Grey

Today's knitting is mostly grey. The secret project has been designed and started. Hopefully it won't need too much tweaking during the knitting part of it. Lopi knit at this gauge is actually quite soft. Not wear-on-the-neck soft, but much nicer than at a tighter gauge.

Outside is grey too. The snow keeps coming and coming. I'm cool with that. Once it stops coming and the sun shows up, the temperature really drops. In the meantime, we'll enjoy what we have and hope for a warmer winter.

Even the shovel looks nice today.

Jack Frost has left his pretties on the door.

White

The knitting is white.

The moon is still hanging over the snow covered trees.

Wind carvings create tiny shadows.

Snow glitters everywhere.

The bitter cold has arrived and the snow is powdery dry.

The sun's glow warms nothing but the colours.

Fur, snow and more fur.

It's cold out there and we need fur. Like this mitt for Girly. Wherein I discover that picking up the top stitches will not be fun so I try out a fix. Once the waste yarn is threaded through the four thumb stitches on the bottom, I thread it through the four on the top too. Worked fairly well if you don't pull the join about the thumb gusset too tightly. I may do this for all mitts since it made picking up the top stitches a breeze.

Girly likes her new purple hat and mitts. Although she wasn't happy with the size of the mitts at first. She seems to be now.

Saturday was our Santa Claus Parade. Early, but if we left it to just before Christmas, we might be standing out in "too frickin cold for human and dog" weather as opposed to just cold. Girly was happy to meet Santa and ask for a Barbie. She was sad that the goody bag didn't have a Barbie in it. We are having issues with the whole you have to wait for it thing.

Having trouble getting into the Christmas knitting? Not feeling the whole white Christmas mood?

The snow began on Friday and fell on and off all weekend. There is more coming now.

For me, the white Christmas has begun. Now, where did I put those dishcloth needles?

It's soon time for that love your family thing.

Knitting? What do you mean?

Was I supposed to?

Here, look over her a contest!. Sounds like a fun one too.

I am NOT old. I think. Although I really suck with Lyrics. I should've known so many of these and just couldn't think of them.



Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers!

Snowfall

The snow began yesterday in tiny flakes. It fell all day and night. This morning the sun has come out to see how it looks.

The path is buried under a light layer of snow.

The trees are glittering. The air is crisp and coldish. Not yet very cold, but no longer just cool.

Is it weird that the Mr. gave me heck for using a paring knife to carve the ends on these just enough for me to be able to fit them into my sharpener? He said, "I got you a Leatherman with a knife on it so you wouldn't use the kitchen knives anymore."

The Postman cometh.

To droppeth offe my International Scarfe Exchangeth 5 package. A lovely package full of good things. Two skeins of Yarns Brunswick's Crafty Cotton. Nice stuff. Two skeins of Bernat Handicrafter cotton, a couple of tree ornaments (Girly claimed the angel for her very own.), some nice smelling Sea Island Cotton body lotion, a lighthouse calendar [The Mr. wants it for his toolbox at work, he misses The Rock (Newfoundland).], some sticky notes (Girly has also claimed the snowflake stickies.) and a pretty blue shawl pin. Shawl pins are hard to come by around here.

The star of the package though is the scarf. Handspun, B.C. grown, alpaca yarn. Beautiful and soft. Also warm. I thought mohair scarves were warm. Nope. Alpaca beats it hands and feet down. Also the furry doesn't get itchy after wearing it for a bit like mohair does.

The lace pattern is perfect for this yarn. I already have a person trying to steal it from me for those days when the mercury is shivering at -40*. My pal was Marylin and she did a great job spoiling me! Thank you Marylin. Also thanks for giving me knitting stuff to yap about today since I had nothing of my own to share. Nothing that I am going to show anyway.

It's snowing again today so maybe there will be snow type pictures tomorrow. Winter is at that in between stage right now. Sort pretty, but not quite as pretty as it gets. I can live with that since it is also not as cold yet.

My dog is on crack.

Apollo's meds are working. Now we are discovering that he didn't outgrow some of his old tricks. He just didn't have the energy to get up to them. Like sitting on the couch and knocking plants over so he can chew them up. Girly let him out for a pee and a poop this morning, she's helpful like that. We had no idea until the Mr. realized that annoying dog barking his fool head off was Apollo. At the neighbour's door. The people that used to live there had a dog he loved to play with. The new neighbours don't have a dog and must think ours is insane, a little on the slow side or on crack. He is probably giving them new reasons to be very glad they don't have a dog.

Girly has decided that purple is the new pink. Now she wants a purple, furry hat. So one is on the needles and moving slowly.

I am a little distracted with my secret project. I've been working on a design for this for quite a while and none have been just right. Now I think I might have it and will be actually casting on soon. I hope. So funny how hard designing is when your project needs to be just so because this person matters and you want them to love their gift.

