Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow . . .

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, and I am freezing inside, too. WHAT??

I've managed to make a fair amount of progress on the no-longer-a-surprise-Christmas-present-hat for DH, a binary-code pattern that states "I LOVE MIKE" in low level computer-speak. Enjoy the first two rows of code/pattern shot on my NY Dolls sheets that cast a violent pink hue on everything within a three mile radius:

Here is a bit more progress just modeled outside on the porch in the cold, cold, heavy falling slushy snow that made my back and head soaked:

A bit better view once it fell off the railing:

Yeah, there's little difference in the views except that one can see four rows of 1s and 0s in the last pic. The yarn is the Knit Picks' Gloss (silk merino combo).

I was not outside for more than four minutes, yet I am wet to the bone (no wonder those Victorian-aged folks were always getting pneumonia), cold, and my lungs are killing me!! It seems several people on the block are burning wood or those damn fake-logs in their fireplaces, causing no small amount of yeckO'crap in the air. I feel like I spent four hours in a 1980s video bar. Our area is fairly urban for the suburbs, and not everyone sparks up the fireplace on the same day let alone at the same time; nonetheless, my eyes are burning, my lungs feel equally burned, and my hair stinks of wet smoke. GROSS!!! I wonder why the air is so bad right now.

We are supposed to get between 3-7 inches of snow tonight. It has been snowing on and off since late afternoon, the beautiful, yet treacherous, heavy flaky Midwest snow that is back-breaking to shovel, crap for skiing or outdoor snow activities, and dangerous as hell to drive through or in.

We FINALLY, I say FINALLY, got all the plumbing leaks fixed today, thanks to my hand-dandy brother who was in town and DH. We have had plumbing leaks of one sort or another since March of this year, one that was almost catastrophic that leaked into the adjoining dining room and up through the carpeting, and this is no exaggeration. Knock on wood, they have all finally been resolved, repaired, and OVER. We had to replace our dishwasher, the intake line for the fridge's ice/water line, pipes and fittings under the kitchen and master bedroom's bathroom sink, and fittings for the washing machine. All these problems occurred one after the other since the March thaw began. Good. Grief. And this place is only seven years old. Plus all the insulation and protective bladder plastic that required replacement in this no-basement structure.

I. HATE. PLUMBING. PROBLEMS. PERIOD!!!

Today was a day of repairs as the boys also replaced a ceiling fan in the bathroom off the other bedrooms. This required quite a bit of finessing, reciprocating sawing, and enlarging of ceiling holes. The new fan/light looks lovely, though, and is larger and seems much more powerful. It is supposed to be very quiet, but NO. SUCH. LUCK.

Overall, we have MUCH to be THANKFUL for, including our families. Even though several of my siblings have been very hard hit by this Michigan recession despite none working in any industry related to the auto-industry and three owning their own business, we are still here, some in good health, others healthy in varying degrees. I remain hopeful and thankful, and I hope they can too.

I hope all of you had at least a few things to be thankful for this year.

Something to Do

I am looking for something to do. It's very hard for me to knit at night because I need lots of light for lacework or colorwork when using smallish needles. Right now I am working on a hat with this:
This yarn is Knit Picks's Gloss (the silk and wool combo), and I really, really hope it isn't too pilly.

I was moving along quite splendidly for my slow speed, when the 16" circ I was using just about drove me nuts! I have a size 4 ~ 16" in Inox circs, which are very, very pointy compared to my usual Addi-Turbos, but the needles themselves are very, very short, which causes a somewhat awkwardness to the grasp, and either the needles or the nylon is a bit sticky, which causes no small amount of drag. I started the hat with a 36" Addi circ, but that was much too long, so I downsized from the needle stash. Of course the drag and short needles made my hands ache, so off I went in search of a 24" Addi at the LYS where I saw this:

Of course like 90% of my yarn purchases, this was pure impulse buying. It's 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, looks very itchy, has lots of hair, but the tan tweed is absolutely splendid with bits of light blue and rust and perhaps a few other colors. I was looking for a worsted weight yarn for a cabled sock pattern I have in mind, and this sort of jumped out at me.

At the time, however, I didn't know that Peruvian Highlander Wool is best known for its felting ability, so I'm not sure whether or not to proceed, plus, it certainly looks scratchy.

What to do, what to do???

Sure, I could cake this up and try it out. Why not? If it doesn't work, I can always frog. But this seems like it wouldn't be frog friendly, and then I've wasted yarn, time, and money if the sock turns out to be on the crappy side. I guess I could donate, then, but I hate to donate what I wouldn't be willing to keep for myself. Seems sort of in bad faith, doesn't it?

