Winter Snowstorm Means More WIPs

I just can't seem to find interest in one project.

So I cast on another one...

The Mari Lace Cowl  from Lace One-Skein Wonders. There's a sock pattern in that book that looks intriguing, too. I might cast that on as well. This Mari is very mindless. I like to do something mindless and something challenging!

Winter is really starting to get to me. It's been so terribly frigid here lately, and it isn't usually so bad in the Mid-Atlantic. At least, not in Baltimore. We got some snow late on President's Day, about 5 inches, then another 6 yesterday. Ugh.

This is the beginning of the storm. 

The Dogster really doesn't mind the snow so much, except there's no where to go potty.

A later picture.

It warmed up overnight, sleeted a bit, then the sun came out today and it was 40 degrees. After a few days of sub-zero wind chill, 40 degrees felt like a summer beach day.

Now, of course, everything is gray and dirty and slushy.

But it's almost March! Spring is just around the corner!

I gifted the blanket I was making, and it was nicely received. The baby is due in about 10 days.

I hope the blocking holds. It's so pretty like this!

I leave you with a rare, and very brief, moment of coexistence between two mortal enemies. 

Ta!!

How Cold is it?

This cold.

Note the tiny letters that spell out "RealFeel -5" and "-15." We've been under a high wind advisory, which was on par with the Tropical Storms I've been through before. I spent most of the night wakeful, worried about the stray cats outside, worried that the tree in the backyard would tumble down onto my neighbor's shed, worried that the power would go out and I'd have to deal with the myriad difficulties that would bring about (all related to heat).

The awning over my front porch

I don't have a good alternate source for heating my house. Or cooking. Anyway, we got through it, and the winds are dying down now, but it's still going to be bitterly cold for a few more days.

I really don't like winter. Even if it does give me a reason to knit. I try to think cozy thoughts and think of my flower garden in the Spring, but by February, everything's just dreary and blah.

Since it was so inhospitable outside today, I finished all my errands yesterday so I could just stay in today. I even managed a 5-mile run, until the wind started whipping snow into my face. It was 25 degrees yesterday, which in retrospect is positively balmy!

Can you guess what cozy chore I accomplished today?

I finished the Leaf Lace Blanket just this morning.

I actually had to set up the blocking squares on my bed, since it was kind of larger than the items I normally block and the living room floor is hard on my knees.

Once blocked, I could prop it up, but I can't leave it there overnight. This is the room one of the stray cats shelters in when the weather is this bad, and she is not to be trusted with anything like this!

I think I do my yarn-overs the wrong way. The pattern photo looks very different.



One of the downsides of self-teaching, I can't quite figure out what I am doing wrong when my work doesn't equal the pattern.






In other news, Molly and Fat Petunia loves the new cat tree I bought. They love to be five feet off the ground.

Byeeee!

The Neverending Blanket Story

I've really got to get going on this thing.

The Leaf Lace Blanket ... it will apparently need a fierce blocking to resemble the photo from the link.

Sometimes, leaf patterns look a little ... well, naughty. Hmm.

I wonder how much larger it will actually be, once blocked? I had planned on investing 7 skeins of yarn in it, but I don't want it to be too long and skinny.

It's a pretty pattern, and easy to memorize.

Anyway, that's all I've been knitting -- the baby blanket, for a baby due in a few weeks. I guess I better get crackin'!

In other hobbies, I signed up for another half marathon. I will soon be flying to sunny California for one, and the other is here locally in late April. I'm excited for both. It'll be nice to be out of dreary cold Maryland in February. There's one more half I want to sign up for in mid-September, but that's far enough off that I haven't yet decided.

Nightie Night, Fat Petunia!

Sweet Dreams!