Between the Woods and Frozen Lake

"The Darkest Evening of the Year..."

One of the first poems I memorized was Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening." I can still recite it (but will spare you that). One of the remarkable things about that poem is how gentle and benign Frost makes the frozen woods seem!

"The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake."

Doesn't that sound lovely? Soft and kind and comforting? Yeah? Well here's the reality:

Killer Icicles of Death!!

Frozen, frozen, frozen, everywhere I look.

I don't know if it's the cold or just the winter blahs, but I haven't been able to commit to any project.

I did a few cables...

Started, but didn't finish, a yip-yip...(head-butt courtesy Edgar)

...and finally, finally, figured out a simple brioche stitch!

I had a good piece of 2-color going, but the edges were a mess. This is the simplest of the brioche.

In other news, a kitty had to go to the vet, so of course the doggie had to escort us.

Can't we go yet?! 

 

How are you all doing? Winter got you down, or knitting/crocheting up a storm? 

Snowstorm Janus

Brrrr!

We were excused early from work today. I hit the gym for a quick 3-mile run (since I want to be a half-marathoner, I have to keep up with the running!) and then headed home. The roads were a bit icky -- going up the hill to my neighborhood, two sedans in front of me spun their tires and sort of went slowly sideways. The guy in one car was yapping on his cell phone and trying to drive on the unplowed road--idiot!! My VW New Beetle is a pretty heavy car, and I didn't skid or slide once. It's a stick shift. I highly recommend manual transmissions for foul-weather driving.

(full disclosure--I don't talk on the cell phone while driving, but I do unwrap protein bars and peel bananas and eat them while driving.)

The snow is accumulating pretty heavily in the back, where the wind isn't so bad. We're supposed to get 6 - 10 inches.

I tied up my little Eucalyptus tree ... it's about done for the season, though. It doesn't like the below freezing temperatures too much.

Anyway, here's my Be Mine sock. Inching along. I got caught up with reading over the long weekend, and didn't knit much. I was reading Julia Child's book about her year in France. I don't know why (I'm such a dork) but I love books and movies about cooking (I've read "Under the Tuscan Sun" three times). My favorite movie is "84 Charing Cross Road..." basically, a movie about books.

If you're in Janus' path, stay warm!

Doesn't he look like some fancy purebred cat? Himalayan, or Siamese? I can't believe someone just dumped him. 

Update: We got about 10 inches of snow.

Killer icicles of death!!

(You'll poke your eye out...)

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for WIPnesday!

Be Mine Socks

Good day! It's a cold frosty morning outside, and I have a dozen errands to run, but I just can't seem to get myself motivated to go out in the cold. So I thought I'd do a blog post, instead!

As I mentioned in my last post, the Celtic sock pattern had a part in it that I couldn't get right, so I frogged my effort with those and started something new.

  Be Mine cabled heart socks. Can you see the heart? It's a little hard to see, but it's there.

This is from the book "2 at a Time Socks" (I'm not knitting 2 at a time) and unfortunately the book has a lot of errors in it. I was about halfway through the chart when I realized it wasn't right. Ravelry showed me where to find the corrected pattern, and there were 4 or 5 changes to be made in the chart. Sloppy editing! Shame on them. But so far I am managing this pattern without too much trouble.

Yesterday I needed a day away from my chores and normal routine, and I was feeling a bit stressed from work so I took advantage of my proximity to my nation's Capital and went to D.C. When you put aside the horrible lying self-interested politicians and don't think about the issues dividing this country and turning us all one against the other, the Capital is a wonderful place to visit. I went to the National Gallery of Art and spent a pleasant hour or so looking at paintings and listening to Chopin on my headphones. Just what I needed to remind myself that there are beautiful things in the world if I just set aside the time to find them!

In other non-knitting news, I have fully committed to running  a half-marathon this spring. I write about it on my other blog, and look forward to the encouragement of my friends to keep me on track!

Thanks for visiting me!

From the rotunda in the National Gallery.

That Darn Cat

Or, more appropriately, those darn cats. 

First, the innocent "it just fell by itself" routine.

Followed by the "I'm not doing anything, it's following me" routine.

Edgar apparently doesn't know how to play innocent.




Anyway, I was trying to have a photo shoot. I finished the Beaded Diamond Bag, but ...

I decided to use it for a small running-accoutrement bag, so I wanted the top to have a drawstring, rather than a strap.

Well--to be perfectly honest, the top was curling terribly.

It's the right size for my ipod nano, Garmin, a pack of energy gels, and a tube of electrolyte tabs. All essential for runs longer than a few miles!

In other news ... the Celtic Pride Kilt Hose pattern has defeated me. I could not make head nor tales of the pattern, between the cuff and the body. There was a 2 or 3 row transition phase and it just did not make sense. I tried writing it out on paper, and I could see the sense of it, but once I tried to duplicate it on the needles it just didn't make sense. Nothing lined up. I tried a few times, and now I'm moving on to a different pattern. I'm not going to blog about that one until I get a few pattern repeats done...just in case the universe is trying to tell me something about my desire to knit cabled socks.

Oh Behave!!

S-s-s-s-so C-c-c-c-cold!

Please note the "real feel" temperature of -4! It is COLD out there! The wind is just awful ... I've been inside for about a half hour and my cheeks are still stinging. I had to go out and tend to the stray kitties, though, and make sure they're okay for the night.

It's so cold, Edgar had to wear a sweater!

Doesn't he look thrilled?

What's actually happening here is Edgar is modeling Georgie Girl's new coat. If I put it on Georgie Girl, she'd think we were going out for walkies, which we are most definitely not doing.

I am also knitting Celtic Pride Kilt Hose but the pattern is getting the best of me. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it exactly as written ... I might have to skip a few rows between cuff & body.

That's the fold-down hem.

And I started a one-skein wonder, the Beaded Diamond Bag from the first One Skein Wonders book.

I sort of dropped everything to knit Georgie a new coat so she'd have a dry one to put on when it's rainy or snowy, so I haven't made much progress on anything else. 

What are you working on? How are you staying warm?