Spring!

I have still not managed to make my iPad talk to my computer about photos. I've started to use my camera instead. THAT syncs nicely by putting the card into my computer. Poof, photos. Weather is still an amazing thing around here. We went from blizzard with roads closed on the 15th, to sunny and bike rides in short sleeves on the 22nd. My blood is thinning already, and 55 seems cool. Last week, it was warm.

Some pretty photos from the snowy weekend ...  The bird feeders were VERY popular with our feathered friends, and I simply do not have the skills to do them justice.  There was an incredible variety of birds at the feeders, including a Fox Sparrow couple and a bird I have yet to identify -- somewhat like a Worm-eating Warbler, but the size of a chickadee. 

Three cardinals

Filius' Car

Shoveling the Driveway

Minnesotans in rural communities usually have connections to the farms in the area.  And when one has farm toys to play with ... why use a hand shovel?  Our neighbor's driveway -- make that neighbors' driveways -- are usually cleared with something akin to this, or a Bobcat with a plow attachment, or a John Deere tractor with a snowblower/plow set-up.  The others use snowblowers.  Our snowblower hasn't been cooperative of late, so we tend to get our exercise clearing the driveway.

With the passing of winter and the onset of spring, it's time for spring yardwork.  Willow trees shed, and for the next few weeks we'll spend some time each week raking up sticks from under it, putting them in our collection of trash cans, hauling them to the town compost on Saturday, and repeating the procedure.  Yesterday we cleared the garden bed immediately under the willow tree and have 150+ gallons of sticks to dump, plus some piles ready to put into the cans when they become available.  There are Lily of the Valley, tulips, columbine, daffodils, and irises peeking up already.  Bleeding heart, hostas, and the crocus have yet to make their appearance known.

Lupine

Next to the house, some Lupine is definitely anxious to see some sunlight. I removed the white collar from around the plant clump so it'd have space to spread out -- then remembered that the rabbits and chipmunks LOVE Lupine, so I replaced it around one plant.  It'll be fun to see where the Lupine has spread to this year.  My mint has some teensy leaves, and the oregano was more than ready to be uncovered from it's blanket of leaves and gravel from the plows.  (Snow plows, that is.)



A few weeks ago, I came across Tea Eggs on the internet.  Anything with 'tea' in it catches my attention, so I looked into it further and decided to make up a batch.  They're easy, and definitely turn hard-boiled eggs into a conversation piece.  I like the inside of the shell better than the egg itself for appearance.  The appearance changes more than the taste -- but I may still make them again.  

Chinese Tea Eggs

And I've actual knitting content!  Here's the blocked shawl from last week's blog entry.  Canis helped me block it by laying down on it.  ARGH! 

A Hap for Harriet

I'm now working on the sample knit I spoke of last week, but just have to share the chiastic structure which happened to my knitting last week.  I was offered a sample knit (A), and accepted it, and the yarn was put into the mail.  The next day, I was offered another sample knit (B), and accepted it, and the yarn was put into the mail.  And I said to myself, "I'll probably hear from C tomorrow with some knitting work."  C was early, and the e-mail popped into my inbox 3 hours shy of the next day.  C's knitting work was electronic, so I got started on it the next morning, and finished it up the day the yarn for B arrived.  Project B was in the final rows when the yarn for Project C arrived.    A B C C B A.  Chiasm!  Or in computer-speak, LIFO.  Last in, first out.

As if I don't have enough knitting going on, my friend Beth's Patreon posts this months have been about Danish Nattrøjer, and I am itching to knit one or more at a delightfully fine gauge.   (Counterpane, Carolyn.  You're knitting a COUNTERPANE!!!)  So I ordered some yarn for swatching, and some smaller-diameter needles for use with my knitting belt.  Fun fun fun!

Oh, I know!  In the past, I've had a yearly theme to my knitting -- The Year of the Sock, The Year of the Mitten...  I should do a The Year of Beth's Patreon!  Whatever she posts about in one month, I can knit up the next.  That would be so fun.  AFTER the counterpane is done.

Maybe. 

More April snows

The projected winter storm hit as projected, and was significant enough to get elevated to Blizzard status and cancel church services.  Unhappily for my sugar consumption, I'd made treats for our fellowship time after church and had an abundance of salted nut bars and chocolate molasses chews.  Willpower for opened treats in the house is not my strong suit.  Some yet survive in the freezer, though!

