Igloo, sweet igloo!

As some of you may know, the Mid Atlantic coastal region of the US got a lovely little bit of snow dumped upon us this past week. These are the results of the first onslaught of snow:

And here is the result of the second "wave:"




Looks like we haven't done an ounce of work, doesn't it? But we've been shoveling on and off since Friday! I am so thankful that our electricity is working. Otherwise we'd be out of heat and telephone and shit outta luck as they say in my neck of the woods. Having a daughter who works for a supermarket chain doesn't hurt, either. However, one worries - for the daughter who works at the aforesaid supermarket and for the other daughter who is a police and fire dispatcher and 911 operator and who does not have a 4WD vehicle and lives an hour from work. She had to work 24 hours straight - give or take the few hours she tried to sleep there - last weekend. I hope this time she got a ride home - but it all depends on whether other people make it in. The police in our area were getting help themselves -from the National Guard.

The good news is, the courts are closed, which means our office is closed, so I'm not going anywhere. We have plenty of food, heat, and water. And more importantly, plenty of vino:) I made sure of that during my one excursion yesterday onto the road before the proverbial hit the fan. (Hey - priorities!)
During the first blizzardly wave, John had to work and he of course ended up spending his entire weekend at the hotel. What can I say, it's a tough job and he had to do it. There was actually a wedding reception there the second night! I dare that husband to forget his anniversary!

Of course, what can you do, stuck in the house with nothing to do? Hmmmmm... oh I know! Knitting! I actually finished three projects, one of which I haven't even spoken or written about. I'm not sure why. Probably my shame about my yarn addiction, LOL:) I started this scarf when I had a lot of time between the dockets one day. I went to Michaels and got a skein of yarn and a circular needle and proceeded to cast on a lengthwise scarf. It was some time before Christmas, so I thought it might be a gift, and it did indeed turn out to be for Betsy, but I didn't finish it until last night. I just did rows of seed stitch and tried a few drop stitch patterns and a few others I can't remember, did Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off - which works extREMEly well for this kind of scarf - and then proceeded to block with the steam iron. The result was not half bad if I do say so myself.

I also finished the baby blanket for that friend of mine started by the mother of a choir friend (Donna) prior to Donna's mom's death in mid-December. I will post a couple of pictures here just to show you the kind of crocheting was needed. I finally figured that you have to COUNT to make sure you don't keep adding or subtracting to your edges (DUH!). After a few rip backs, it finally started to look decent. A couple rows of single crochet around the edges and it finished OK, although probably not as long as it should have been. But I did use up the yarn, so I don't feel too badly about that - and if this snow lets up, I'll have it for the baby to use before she goes to her prom! (Please don't look too closely - it's clear Mrs. D's gauge and mine were different - she was a far tighter crocheter than I will ever be, bless her precise heart! Now I know where Donna got her organizational ability:)) Seriously, though, it is a good feeling to know that a fellow fiberista has left this world with at least one UFO done:)
Finally, I was able to very quickly finish the owl vest - based upon Owls by Kate Davies. It's funny, I had been knitting a sweater for S for months. I really liked the pattern, but it was what felt like yards of stockinette in a yarn I was not in love with and blunt-ish circular needle. I just hated knitting it. S would constantly ask about her sweater and I would feel sorta kinda bad about it. (Never mind the four things I am procrastinating on for D and M and R!) When it became apparent that the dye lots for the navy blue yarn were not matching, I was done. In contrast, this piece practically knitted itself! The pumpkin yarn was a color I never would knit for myself, but was fun to look at as it evolved. The pattern was terrific (the other pattern was, too, but the combo was a killer), and it kept my interest. For me that is the main thing. Give me colorwork, lace or cables any day over yards of stockinette or garter (sorry, EZ!).
So I finished it - done in 9 days - and only because I worked on the baby blankie from time to time also. Sleeves would have taken another few days, but seriously, this was a fun project and I heartily recommend it.
What makes the deal sweeter is that Ms. Davies is donating all of the proceeds until April 1st to aid for Haiti - and it's only 1.5 British pounds (GBP - Great British Pound?? Used to be Pound sterling??) anyway, that's only about $2.34 in American dollars and a litle more in Canadian dollars (or maybe less now - who knows?). Given that many patterns on ravelry are over $5.00, this one is a steal! I'm just embarrassed that I already had the pattern before she had to offer it for sale for a bunch of reasons. FWIW, I have given to Haitian relief through the purchase of a pattern for sale by a German designer and by one other means I won't mention. Neither amounts were more than drops in the bucket - but if we put our drops together.... and now is the most critical time for the Haitian people to get assistance. Housing, sanitation, and of course health issues abound for the survivors.
As I was typing these words, the Maryland Courts website's InfoLine posted that the Bawlmer County Circuit Court is closing for the next two days! So it looks like I've just gotten a full week off due to snow! A good thing, because were they to open tomorrow, I wouldn't make it. The snow is continuing to inundate us -the wind is worse than it was the first go-round and it looks like it's snowing sideways. Even the birds who graced the tree in the front yard, pecking away at the suet and birdseed put out for them, are hunkered down in some snow-covered bush to take cover!
Yesterday, I celebrated my birthday. I am now officially closer to 60 than to 50 (actually that really happened last year, didn't it?) S baked me a cake from scratch. I confess it was soooo good! And the wine with dinner wasn't too shabby, either. We all watched New Orleans celebrate their win at the SuperBowl. As a "Merliner" lo these 30 years, I must admit the thought of the Indianapolis Colts getting theirs didn't hurt my feelings (oh how petty of me!), but I was especially glad to see the Saints win and "Nola" get another boost to the soul!
Thanks to great technology and electricity, we are all getting along:) and doing different activities - John's watching a great 30-yr anniversary DVD of the French Connection. I'm on the computer typing this and the "girls" are hanging out in the kitchen talking. (B arrived home safely from Safeway as I was typing this.) I've been in touch with friends via phone and internet. Tom and Donna, Alison and Jim, and others have been without electricity and have been freezing. Luckily, they had theirs back on last I heard. Nancy and Rennie, after three days of freezing in a cold house off an unplowed street, spending more time shoveling than I'm sure they care to remember, finally (as their electricity came back) were able to take out their car and drive to the nearest hotel where they are now (thanks be to God) warm, clean and well fed. Our three who don't live at home are hunkered down in their homes (at least their families are - have not yet heard from my 911 daughter). So we still have a great deal for which to be thankful. Even the Columbia Sip 'n Knit is going to have a chat on Ravelry during what would have been our usual Wednesday night meeting time!
Well, I'm going to see if I can start a new project or work on one I've wanted to work on for a while. I may start two: the Snowdrop socks - latest in the Six-Sox KAL on Yahoo - and restart No. 17002 from Dale of Norway's Best of Tuir. I realized that I needed to alternate my steek stitches when using two colors (OY!). That's OK, now I know what to do and I'm psyched about restarting it. I'm using that sock yarn I posted at the top of my last post:)
Best to all of you dear readers, until next time, God be with you 'til we meet again!
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