More of the White Stuff

Today is the 23rd. It's still snowing. There was a brief, almost full day respite yesterday, but the clouds moved back in in the evening and the snow flies again. And it's supposed to snow tomorrow. But Christmas and the day after are supposed to be clear. Then comes the dreaded "wintry mix" on Saturday but hopefully I will be downstate and miss that whole mess, although when I come back I may very well not be able to get up the driveway.

Sweater is cranking along. About halfway through the body. I love knitting in the round.

Camera is sort of missing again, thus the lack of pictures, but I'm sure I'll find it soon. In case I don't get back to the computer for a while, Merry Christmas to everyone!

Super White Christmas

First let me just mention that the above picture was about six inches of snow ago.

In Detroit, if it snowed before Christmas you would cross your fingers that it would stay cold enough that the snow wouldn't melt before Christmas day. There is no way the snow if melting here before Christmas. It could be a whopping 50 degrees and the snow still would not have time to melt before Christmas because there is so much of it! Check this out, we've had a Winter Storm Watch posted in the corner of the local tv station all weekend long! It say "Winter Storm Watch for NE Michigan until Monday". One of the many things I've never experienced in my 40 years of life until I moved up here. (Like paying with a personal check at a restaurant! What?!?)

Anyway I've come to terms with the snow. There is no doubt it is beautiful. And when it snows it doesn't seem so cold. And it's pretty cool to sit in front of the fireplace (gas log - I'm allergic to the real stuff) and watch the fat flakes falling in the woods behind my house. Very Christmasy.

I'm rocking along on the Wisteria sweater. I love it. I'm knitting it with cheap circs, the kind that the cable turns in on itself, but since I'm almost done with the yoke chart, the weight of the sweater is making the cable stretch out and now it's fun!

Feeling Groovy

Why? Because I spent two hours tying knots in fleece. Fleece blankets are flying out of my ears. Not really, just these two and a MSU one for my son. But trust me that's a lot of knot tying.

And so to reward myself I picked up this.

It's Wisteria from Twist Collective. My friend Terry got me a gift certificate to the Twist Collective and made me this cool slouch hat which look just lovely modeled on the unwilling Sophie. ("Mom, please don't put pictures of me on your blog!")

I wish I could stay home and knit it. But I have to work. I debated calling in sick but none of my excuses sounded good enough.

Oh, by the way, I'm totally reading Twilight. Edward and Bella. I think about them whenever I'm not with them. What is the mysterious power this teen novel holds over the middle age women in the world?

My Own Yarn!

I finished a scarf knit from yarn I spun and dyed! How cool is that? And it doesn't even look too bad!
I started an Odessa with some yarn which I mistakenly thought was Malabrigo sock yarn. It was really Malabrigo silky wool, too good for my feet. Not for my head though!

I got a package in the mail from the Loopy Ewe. My first. You could say my Loopy Cherry has been popped, but that would just be juvenile and gross, right?
And here's a funny and something to be wary of if you have children who will someday drive in the snow. You might think they are so little and it's far away and such, but trust me, yesterday my boy was 2 and now he's almost 17, so just sayin . . .

There is this stupid kid in our sub, who is 17 (not my kid) and drives a little gold pick up truck like a maniac. Seriously, I drive my car like a little old woman around these winding, snowy, roads which are bordered by like 2 feet high snow walls and trees. All it takes is a little too much gas and it's over people. I mean like stuck, getting people to help dig you out or you are stuck 'til the thaw.

Well obviously he was going TOO FAST around the curve and buried himself in a 2 ft snow pile! I'm hopin' I can take a picture, it should still be there. I'm pretty sure he hit the tree (he's not hurt) and had to be towed out by his older brother! My son saw the aftermath, thank goodness, although his little Toyota Camry would have probably just bounced off the snowbank, no way would it have climbed up it!

The moral is if you get your kid a car, get a little one with airbags and tell him not to be stupid and please drive SLOWLY, and cross your fingers and hope for the best because really, that's all you can do! Yikes!

Guess what?

I think it stopped snowing. Cross your fingers, knock on wood, do whatever you have to do. I'm venturing outdoors, no snow is currently flying and only "flurries" are forecast. It's still brutally cold but I knit, so I have scarves and stuff to combat that!

Ode to White

Oh White

You are everywhere

The sky above

The ground below

Over the water

Flying through the air

Go the F*&^ away!