I took before/during/after pictures of our weather, and my tablet is refusing to upload them.  I'm giving myself 30 minutes to work on the upload, and you will know I was successful if this post has weekend photos in it. 

Today's winter storm got downgraded to a winter weather advisory.  School districts less than 30 miles from us are either closed or closing shortly, so I wouldn't be suprised if it got upgraded to a storm again.  It's currently snowing at a calm, deliberate pace.  And Filia is at work, 17 miles of country roads away.

So much for Minnesota weather.

In other news, I'm plotting to abandon Facebook and use a simpler platform called MeWe that has the delightful features of letting me choose what I want to see and in which order, and also no ads.  The only drawback is that lots of my friends aren't there yet.

Knitting-wise, I'm back to the counterpane.  A Hap for Harriet is completed and blocking behind me.  A sample knit is in the mail to me.  I've a pattern proposal to submit, and some new yarns to figure out what to do with.  Plenty of activity there, in other words.

New Felted Clogs

A Hap for Me, In Progress

Gardening isn't going so well.  Last April, I was busily cracking my shin on a wheelchair, bike riding, cleaning the yard, making nettle soup, and other such outdoor activities.  This April, the nettles aren't even up yet and cleaning the yard has involved shoveling snow.  I am debating whether to repot my tomatoes, or not.  Vir's tobacco seedlings haven't, with one exception, bothered to emerge from the soil yet.  My decision to direct-seed kale may not have been a good one.  The seeds aren't in the ground yet, at least!  But warmer weather is in the forecast, so perhaps there will be time to garden before the first frost.  To give you an idea -- to qualify for crop insurance in MN, corn can be planted no earlier than April 11th, and soybeans by April 21st.  It's the 18th.  Farm tractors still have snowplows attached to them, not plows, harrows, and seeders.  Fieldwork does not usually include bulldozing the snow off the field.  And oh, it's going to be muddy when the thaw hits.

Morning, April 13th

Morning, April 14th.

Morning, April 15th

Between the April Snows

We're having a fun April.  I left Minnesota last Tuesday in the midst of a winter storm, arrived home the day before several inches of snow fell, and a winter storm is supposed to hit this weekend.  After an inch of rain.  Meanwhile, my tomatoes and other seedlings survived my absence and are looking lovely.  Except for the 6 peppers which haven't bothered to sprout yet. 

There's not much photographic evidence that I took a trip to Dallas.  I thought about making sure that I had photos of me and all the people whom I now have more than a virtual acquaintance with ... and decided against it.  I didn't want to focus on orchestrating photos -- so I didn't!  Other people have that gene, and I was part of at least 2 group photos, one of which is on Ravlery.  That leaves you with the following assortment

The Airplane.  A Study in White

The Mustangs of Las Colinas

The Intriguing Dishcloth

Trust a knitter to get a picture of a variation of Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth, and totally skip getting a picture of her hostess!  Regardless, I had a delightful time.  I saw Cheryl for the first time in a decade or more, met all my co-workers at Dallas Afterschool, spent time with a wonderful assortment of knitters, including several Master Hand Knitting Committee members I'd not met before, and had a bit of time for knitting around the edges.  (My traveling knitting ended up being the counterpane AND a scarf.  Good things, too.  The scarf was in a splitty gray yarn and made for Very Bad Airplane Knitting, so I worked on the counterpane ... until the cable separated a bit from the needle (on a fixed circular), when I switched back to the scarf, until the vendor hall opened on Friday ...  three more squares done, and I'm about halfway through the scarf now. 

It was a delightful trip. 

Maundy Thursday

I'm really terrible about writing a marketable blog post, paying careful attention to titles and tags and photos and first lines -- but if you've read more than two posts of mine, you knew that already.

One test knit is completed and mailed off; the second ought to get finished tonight, blocked tomorrow, dried on Saturday, and mailed off on Monday. On Tuesday, I'm going to need some traveling knitting, and I am dithering about what I ought to start.  The Counterpane is a great standby project -- but white cotton on a cone is not an ideal traveling companion.  If I keep dithering, though, maybe that's what I'll end up with. Socks are a possibility, but I don't have enough of any one color in my stash to make a hard-wearing pair (and that counts using a contrasting color for tops, toes, and heels.  Tune in two weeks from now to find out what I ended up with.