Missed Socktoberfest

During the last week of October, when I realized how much of the year had gone by and that Socktoberfest was once again going on, I dug around in my sock yarn stash and found this.

The yarn is Knit Picks Sock Memories 100% merino, and I think the colorway is called Carnival ~ and very appropriately so. It just looks cheery. For photo staging, I put it on my new hot pink flannel sheets that my hubby calls the New York Dolls sheets because that punk rock band had an album cover with the same sort of dizzyingly hard hot pink.

Then I broke out the umbrella swift and ball winder and made myself a cake and cast on for a plain ribbed sock.

The orangey color in the yarn is really a deadringer for the pink on the sheets, so go figure. Don't try to adjust your monitor; the color problem is with either my camera, my flash combined with overhead light, or my eyes.

I have to admit, I’ve used some pretty nice sock yarn in my day, Trekking, Handmaiden, and Koigu included, but this yarn is soooo soft on that I truly love to wear socks knit with it more than any other yarn. It has its flaws, though, and one of those flaws is the awful way it pills after just one wearing, and they certainly get ugly pretty quickly because of the pilling, looking raggedy as all hell within a month, but they feel like butter and can be washed and dried with no harm to the socks themselves.

After making a pair for myself last year (or was it the year before??) out of a beautiful autumnal forest red color and wearing them to death during the winter, I swore I would never make another pair out of the yarn even though I have a good nine skeins left and several pairs planned. I was too disappointed by the way they pilled and vowed not to waste my time knitting (I am so very slow) another pair with that yarn.

But after my dermatological breakdown this year, the awful spring rash from either a reaction to the lawn fertilizer or something in the garden that blossomed and made me sick for several months, my skin seems not to have recovered well. Everything seems to feel scratchy or make my skin feel irritated, even my beautiful Pomatomas in the Handmaiden and my new flannel sheets that we washed four times before using to soften them up a lot. So I am going to give the Memories another chance as the old pair seems to feel splendid on my feet, and our temps are dropping into the single digits tonight. These would have been a great Socktoberfest project, but I will be happy if I can get them done by the end of the first week of January 09.

I think I will call these the NY Dolls socks, my husband's penchant for punk bands of the late 70s notwithstanding; hopefully they will keep me warm because of their electric punk origins as well as stay soft and treat my toes tenderly.

First Snow at Midnight

We've had rain for over a week, sometimes a drizzle, sometimes a downpour. Halloween was unseasonably splendid, warm, bright, and sunny, as was election day. In fact, election day was a sunny and magnificent 70 degrees Fahrenheit, unheard of for November in Michigan. We had a tiny snitch of snow a few days ago, but tonight, well, here it comes:

Snow at midnight:

Freezing temps tonight, rain for at least a week, roads and sidewalks are solid ice topped by snow. Can't get more dangerous than that. But I do like not having anywhere to go and mounds of knitting at my fingertips. I simply CANNOT WAIT for winter break.

YIPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Great Day in the Morning!!!

Like many of you, we watched the returns all night, and at 11:00 p.m. EST, we cried!!! And later, when we finally went to bed after hours and days of NBC, MSNBC, CNN, the Daily/Colbert Show, I slept like a baby for the FIRST. TIME. IN. YEARS.

Thanks America!!!!!!!!!! YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vote Today!

I voted. Did you?

We voted this morning. We played with the idea of standing in line before the polls opened (we stay up all night, so that would have been easy), but we opted to gamble that the 10:30 a.m. time period would mean light turnout in the suburbs. Our gamble was right, but maybe it's just this area that we moved to ~ lots of retirees who vote by absentee and often the daytime polling places are pretty lightly attended. In the past, when I was in grad school and lived in Detroit, the lines were always several hours long (as if a line could be measured in increments of hours). In any event, we got in, cast our ballots, and got out within 15 minutes, and if anyone is counting or taking exit polls, we voted for Obama.

We also voted to support stem cell research and provide more county benefits for our veterans. In other words, we voted for a new way of life and the promise of a better tomorrow.

I hope you will get out and vote and encourage all you know to do the same. Vote, that is. So text, call, and talk to your friends, neighbors, colleagues, relatives, and even that person down the street whose name you don't know. Update your blog, webpage, twitter post, Facebook, and MySpace page. Reach out. Vote. As if your life depended on it.

My thanks and heartfelt appreciation to everyone who stood for hours in the heat, cold or rain. I know I appreciate your patience!

BTW, my mama voted for Obama, too. And I ain't young, so even the older folks are doing it.