More from Girly

Since I've been slacking on the whole camera thing, Girly decided to get cracking on hers. So today, since I didn't knit a stitch yesterday, a selection of Girly's outdoor shots. Although she did get some good ones of balloons, herself and some flowers in one of the local grocery stores.

Apollo is doing well. Bright, happy and putting on weight. It's all good so far. He's not outside all day. The dish is for those times when I feel like feeding the ravens to try to distract them from the garbage can.

Ravens aren't exactly little guys around here. [Photo taken by me a while ago]

The winter. The snow did go away after the first snowfall stuck and came back the other day. I see a snowflake or two falling now. I think it's here to stay for real this time.

The stop sign and the road sign. We like stop signs and have to sit at them until we count to three.

Her Barbie boots. She took about 10 pictures of them. Needed the right lighting and angle I suppose. ;)

The road. She gave an excellent commentary all the way to Grampa's work on the road and what we were passing. Perhaps someday she'll be a sport's announcer or a photographer with an announcing job on the side.

One Ball Bag is done.

My one ball of Lily Sugar n Cream went pretty darn far. If you decide to make one, you might want to centre your handles a little better though. I may have done this on the fly with no apparent concern for accuracy in finishing. I've forgotten what I did to make this bag. I've sat here for nearly two hours trying to figure it out. I am going to leave the materials list here. If you like it, keep checking back and once I finish another one I'll put the pattern up because this time I'm going to write it down. Why I keep thinking I am smart enough to remember things, I don't know. I should write that down too.

Materials:

1 ball Lily Sugar n Cream yarn or any worsted weight yarn approximately 109m/120yds.
2 4mm(US6) DPNs. You don't need a whole set.
1 set 5mm(US8) DPNs or 40cm/16" circulars (it might fit on 60cm/24" too).
1 set 6mm DPNs or 40cm/16" circulars (should fit 60cm/24" too).
1 set 6.5mm DPNs or 60cm/24" circulars
1 set 7mm DPNs or 60cm/24" circulars (should fit 73cm/29" too).
Tapestry needle

It's the perfect size for those times when you and Jammy Girly only need a couple of things at the store.

Or that time when you needed a bit of yarn. Because we all need so much more yarn.

I have a few balls of Lily left. I do have a plan for it though.

Knitting?

Between new job and choir yesterday, this is all the knitting I managed to get done. The rest of the second bit of I-cord and two rows on the rest of it. Although the idea of knitting I-cord until I run out of yarn sounds fun, it's not what I had in mind. It could make an interesting garland for the tree though.

Off for day two of new job. So far, so good.

Fast and dirty.

Because every now and then...

Skull Hat, done.

How it looks on me. Not my style. My nephew will love it.

Bag bottom done. I have to block and sew on the sides, knit a top and some handles then felt the whole thing.

New project started. I am trying to see just how far one ball of Lily Sugar n Cream will go.

Now off to start my second casual job today. Have a good one!

Not Much on the Go Today.

I have finally gotten off my slacker behind and am blocking my Changing Lace scarf. It's not quite this dark in real life.

The pattern has really opened up while the scarf is wet and the Noro Silk Garden has softened considerably. It is much more like I expected a wool/silk blend to feel now, than it was before washing. I think I could actually like the stuff now. Pattern once I get some better photos of it.

I got this far with the Skull Hat before I decided that I should really try things like cleaning and/or folding stuff.

More snow fell last night and this morning is even more wintery although still not horribly cold yet.

The trees do look pretty with real snow on them. That canned stuff for Christmas trees just doesn't quite capture the effect.

Now off to do more of that strange cleaning thing. There may also be some folding. What a brilliantly exciting life I lead.

Oh, if you are good with the words and want some gorgeous yarns, head over to Suzanne's blog and try to stump her with your incredible smarts. Leave a word she can't define or doesn't know in her comments to be entered into the fray.

If you don't care about yarn, but like word games, why not give Free Rice a try. For every word you get right they will donate 10 grains of rice to someone in need. Warning! It's extremely addictive and may have you using big words every now and then. I had to go there to get the link and ended up playing for a while.

[superhero voice]: The Power of Blog!

I got another casual job! Life is coming up roses around here lately.

But just to make sure I don't get all cocky about it. The hat was a touch too tight and the skulls looked like crap stretched around to fit. So I ripped it. I'll have to sew the flap up underneath now, but that's okay, it's all good. It's a pretty easy chart to follow and I've gone up the needle size recommended in the pattern so it should look better this time. I hope.

Winter is here. It seems the snow just might be here to stay this time. Girly is excited and can't wait to go out and make a snow princess.

One of the smaller low current lakes is already frozen over.