Since it's verboten to publish pictures of test knits ahead of their time, here's a photo of "Minnesota Morning Sunshine on Hard Water Deposits from Tea Kettle."

Minnesota Morning Sunshine on Hard Water Deposits from Tea Kettle

I'm pleased to say I'm doing a MUCH better job using my tea in a timely fashion than I used to do.  This morning I used up the last of the black tea in the house, leaving me with my Sunday Puer Mini-Tuo Cha, a few tablespoons of a herbal blend, and a jar or two of mint leaves from last summer.  Well, not the LAST of the black tea in the house ... but the last of the black tea that had been in the house the previous morning.  I visited our local tea shop yesterday and came home with a nice stash.

Spring does seem to be happening outside.  We had a delightful lot of snow just after my last blog post, but the sidewalks are already clear (even the ones we didn't shovel) and the remaining snow piles are merrily melting. My tomatoes are putting out their first sets of true leaves, and all my peppers except for 6 California Wonders and one Jalapeno are up.  I hope they survive my travels.

Vanity Fair ended much sooner than I thought it did.  I think that means the book was much more coherent the second time through, and I could follow who was who, and doing what where.  I cast about for another audiobook (being in the midst of test knits) and thought that perhaps I could use Thackeray as my 'read 3 books by the same author' author.  After a VERY slow start (which I will probably find not so slow if ever I listen to the book again), I am now enjoying The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne.  And after that shall come The Virginians.  For my paper book reading, I WAS working on Timothy Keller's book on prayer. Upon reaching the chapter where he looks at what Augustine, Luther, and Calvin said on prayer, I quickly detoured myself to  read Letter 130, "the only writing wholly devoted to the subject of prayer which he (Augustine) produced."  The sentences are not easy, but the words are ... and I'm thinking how fun it would be to work through the letter in Latin.  I do great with bunny trails.

My new harp has developed an annoying buzz from the sharping lever on the E above middle C, and the little wrench I have to tighten the screw simply does not get enough purchase on the offending loose screw to fix it.  Happily, most songs don't call for lever changes from E-flat to E, or E to E-sharp in the middle of a song, so I simply tune the string as needed.  That fixes the buzz, but it doesn't fix the... woof?  twang?  bark? of the adjacent F which is more pronounced with the sharping lever on.  A trip back to the maker may be in order one of these days.

A test knit calls.  Until April!

Another week flies by

I'm up to 21 squares completed on the counterpane. With the advent of two test knits, a forthcoming traveling project, and travel to Dallas just around the corner, that number may not go up much for a while.  Happily, so long as I knit 3 more squares this year, I've met my goal for the year.

Filia had an outpatient procedure with anesthesia done on Friday.  I took the counterpane along as my project to work on in the waiting room. I've learned that I get very little done in pre-op, and nothing in post-op, so my plan was to start seaming squares.  I did, and also managed to get red popsicle drippings on the counterpane in post-op.  Argh.  At least it's white, and there are such things as bleach pens. 

Spring is around the corner (but snow is in the forecast for tonight)/  I've got little Jiffy Pellet Pots sitting on top of the pellet stove (how appropriate!) with parsley, thyme, tomato, and pepper seeds.  The peppers will take their sweet time in sprouting, but everything else has jumped above-ground.  The parsley was helped by hanging out in a damp paper towel for a week or two before I put it in the ground.  My new garden plant for the year is going to be the humble Turnip.  And Vir discovered that the Calendula I planted last year, and dried petals from, is also called a Marigold, and that he has been buying pills that contain calendula extract .... so I think the bunnies and Vir are going to be competing to eat the flowers this year.  Vir reaches over the fences better.

The end of last week saw as many editing hours as I could squeeze in, and this morning had even more edits calling for my attention.  I think I'm done for a while, until summer comes and it's time to switch hats and start editing curriculum.  Time will tell.