Seriously, it's the second snow day in a row here. Everything is white. The mailbox is almost covered. People put little orange balls on the antenna of their cars so the snow plows don't plow them over. There seems to be a temporary lull right now, I see an yellow orbish shape through the blinds, could it be the sun? I've got to go, I need some vitamin D!

Look What I Got!

Holly,(scroll to 12/23) Kristin (scroll down to Valentine's Day), look what I got!
Yep, the much awaited (or dreaded?) Amish Friendship Bread! I only say dreaded because I'm not sure I know enough people to give it away to! I do however, love watching it grow, especially when it starts moving of its own volition across the countertops, remember Kristin? My neighbor gave it to me, I'm sure she was searching her brain for people to give it to too.

Look what else I got. That's the snow I was telling you about. Guess what? It's supposed to snow six more inches today! Last night at our library party people were telling me how unusual this is, for it to snow everyday for like three weeks. Uh huh. That's exactly what people told me when I moved up here in February and it snowed everyday for like three weeks.
I know the west side is getting hammered too, and even some places over by Detroit, so it's really not just Northern Michigan, it's Michigan. Why do we choose to live here again? Because it's pretty, right?

And here are my boring socks. Pink. They are ok, they'll probably go in one of the girls' Christmas stockings - I'm pretty sure they are over Santa, although we tell all of them if they tell us they don't believe, they aren't getting any gifts, so we live under the pretense that Santa still visits the Bedford home!

Off to smoosh my bread!

Socks on a Sunday

I finished my socks. Basically, while watching House and doing a couple of loads of laundry, I knit a sock in a day. Amazing. For me anyway. I don't know if that's a good thing or it means I'm too obsessed with knitting. Or House.

Started another pair of socks of which I have no pictures. They are pink. Stockinette. Boring, but nice to knit while watching tv. I stalled on the shawl. Not because it's hard or anything, but I'm in no hurry. And I do need to finish the secret mitten swap mittens. I fear I may be knitting mittens for a giant. I'm at the thumb gusset and wonder if they might not be woman sized. Maybe they would fit the Ogre over at Holly's house? A reknit may be in order.

It's still snowing here. On top of the railing of the deck rests 21 inches of snow according to my hubby. That's cumulative for the whole season so far but still . . . I don't think I've ever seen a winter with that much snow, that I can remember anyway. My poor little Chevy Malibu moves like an old lady with a cane trying to make the turn out of our subdivision. I'm all for good gas mileage and not polluting the earth, but I think I might need something with four-wheel drive.

Gotta go to the work party today after work. We are supposed to eat and then decorate the library, but I think I may just eat and beat a hasty exit, seeing as how I still have to decorate my own house.

Anyway, hope everyone had a nice weekend. I'll try and take some pictures of the snow for those of you who don't often get the pleasure of such beauty. :)

Three Things

The three things I'm doing today :

Knitting - working on sock #2 - I switched these to just plain stockinette socks - does anyone else hate cable needles as much as me? Especially with socks?

Spinning - bought this lovely fluff downstate. Lovely brand name fluff - Louet - they have fluff up here, but not as nice.Watching House - I love House and Target had a whopping sale on it Black Friday. My niece works at Target so she picked us both up seasons two and three.
Combined, it makes a perfect snowy day off Wednesday chez Tracy.

Snow

3.

2.

1. Look what I found this morning when I opened my front door. (pic. 1)

Guess what? It's a snow day.

Check out my deck,(pic 2.) and just FYI the branches on this skinny tree by the deck are so weighed down with snow they are leaning over the edge of the deck and oddly enough they look decidedly phallic! No pictures, this is a almost g-rated blog!

Back in August, Holly and I bought yarn to do a knit along. Yummy Briar Rose Wistful yarn. I've been knitting my socks and mittens and squares and waiting for the right time to start a knit-a-long, and I just can't wait anymore. Holly can just catch up with me later. (pic 3)

Anyway, the pattern calls for 700 yards of yarn and I only have 500. So I took out one of the repeats in the pattern (which the pattern tells you how to do, yay!) and I'll maybe take a couple out of the length. Anyone think that will be enough? I'm clueless, just rushing headlong into a project when I know I don't have enough yarn, that's me!

Well the kids are still asleep so I think I will go knit until the chaos begins!

And can I just say Internet Explorer sucks ass, it won't let me move the pictures around! Back to Foxfire for me!