We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Mud Season

... for a little more snow (like, about 2 inches).

And now on to more of the FO extravaganza.



Pattern: from Handknit Style II
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool #28, 7 balls; some red lurex
Needles: Addi Turbo 32" #15 and 40" #13

I actually made this one before Christmas last year, to wear on Christmas Eve. I had been eying this color of Big Wool ever since it arrived, and when Handknit Style II showed up, I found the perfect thing to do with it. I also happened to have bought a lifetime supply (14,000 yards on a cone) of red lurex at WEBS' $3.00 cone sale a while back. Once I had the shrug finished, M declared she couldn't wear it 'cuz she doesn't have the chest for the style. I think she looks fine in it, but anyway.

Enter Fantine. She was supposed to be M's super warm fancy Big Wool sweater, but she got derailed before Christmas and just finished yesterday.


Pattern: Fantine from French Girl Knits
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool #31, 7 balls
Needles: Addi Turbo 32" #17 (never again!)
Mods: I made the jacket longer to fall at M's natural waist, and gave it full length sleeves rather than the 3/4 sleeves the pattern calls for. All together, that wound up using just over 2 balls more than the 4 the pattern calls for.

She is modeled here by Clara, a dressmaker's dummy I found in the attic when we moved in. The woman who owns the house was seamstress to the town for many years (we have a small closet upstairs with more tulle than I think it healthy). Clara is a great blocking tool for sweaters which are knit in one piece as Fatine is. Believe me, though, Fantine looks sooooo much better on M.

And finally, we had a visitor yesterday.

Yep, that's a real pigeon, and if you look closely you may be able to see that he's banded. No clue where he came from or how he got to thinking that our rural garage was where he should be, but he hung around for over half an hour before leaving. Even the sparrows were a bit confused.

Ah, March

WARNING: Image-heavy post

Just three days ago we were basking in shirt sleeves in 70 degree temps. Today, we wake up to this:(That's the lawn where just a couple days ago I was surprised by a flock of robins.) And this:And this:Which is essentially the same view from Thursday's post, now with more snow.

Okay, back up. We didn't really wake up to those pictures. Those are post-shoveling pics (note the shoveled sidewalk in front of the library in the second pic). What we woke up to this morning was Pupper barking at the plow guy (who's only slightly better than nothing) -- anyone who has ever been startled out of a deep sleep by a barking dog will understand the kind of start that gave our day.

Today's scent was something very dark and musky. Probably called "Tahitian Moonlight" or some such -- still not sure if I liked it, but it was an interesting accompaniment to the day's shoveling. I'm not implying that we can always smell the candles (in fact, most of the time we can't), but there are certain climatic conditions under which we can be treated to all sorts of interesting aromas. Then there was the day I wasn't sure if I was smelling apple cider from the orchard up the street or apple cider candles from the factory across the highway....

There must be some sort of bird signal that humans just don't see or hear or whatever. Almost as soon as I came inside from shoveling, this happened:

This is the aforementioned "cat TV" we installed to keep our indoor cats entertained during the day. It keeps us constantly amazed as well. It's fun to watch the birds vary from season to season.

And one more:It's not just Snowie buried up to his neck. You see that mound on the other side of the door? That's Honker, the penguin who got completely buried last night.

Okay, some more just to celebrate the snow:



I may dislike the cold but I do love snow. And I really love shoveling snow. Call me crazy.