Wheelinsticks

My goodness the snow. I thought we might get a little more, but I never thought we would have 8 inches in the backyard. Two puppies think nothing of it. Poor Oreo, on the other hand, can not pee without getting his willy in the snow, which pisses him off! Of course I doubt that I would think that's fun either. Since it's another day of snow, it gives me a chance to continue to knit. Lawn Guy has requested a sweater. STOP the presses!! This is a landmark occasion. I said I would, so yesterday I decided to get it started. It will be a seamless yoke style sweater with some stranded color work in the yoke part. I would have love to make him Cobblestone, but I don't have enough yardage of anything for a size 48 men's. I have enough yarn on hand to start the bottom and sleeves, and I'll have to add some other colors for the yoke. I hope he likes it, and I hope he wears it. I got the ribbing done and about another 2 inches done so far. I love knitting plain old stockinette...

I got up early on Sunday morning and the sky was just as white as it could be. I thought "I can smell snow in the air. It's coming." I knew we were in for a snowy couple of days at the beginning of the week, but not on Sunday. As the morning wore on the sky began to fall with big fluffy white flakes. Wow, look at that snow and lots of it. Look at a couple of pictures of the white stuff from Sunday. So I spent the day inside. My wheel is in the office located in the back of house. I spent my day watching the falling snow and spinning up the rest of this lovely colorway from Spunky Eclectic fiber club. It's Shetland and I decided that I wanted to ply it with some black Shetland that has been in the stash for awhile. I got a little over 470 yards in a nice sport weight. I love the way the black makes the brighter colors pop. It reminds me of the stained-glass church windows of my youth. The one in the middle was what was leftover, so its the true colorway called Raisin ...

I've been doing some more spinning. I find it to be relaxing after a long week. It's amazing how the four day weeks are more work and more stress than the five-dayers. What's up with that? I have been playing with some lovely Shetland fibers from Spunk Eclectic. I just love this colorway. The name is Raisin Wannabe. Purples, rich pinks and rosy tones, and a shocking green thrown in. I am planning to ply it with some natural black Shetland that I bought a long time ago. I think it will be be a pretty cool looking 2-ply with the barber-pole effect. No idea what it will turn into. I need to finish spinning another 2 ounces of the black before I can ply it. Update on February Lady. I finished the body and picked out these wonderful buttons. Now I just need to tackle the sleeves!

Man, the past few days of the week have been brutal in the St. Louie area. Thursday, I was in the drive-through of the evil McDonald's. Ya know when you have a gut reaction that you know something is completely wrong, and you just shutter to think "this can't happening!" Grab the bag of food, hitting the button to roll up the window, no dice! You got it! The window refused to go back up. With cursing to boot because it's like 100 below zero or something, I drive from West County to South County on the highway with the window down. Hubby comes to my aid and swaps cars. Complaining and texting,he drove the car home and left me the nice warm truck. Friday, the mechanic fixes the window and we take the car home. Saturday, get in to start said vehicle and the battery is dead. Oh come on!! Life is not suppose to be this complicated. How do you fight back? Why you go shopping with a ravelry friend. Tinkips came up for a visit and we went to a couple of fibery stores. Kni...

Okay, I got inspired last night to do a little more spinning on the Champagne from the last post. I am spinning it pretty thin, so it takes a while to spin all of it. This is where I am so far. I still have those two little balls left to do. I weighed them to see if I was close 1.35 oz. Not bad. Altogether the three bobbins weigh 4 oz. I should finish the last bobbin today and plied them. Looks like they should stripe pretty nicely. Buster was kind enough to model my Noro scarf. No, I did not use all 4 skeins because once a scarf hits your knees it's just done. I really love the way the colors change and keep changing. Off to do a little more!

It's just cold outside! The amazing St. Louis weather is just as undecided as always. Friday, absolutely beautiful and nearly a heat wave. Today, not so much, and the weatherman said something about Arctic winds coming soon. Oh, I just can't wait for that one. So, how does one cope with cold weather? Well, stay inside and knit something warm or spin something fun. Both are in action a chez house. I started a pair of thrummed mittens last night. No pics yet, but oh are they fun and fast. Another thing on the need to knit list is socks and more socks. Right now I am spinning some lovely roving that has lots of greys to black with a little sunshine thrown in. I am hoping for 3-ply socks in my future with this. What are you doing to keep warm?

Ah, back to work. Yesterday we just slipped right in nice and slow. Teacher meetings all day and a long lunch to avoid. I did get some work (puut out some fires) done before I left. Today, the roads played havoc on people getting in, including me. I made it just as the morning bell rang. The poor kids on the other hand, continued to roll in all day. The last bust arriving somewhere around 11, which is about 3 hours pass due. Needless to say the bus was in a fender bender, and as far as I know everyone was fine. Everyone was a little tired and slightly disoriented in the purpose of school. Tomorrow should be an improvement and hopefully back to normal by the end of the week. On the knitting front, I don't have much to say. I am continuing to knit the Noro scarf. I just love watching the colors change, so I think I might knit all 4 skeins. Mindy and my hubby have a running joke with our other halves - "Are you out of yarn yet? No,then, your not done." Mine is about 5 1/2 fe...

I hate the thought of calling them resolutions because that immediately means don't really bother to try. however, I think writing things down for accountability and achievement is a good thing. So here goes: Knitting: Stash busting 1. knit 3 sweaters for the year 2. learn to knit a pair of socks toe up 3. do one project with cables 4. do one project with color work 5. one lace project All of the items above must come from my stash. I have some great yarns in there. Spinning 1. spin more 2. learn long draw 3. make a 3-ply sock weight yarn 4. learn how to do core spinning Life 1. be more active 2. read more 3. keep up with paperwork for work 4. get out more and find fun things to do I think these are goals that make the most sense for me. Life is rough enough just to get through, and it's too short. Better enjoy it!