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?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Centennial Park, Columbia, MD

I don't really make resolutions, but I do 'hope' for things for the new year. I hope to challenge myself to knit outside my comfort zone next year (brioche, entrelac, lace, more Fair Isle). I hope to destash, which will mean a lot of one-skein-wonder projects, as my stash is all odd lots. I hope to destash some of the unspun fiber that has been in a drawer for a few years. I hope to have a lot of really nifty ideas for projects!

Right now I'm working on Celtic Pride Kilt Hose ... I'd like to make them for me, though the pattern is for men. I'll see how it goes.

See that tube in the top middle, on the dpns? This is the first time I bought sock yarn that came with its own reinforcing yarn for the heel.

Do you all have any new year resolutions? Crafty or otherwise?

Ellicott City, MD

What I'm Reading: "A Murder at Rosamund's Gate."  By Susanna Calkins. Set in Restoration England, 1665, a murder-mystery. The main character is Lucy, a maid in the magistrate's house, who investigates recent murders in her corner of London. Her lot as a servant is better than most, as she knows her letters and her master and mistress are kindly. But she is surrounded by "louts" who are very "handy," and when out-of-doors, she not only has to dodge pickpockets and the like, but she is constantly fending off men who think a young maid has no right to say no to their advances. It's somewhat better in the house, but her master's guests are sometimes men who prey on maids. I'm about halfway through it, and enjoying it.

Happy New Year!! Be safe if you're going out tonight. I'll be staying in with the cats and a warm cup of tea. I doubt I'll be awake at midnight!

Kilt Stockings

All done!

Lace-me-up-kilt-hose are done!

They weren't difficult to knit, but I had to do a lot of math to make it work with the yarn I chose.

Yarn which I bought too much of ... I have nearly three full skeins left over ... so much for destashing!

What are you doing on the floor? Why are you taking pictures of your legs? 

 

Linking with Wonder Why Alpaca Farm for Fiber Arts Friday. 

Nearly There!

The Kilt Stockings are nearly done! Sort of.

Oh, oops, sorry ... that's a picture of me after I ran the Baltimore Celtic Solstice 5-Mile Run this past Saturday, which I blogged about on my other blog. My bad!

Here are the stockings...

I love the S1K1/SlP heel flap. So sturdy and still so pretty.

To solve my eternal problem of wearing through the heels, I'm trying something new.

I bound off the sock in two spots -- at the bottom of the heel flap before turning the heel, and on the top of the instep before picking up the gussets. Then I picked up the bound-off stitches along with the gusset stitches, and started completely afresh. Once I've gotten all the gusset stitches decreased back to the original number, I will bind off again, and pick up and restart. It sounds tedious, but this way I can reknit the problem part if a hole develops, and darning doesn't work. Of course, now that I weigh fifty pounds less, maybe I won't wear through the bottom of my socks any more ;-)

I can't think of any way to properly bulk up that spot on the sock without making it uncomfortable to wear.

Molly reminds you to stop by TamisAmis for Work in Progress Wednesday!