Progress on Vanity Fair is going slowly.  Now that I've two test knits, I expect it will pick up, once I can wrest myself away from the computer and spend some time with them.  With the warmer weather, walks will also be competing for my attention.  I think I saw two Pileated Woodpeckers on yesterday's walk!  Canis loves walks, but his back legs don't always like walking (or holding him up, for that matter).  I'm hoping a wee bit that regular exercise will help, but the truth is he's getting to be an old dog with some neurodegenerative stuff going on, and exercise doesn't reverse the clock.  It sure gives him lots of good smells to check out, though!

The tea kettle is again shedding nice thick flakes of hard water, making it 6 weeks for things to build up to the proper 'shedding' thickness.  One flake this afternoon was shaped rather like Australia -- 3" across by 1.5" tall, until I dropped it in the sink and it cracked, making Queensland, NWS, and Victoria their own island. 

More winter

Several years ago, when Bible Study was on Tuesday evenings, the general weather pattern was "If it's Tuesday, we're under a tornado watch."  This year it's "If it's Monday, there's a winter storm."  Around half of our studies this year have been postponed due to weather.  But we're in March now, and March storms have lots of accumulation (since the snow is fluffy, as a rule, rather than small crystalline structures that sting) which melts quickly.  Theoretically.  Monday's storm was more slush than fluffy, and Tuesday's drive to the Cities was an interesting trek.  Not white-knuckled, thankfully, but definitely affected by the road conditions, or lack thereof. 

Knitting.  It's been counterpane, counterpane, and more counterpane.  I'm at 19 squares today, and will start #20 in a bit.  I need to figure out what I'm going to knit in Dallas next month, since white cotton on a cone makes for bad traveling knitting.  Filius has been wearing a vest I designed back in 2012 or so, and I'm going to get the pattern hashed out in multiple sizes to submit somewhere.  And I came across a lovely gansey for him in some of my editing work, so I'll need to order some yarn for that.  But near-black is not good traveling knitting, either.  I think it'll be socks or a scarf. 

Editing.  I'm in a lull between edits at the moment.  Perfect for spending some time developing a template for patterns from Carolyn Vance Designs.  Except I'd rather find something to dust.  Maybe clean the caster wheels under the piano?  Surely they need cleaning.  One of my goals for this year is to self-publish 6 patterns.  If I spend an hour a week on the template, it'll get done and then I can move on to picking a pattern to stick in the template, and then pop it up on Ravelry.  I just have to quit procrastinating. (Is 'quit procrastinating' a separate to-do list item from 'work on template'?)  I think I'll give myself a pep talk about it while working on the counterpane. 

I finished reading Liturgy of the Ordinary, by Tish Harrison Warren, this week.  It's a fairly easy read (unlike Out of the Ashes), but full of good things to think about.  I hope to come back to it in a year or two after some thoughts have marinated.  My next book will be Tim Keller's book on Prayer, by my mom has to finish it first.  Vanity Fair on audiobook is moving along nicely. 

The pellet stove is behaving itself nicely.  It doesn't keep the downstairs as warm as the hot-water-in-the-radiators does, but it much cozier for gathering around.  The blower doesn't SOUND that loud - but I've have to double the volume on the audiobook to hear it over the blower.  I love the sound of silence when the stove is off.    

Until next week...

In which the Pellet Stove is again functional

My last post ended on a note of hopefulness that was not to be.  Despite repeated applications of PB Blaster, and the purchase of a vise, and much prying and pounding and the best attempts of anyone who wanted to give it a shot, the auger and auger motor are still stuck together. So - given that we were not sure if the motor would have survived the separation attempts - we ordered a shiny new auger and guaranteed-to-still-work new motor. 

The items arrived promptly (Thanks, Vicky!) and once I got some caulk for the hopper (since I'd had to remove the hopper to get the auger out), I was all set to put things back together.  Filius and Filia chipped in with assistance, and things got put back together.  I turned the stove on and the motor worked, and the auger turned, and ... the auger was a lot harder to turn than it was when last it worked, and the motor didn't behave quite the same as it did when last it worked.  Had I forgotten to add some lubricant somewhere that needed it?  I emailed the stove tech help line and got a prompt answer:  No. 

And so, I added some pellets and started up the stove.  After a few weeks of silence, hearing the hum of the motor was odd.  But it WORKED!  And although the room blower didn't kick on, another email to the tech help line resulted in a troubleshooting step which solved the problem (THAT's what those two wires are for!) and we've  got a functional stove once again. 

