurred. Most people stocked up on bread and milk and hunkered down for the three days. The following week school and work were back in session and temperature were in the upper 40s F.

It appeared that we were getting an early spring, when two weeks ago we got another dose of freezing rain which caused an inch of ice to form on all outdoor surfaces. Roofs, sidewalks, streets, power lines. Our power company estimated that there was 300 to 500 pounds of ice on each line. Throughout the night, it continued to rain pellets of ice - no snow. When we woke up, the world was covered with 2 inches of ice pellets. Icicles hung on everything. No one could drive or even walk outside. 

We lost power about 6:30 am on Wednesday morning. With camp stoves, a gas grill and gas logs. We handled the cold pretty well as it stayed about 60 degrees F in the house. We cooked hot meals and drank hot beverages. Knitted items were a joy to own.

About 8 pm the power came back on. We took hot baths and showers and the house and water heated up.  Temperatures never rose above 25 degrees F outside. The world was a real winter wonderland.

Around midnight, the weather turned. Winds of 15 to 20 miles per hour with gust up to 35 miles per hour started blowing. With ice on power lines and trees, things became dangerous. It sounded like gun fire followed by thunder of explosions as power poles and trees began snapping in half. Our power went out again.

When we woke up, the neighborhood looked like a battle zone. Over 100,000 households in our county were without power. Cell towers were down. Ten of thousands of trees were broken in half. Limbs were everywhere. Streets were unpassable. Power lines lay across streets.  

Power crews were everywhere. Tree trimming companies were out in force trying to help remove trees from lines. The crews worked for days to bring power back to everyone. There were crews from many neighboring states helping. 

Our power came back on around 6 pm on Thursday. Many in the county were without power for 5 to 6 days. There was a hold up after five day as there were no transformers or wire to be found in the county. Trucks brought the need supplies from four states away. All had power in ten days. 

There is now still massive cleanup going on throughout our county. It is estimated that it will take another month to get all the trees branches disposed of. 

It is now raining and will be 33 degrees F tonight. Is spring really around the corner?