Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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January 11-12 Storm Complete
Well there’s tiny little flakes here and there, or perhaps it’s just other snow blowing. There sure is enough of it! However, it appears the storm is OVER!
As it was winding down I took these pictures:
It’s a little hard to tell but there is a car just about buried across the street in the first picture.
Now, about 24 hours after the pre-storm pictures we have this:
And the luckiest part of the day…
Having the plows clear a spot for the car I have (borrowed for a week) that I paid to park in the garage. Had to shovel 0%, which my already painful back appreciated.
My real accomplishments today:
- Drinking tea and cocoa and having cookies
- Watching The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and Return to Me
- Knitting a whole bunch and am just about finished with the left Druid Mitten. Which, unless is blocks really well will be too small.
First 2011 Nor’Easter: completed.
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Knitting Groove is Back
So yesterday morning I was feeling a bit off and the fella, in full vertigo-recovery-style, helped me get my groove back. I hadn’t knit since before Christmas and was having a hard time getting back into it. After all, there were chores looming everywhere.
He achieved this task by having me walk him to the local sub shop down the street so he could pick up lunch and then from there sent me on my merry way into the square to have lunch and tea and knit.
It was perfect out. The sky is that sunny after snow blue, it was almost 40, and everything was still covered in snow! So lovely!
While out at a favorite local coffee shop I cast on for Trilsea’n. (which you may remember the pattern & failed attempt from this post) I still wasn’t using a solid color, which the fella remarked is part of what makes the cables stand out so much on the original, but I just love this yarn!
So, with Earl Gray tea and a Raspberry Crumble bar (no Lindsor Cookies… perhaps I have to make some) I cast on and knit. I knit and knit. Then I picked up groceries, came home and knit. We watched tv and I knit. I flagrantly decided I didn’t want to cook dinner and I knit. We ate Chinese delivery and watched tv and I knit! (oh that fella, he knows my heart!)
So, this morning, after going to be around 10.30 and not yet having knit I have this!
That’s the left mitt finished and the right cast on. It’s Malabrigo Rios (superwash!) in colorway Primavera (859). It’s muted and muddled and has little bits of all the colors of spring but dulled down by grays and browns. It’s super soft and super squishy and I am in love. I used my Brittany needles (cable too) so I am knitting it larger than the large (I’m using 7’s) but I do have very large hands and I think they are perfect.
It’s true, a plain color would let the cables stand apart more, but I am happy with this. Perhaps if I do another pair, or a pair with more cables, I will use solid.
For now, I have another mitt to knit today! Then I really should get back to the afghan, the hat of doom, or figure out what to make to replace the too-small mitts I made my sister a couple years ago. I’m also supposed to be on a knit along to finish my Jared Flood Druid Mittens with my friend Missy. Now that I’m back in the knitting groove hopefully I’ll get my act in gear. Doubt I’ll be done by Saturday thought!
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As promised
Some pictures.
In my allergic to beer better become a cider connoisseur fall studies I started taking notes on different ciders I tried and even took a couple pictures. I haven’t documented Wood Chuck (too sweet), Original Sin (nice and tart), or Magners (nice, pink, can only manage 1) but have instead started with larger single bottles.
J. K. Scrumpy’s Farmhouse Cider
1. All cider tasted better in a kntting pint glass. (Same may apply to a Prancing Pony or Green Dragon pint glass. Not tested.)
2. Pretty enjoyable cider. Sweet, tiny bubbles, good flavor, complex after taste. Genesneaky rating: 6 of 10.
I didn’t take a picture of the next one… sorry. Farnum Hill Farmhouse Cider (they have many varieties and so far I like them all). Dry, not sweet, not tart. refreshing. Genesneaky rating: 8 of 10.
Finally, I took some pictures of my finished Flora hat that I mentioned. It is not perfect, but for my first big stranding project (that I knit twice!) I am very pleased.
I’ll leave you with a shot of the afghan on Nov 14th. Not going to be done for Christmas, but now I have < 3 pattern repeats before I need to figure out how to pick up the edge. I also have a whole week off next week. Mua ha ha!
