Small Talk

 

Guess where we've been for the past two days? MIL was not available for sitting so off we went again this week. There was a lot of little car action. 

Baby Grand showed a talent for coloring. We made Valentines.

While Baby Grand was napping we got out Big Grands new art set. He likes to draw tall buildings. When I was in college working on an art degree I used to sit in on the architecture school's classes. I like to draw tall buildings too. 

Betty went along for the ride again so I could keep her fed but before we left I turned some of her into a small boule. Big Grand's a big fan but we had to laugh at the crazy Mohawk this one ended up with. 

Betty always enjoys her visit. So much so that when we got home I didn't have the heart to discard her extremely active extra so instead of collapsing with exhaustion, I ended up giving the overnight recipe another try. It exploded the first time but made the best loaf yet. I'm hoping for less explosion this time but if that's what it takes to get a good loaf-I'm in. 

Wednesday WIPs

 

Slowly but surely The Mister's Riddari is heading to the finish line. The rounds are getting mercifully shorter. The green yoke might surprise you. I let The Mister be in control of the colors and sizing and this is what he wanted. He wanted extra long arms and something colorful. I think he nailed it. 

I have the thumb to knit on the last Holm mitten. The rainbow Glennis Cowl is in her purple era although it's hard to see in this photo. 

The two pairs of socks I have on the needles haven't changed much but I have a few more rows on what I am calling my "back room knits". These two projects live in the sunny sewing room and when I need a quiet moment I head back there with an audio book. The Winter Doodle cowl is close to having its first chart completed and I am very pleased that I managed to pick up and cast on square number 2 of the Hue Shift Afghan. It did take me two tries. I have to say that the striped squares are a lot  more fun to work on than the solid ones. When I get Riddari off the needles I can see this project taking up a space in the living area for some daily attention. It's quite addicting. 

TNT: Getting It Done

 

Christmas Quaker is still hanging around. I'm almost finished that snowflake and then it's going to be packed up.

I have a dedicated February project that I started a few years ago and it's been sitting here waiting its turn since January.

I'm seven rows in on the camel and it's not looking too shabby. That's a surprise. 

I finished the top border of Funky Flower. I never thought I would be a needlepoint fan but I am. 

I'm working on the 5th block of the Patchwork quilt. 

I was on such a roll yesterday that I even got back to work on Dear Jane. A little sunshine and a bit of fresh air makes all the difference. Now if we can only get the thermometer back up into the 30's I'd be happy.

Hearts and Flowers

 

Happy Groundhog's Day! By now we know if it saw its shadow or not. As I write this I'm hoping not because I'm seriously over this winter. I spent yesterday packing up the snowmen decor and taking out the Valentine's Day linens. The poor snowman rug didn't get much attention. January flew by and when I did have time to work on it, the last thing I wanted to think about was snow or whatever that frozen stuff out there might be.

Out came the hearts and flowers. The place is a sea of red and pinks from the door wreath to the kitchen towels. My February rug project just might get another flower this month. Maybe. The spirit hasn't been moving me lately. I've got Cabin Fever and SAD on top of just getting over a cold so the only thing I really want to do is hibernate until spring. 

I even tried perking myself up with a bin of rainbow colored yarn.

It's the Hue Shift Afghan kit that I've had for ages. I've never made a mitered square before so I thought using up some brain energy on something new might get me through the rest of this miserable cold weather. After finishing my first square I came to the realization that knitting this in sport weight was not the best idea. It's going to take me forever. 

Out and About

 

Happy February! What a winter it's been so far. Since cabin fever is setting in and since we can finally walk up the driveway again, I decided to get out of the house for a while yesterday. There wasn't much to do because the world still looks like this everywhere. That's ice not snow. You can't walk on it at all we discovered. You can't really walk anywhere to Pup's dismay.

It looks like the city workers got half of the big Christmas tree taken down and then said the heck with it. I don't blame them. It was 18 degrees with a stiff wind down by the water. 

The bay has not frozen but the ice was very pretty shining in the sun up on the rocks. 

The new library had some spectacular icicles. It looks like the upper deck has a water issue that needs fixing. 

We took a ride across town to the big grocery store so I could pick up some fresh vegetables. There were piles of dirty snow and ice everywhere you looked.

And for those of you following the Betty Saga, here is her latest loaf. I made a new-to-me overnight recipe that exploded on the counter. What a mess it was in the morning. I fought to shape it and then put it in the refrigerator for a 12 hour cold proofing thinking it was ruined. It turned out to be my best loaf yet. I just might have learned to like sourdough because this one was delicious. Every time I walk past it I have to have a piece. 

Friends in High Places

 

The Mister and SIL run a football pool that includes lots of folks The Mister schmoozes with on his daily travels. That includes a couple of city workers and one of them, who always forgets to put in his weekly picks without a Saturday night reminder from The Mister, is in charge of the city snow plowing. Yesterday afternoon he called when he was on the way home to see if we needed any help since he had his own personal equipment on his truck. The Mister was in seventh heaven after getting a wide path plowed down the driveway. We can't drive the car down yet but we can at least walk up it now-carefully.

Speaking of friends, Brown Betty and Betty White have a little friend. I've been keeping their discards in a big jar in the fridge and for the first time ever I resurrected a bit of it in a small jar. Not only did it come back to life, it came back with such vigor that it made lots of lovely bubbles on the sides of the jar which is something that the big Bettys haven't done yet. What this means is that I don't have to keep up the feeding schedule anymore. I can put all the Bettys in time out and just feed them when I want to bake. I can do this but I won't. I'm not ready to end my science experiment any time soon. The kitchen would seem like a lonely place without Betty to fool around with. 

Still Digging

 

I ventured out for a few minutes yesterday to see what was up out there. It's insane. All that snow that is now covered in ice is crazy. I've been through an actual catastrophic ice storm and what's underfoot now is worse than that was by far. 

I'd be fine just sitting here waiting it out but I live with....him. As soon as his eyes open in the morning he's fretting and fuming about it. He's driving me crazy. I remember now why I recall that ice storm more fondly than this. The Mister was stuck at work for most of it. I was here alone with the kids for several days and even without power, we got along just fine.

The day after the storm he took his wood maul and crushed a path up our steep driveway so he could at least get up to the car and get out of here for a bit. He's been going down to the local market everyday to pick up an item or two. Getting stuff down that ice skating rink is harder than getting it up there. I've been grateful for the few minutes of peace and quiet I get while he's gone. 

This is the kind of stuff I have to deal with when he's here. That's my heat gun. He wanted to see if it would melt some of the ice that's up against the doors. It didn't. Then there were pots of boiling water that just made more ice. I swear I'm going to be featured on Dateline if this ice doesn't melt soon. 

What have I been doing while he's ranting at the ice? A little of this. A very little. 

I don't know what's going on with my sinuses but when I try to look down at projects my head feels pretty bad. Terrible pressure. I dug out my old cold mist humidifier yesterday in hope of getting some relief. It looks like it's close to the loom in this photo but it's not. I wouldn't do that to her but I'm sure she's enjoying this bit of humidity. Everything is dry as a bone with enough static electricity to kill a small mammal. You should see my hair.