The test knits had to dry on their own, though. They were delightfully fuzzy and a total change from my cotton counterpane yarn.  I might need to design a shrug or cowl or something with the same yarn -- it would be like wearing a cozy insulating cloud, minus the damp clamminess.  If the cowl was dry.  If it was damp and clammy, then it would be JUST like wearing a cloud.

I've two pairs of glove and a pair of mittens in my mending pile.  All of them have holes in the thumb, and all the holes arrived within 24 hours of each other.  They belong to three different people.  What are the odds of that?  (And they were made and/or last mended in three different years, I think.) 

This week has held editing and lots of harp playing for me.  And a bit of knitting.

Also, some Sudoku problem-solving.  My mom gives me a page-a-day Sudoku calendar, and I keep up with it throughout the year.  She came across one which stumped her, and popped it (in black) onto a nifty dry-erase Sudoku board she has.  I tackled it (in blue) and came up with the sticking point, which was solved by the X-Wing method.  I snapped a picture of it after erasing some of the 2s which the X-Wing showed to be impossible, and circled the 5 which I was able to place as a result of the extraneous deletions.  And from there, the puzzle behaved itself.

The Plague Strikes (and other sundry matters)

By and large, we're a pretty healthy family. If kidney stones are crossed off from the list of Things Requiring Medical Attention NOW, I think we'd have to go back into pre-blog history for a time that illness necessitated a trip to the doctor.  And that week, Filia had bronchitis, my mom had bronchitis, two had bronchitis, and the rest of us just had a cough that was taking 6+ weeks to depart. 

So, when Filius commented on Monday that he wasn't feeling well, it was time to mention hydration and lots of rest.  By the end of Tuesday, he was feeling better, but still possessed of a cough and no energy.  I should have mentioned a home remedy (because I'm the only one that likes them, but the mere MENTION of them helps everyone else feel MUCH better. No thanks, mom -- I feel better already!) but I didn't.  And this morning, he's feeling better yet - and has a temp 5 degrees lower than yesterday.  I wonder if anyone else will succumb? 

The counterpane is moving along nicely.  I'm up to 12 completed squares, and am half done with the next.  To balance out my cotton knitting, I have some alpaca and wool on the way for a few test knits. 

Friday - after I wrote Friday's blog post - I got an e-mail saying my harp was ready for pick-up.  Happy dance!!!  Saturday, Filius (before the plague) chauffered me out to Red Wing and we packed my new harp into the van.  We are getting along together wonderfully, and I am looking forward to playing in church on Sunday.

My book-reading seems to ebb and flow, just like the rest of life.  Currently, it's flowing.  I'm working on Gabe Lyons' The Next Christian (which my mom just finished) and will dive into Liturgy of the Ordinary after that (once mom finishes it.  Isn't there something wrong when one adds a book to one's mom's book order, and she starts reading it before even telling you that it arrived?).  And then comes a book by Tim Keller on Prayer, which was in the same order and which mom will probably snag before me as well.  The current audiobook is Vanity Fair.  It should last me through quite a few Counterpane blocks. 

The auger on our pellet stove jammed, the very day the furnace was to be cleaned so we could use it for a secondary heat source with confidence.  What lovely timing!  (Except, the furnace guy didn't come, and we ended up getting it cleaned a few days later.)  Vir and I dismantled the pellet stove, and the auger and motor are still firmly stuck together, but sitting on the kitchen counter surrounded by Eau d' PB Blaster (which is like Liquid Wrench, but not helping).  I hope we can get the parts apart, and then put everything back together, in time to have the stove up and running for drying test knits later next week!

Hard Water

In our town, we have hard water.  I'm told it's not your run-of-the-mill hard water, or even your average very hard water (over 10 grains), but that  it's in the 'over 40 grains' category. I amuse myself by thinking this means I actually DO make dehydrated water in my amazing tea kettle.

Flakes of water

My tea kettle is amazing in that, unlike others that I have owned, this one comes close to being self-cleaning.  The hard water deposits build up for a week or so, and then, marvelously and amazingly, the kettle sheds them.  I'll be boiling water, and hear some popping noises come from the kettle, and voila ... flakes of deposit have sprung free from the bottom of the kettle.  The largest one in the photo above is over 4 cms in each direction.  Except for thickness.  Previous tea kettles have needed scrubbing and soaking in vinegar and a bit of chipping to remove the build-up. Over time, that results in tea kettles needing to be retired because of holes in the bottom.  

I have some actual knitting content this week!  One of my recent projects was a pair of gloves. Now, I'm a mitten knitter, and mitten-wearer.  I had a pair of Isotoner gloves eons ago which I used before I became a Serious Knitter, but really ... mittens are such a gorgeous canvas on which to create designs, why make gloves?  All those fingers, and differing finger lengths, and ... 

Then along came a test knit for a pair of gloves several years ago.  I knew I could do it, and didn't have another project in the wings, so I accepted it and quickly knit up Anu's Gloves as a practice 'how does this glove thing work, anyway' sample.  Then I knit up the test knit, sent off the gloves, and didn't pay any more attention to them for several years.  Except to note that really, they DID look nice in the professional photos.  So I decided to play with lovely, skinny yarn and knit up a pair of Sanquhar gloves from a free pattern.

They were surprisingly easy to knit, and gorgeous, and I let them marinate in my stash of finished knitted items for YEARS before I decided that, despite how lovely they were, I should still use them.  And suddenly, I became a glove-wearer.  And a glove-knitter.  It took several pairs of gloves, but I no longer have to give myself a serious pep talk before beginning a pair.  I'm always surprised at how FAST single-color gloves knit up.  Stranded gloves at 12 sts/" take a bit longer, but they're so lovely!

Checking for fit

Admiring the design

Sometimes, when one is knitting merrily away, one misses a mistake -- like, having a red square where a white square belongs, and vice versa.  I discovered a mistake in the second glove when I tried it on as I was about to start the fingers.  The mistake needed fixing, and I *thought* I could do it by laddering down over the 22-st section and reknitting the blocks in the correct order.

While I thought about it, I knit two fingers.  If my repair attempt didn't pass muster, I'd have to rip them out as well to get back to the top of the thumb gusset, but, oh well.  I didn't want to rush into things. 

I'd seen a photo of a tortuous lace repair in which the strands of yarn were pinned out in a lovely arc, and thought that might come in handy for keeping track of which two strands of yarn went together, and in what order they should be used.  This was a lifesaver.  32 pre-knit strands of yarn floating around randomly tangling would have been a nightmare.

Halfway there in the reknit!

One by one, I reknit the rows, then un-reknit them after noticing the white stitch at the left edge of my repair which had not laddered down with its fellows, and re-reknit.

And then it was time for another pot of tea.

A Counterpane Post

The Counterpane Square tally stands at 8 completed, and #9 was more than half-done when the yarn for a test knit arrived. I'll be finishing that off tonight, and can then resume working with cotton carpet warp.

After I finished #8, I made a pretty little stack of the four squares you see above and noticed that #7 had a definite blush to one corner of it.  I think what happened is that I'd not totally scrubbed the red dye off my hands from a previous knit, and the yarn got colored as it passed through my fingers.  I've soaked and washed the square a few times, and the pink is next to invisible now.  Hooray!  It's also much whiter than the other squares.  I should have expected that -- the yarn was made who knows how many years ago, and is on its third owner.

One of my blog readers asked me what my most-used needles and yarns were.  Hands-down, size 2.75mm needles are my most-used, when left to my own devices.  They're my go-to sock needle, to the point that when I was doing a year of socks, I wore out a few sets of birch needles before putting some Signature dpns on my Christmas list.  2.75mm needles + fingering yarn = happy me.  I could easily use nothing but that size for the rest of my life and not run out of things to knit.  They're perfect for socks, and if I jump up to 14" dpns and Frangipani Gansey yarn, perfect for ganseys.  Although the Frangipani is a bit rough on the hands, it wears like iron and I wouldn't mind having a lifetime supply of it tucked away somewhere.  The Counterpane is being worked on 3.00mm needles -- just a wee bit bigger, for a nicer drape to the square.  They'll be my most-used needle until I finish the project!

I'm also a fan of Shetland Lace. Fleegle's Gossamer Web Etsy store is dangerous for those who like tiny yarns.  I've only worked with Phoenix (52/2) but have made a square shawl and a nice long stole from it, on size 0 needles if I remember aright.

For colorwork, I love Jamieson and Smith yarns, but have only worked with them once.  For Latvian mittens, something a bit finer is better.  Well, better if one is aiming at 15+ stitches to the inch.  The finer the gauge, the more time I can spend knitting and the less time planning the project!  (In retrospect, that sentence isn't exactly clear.  As the stitches get smaller, the amount of time required to knit a given project increases, while the planning time stays about the same or increases just a bit.) 

After the storm

We had a wee bit of a blizzard come through on Monday.  I've got a one-minute video of the snow falling, but it's too big to upload and I have no idea how to make it smaller.  Trimming it with Movie Maker results in a file type Blogger can't use, alas.  I do have some still shots of 'looking at a window', however.  It was much prettier in real life, trust me.  

We ended up with around a foot of heavy snow -- sufficient snow that most schools were closed on Tuesday as well, to allow time for the roads and parking lots to be cleared. Filia was able to reschedule some things at work so she could stay home; other employees got in early before the accumulations hit and just planned to spend the night.  Vir left earlier than usual on Monday to get where he needed to be before too much of the blizzard had happened, and landed at Ground Zero for accumulation in Minnesota -- 17".  In a white Chevy Spark, which almost looks like a snowdrift to begin with.  He made it home safely, with stories to tell.  

But the fun story this week has to do with a message I received on Friday.

Oddly enough, my harp was just a few feet away from me when I got this message.  But -- I was looking for a harp with a few more bass strings.  So I immediately became all ears (eyes) and we spent the next half-hour or so in discussion.  The next day, Filia and I went on a road trip to check out my harp.

And before we left the shop, I had a new harp.  Or rather, the shop had my new harp.  The harp was so new, it had only been wearing strings for a day.  And new harp strings need tuning (and tuning, and tuning....)  The harp is going to stay at the shop a while, getting tuned, getting sharping levers added, and a few other final touches, and then I'll bring it home, sometime when we're not having a blizzard.  

Filius learned to drive a manual transmission earlier this month (which is very good, since the car he bought was a manual transmission) and driving out and back would be good practice.  But -- will my new harp fit in his car?  (Imagine how silly it would be to drive for 2+ hours to get a harp, and not be able to get the harp.)  I brought my new harp's case home, the better to see how it will fit, or not, in the back seat.  It also makes for a nice size comparison.  29-string Logan Meadows, bag for 34-string Marion.  And me.  (My apologies for the lack of readable book titles in the bookcase photo.)

 I've finished up the test knit I was working on last week, and am working on the counterpane while awaiting yarn for the next knit.  Seven squares down, 73 to go!

It's been a little bit on the cool side

My knitting chair is right next to a window.  In the afternoons, and in the summer, it's delightful to have natural light for knitting by. My Ott light, a gift from my mom when I was about to knit a black sweater, is on the other side of my knitting chair.  It's seemed a bit cool lately, and I thought I'd stick a thermometer on the windowsill ('in') with the external sensor next to my feet ('out') to see if this coolness was all in my head.

 

Perhaps it's not in my head after all!  Cold temps outside (and in) aren't all bad, though.  You know how, after making a batch of stock, you're supposed to let it cool before putting it in the refrigerator?  At this time of year, I can just set it in the back room to cool.  And then notice it's frozen, and leave it there for a week or two until I'm ready to use it for soup.  

 

I have to remember to reinterpret cookbooks at this time of year. "Have ingredients at room temperature" is best understood as "place ingredients on pellet stove for at least an hour."  I made a batch of cookies on Saturday, and the butter re-solidified after I creamed it with the sugar because the flour and molasses weren't pre-heated.  I warmed the whole mixing bowl on the pre-heating oven for around 5 minutes to resolve the problem.  

I got a gift!  I was quite impressed with the gift bag it came in.  It's not quite the right shape for a knitting bag, but I am sure that it will see some use.

This past week's knitting has been of the incognito type. I'm halfway done, though, and will post pictures when I can. 

2017 Temperature Afghan

It's said the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And for me and my mom, this proverb has more than a seed of truth.  For the past two years, Mom has made a temperature afghan from her stash. 

Temperature 2016

The first year, she diligently worked one row for each day, plus a white stripe to divide up the months.  And - because we're detail-oriented people - she also added in some indicators of the precipitation.  The afghan was almost 8 foot long. 

So, for 2017, she changed the rules.  If the temperature stayed in the same color range for 2+ days, she still only added one stripe.  65 degrees for 10 days in a row?  Then one stripe of whatever 65 degrees is.  The afghan came out a lot shorter!

Temperature 2017

She's skipping the Temperature Afghan this year, and plotting out her yarn for a Temperature Scarf for next year.  I'm almost tempted to join her, but I've got this Counterpane thing going on, and since I decided to commit to Counterpane 2022, I've had 4 test knits crop up. 

I love test knits. They're like permission to MAKE time for knitting, as opposed to knitting when I've got everything else done. I get to play with new yarns, new patterns, and new-to-me designers.  And since I have a knack for picking intricate patterns with teensy yarn that can take forever, test knits remind me that there's a world out there with simple patterns and worsted weight yarn. 

I've learned I have another blog reader out there (Hi, M!) so I'm going to make an effort to get back on a weekly posting schedule.  We'll see how it goes! 

Now, please excuse me while I pop off the computer and work on test knit #4 ... on size 0 needles and 46 sts/4". 

2017 Wrap-Up

I've been noticeably absent from the blog of late, primarily because when one has things to DO, one does not necessarily take the time to write about doing them.  Keeping a good to-do list has been essential, and I find that the back of a Page-a-Day calendar is the ideal tool for the job.  Unless the projects span multiple days, in which case, something a little less prone to disorganization is better.  And so, I began a foray into the world of Bullet Journals.  I like my little journal quite well.  It serves as an anchor for all my ducks on a back burner. 

The beginning of 2017 saw me add Data Administrator to the list of hats I wear around here.  It's been a wonderful hat, and I've learned a lot about Data Administrating -- so much so that I was offered another hat by a company they work with, this time as a Systems Administrator.  I had to stop and think whether I had time to wear yet another hat.  My head gave me one answer, my heart gave me another, and after a week of waffling I knew the only way to convince myself that I did *not* have time for another job was to try it for a month. 

That was around September.  I still have margin around the corners of my life most days (otherwise you wouldn't be reading this blog post) and have decided that to keep myself out of trouble, I am going to knit a counterpane (or coverlet, if you prefer).  After a good bit of swatching - for, when a project calls for around 1000 hours of labor, it's a good idea to pick the right pattern/yarn combo - I settled on using carpet warp and the Corinthian Squares pattern, and a proposed completion date of Christmas 2022.  That's 200 hours a year, or 5 hours a week.  I am next to positive I'll finish in just 2-3 years, but time will tell.  The 5-year plan pleases my Russian-speaking brain, and won't interfere with test knitting, gifts, and life in general. 

Merry Christmas, all!

Speechless Saturday

Fair Photos and a quick update

On what looks to have been the day with the 2nd largest attendance in history, we went to the Minnesota State Fair.  Dear Husband says that once was enough people to last him a lifetime, and he doesn't plan to ever go back.  I will admit it was a bit crowded, and there were so many people I didn't stop to take the time for good photos.  However, I did take some, and handful came out with little enough blur that they are suitable for sharing.

The Third Places - a sampling

My gloves

Some items which didn't place

More items which didn't place

And more

Very blurry fourth-place items, including my blurry mittens

More items which didn't place.  Pretty!

Sanquhar Gloves in a different display case

This summer has seen some progress on the downstairs.  The trim was added in late spring, and once that was in I began contemplating and pricing window treatments.  The short version is I saved ALL sorts of money by making my own Roman shades. I'm quite pleased with them.  After two years, we have covers on the downstairs windows again!

Next up for home improvements is painting an upstairs bedroom, after a bit of spackling and sanding.  Home improvements have also included sealing a gap in the hopper of the pellet stove, replacing a defunct heating element in the dryer, and finally getting the thermostat properly mounted on the new drywall downstairs.  (New = Feb 2016)

We have some completed knitting, too!

A hat, blocking

Mittens, artsy-like

 There is a haul from the garden

Parsley, tomato conserve in the making, tomatoes, chocolate bell pepper, ground cherries, white summer squash, Alma Paprika peppers, Boothby's Blonde cukes, and Haralson apples. 

Yarn!

To top off all this loveliness, I am now a Certified Technical Editor!