Ice, Ice Baby

When parts of Nebraska were without power for weeks in January I thought, “Man, that sucks, how would I ever deal with that?”  The answer:  Not well.

We had a massive ice storm on Saturday and our nearly our entire state has been declared a state of emergency.  We were without power for about eight hours, but thankfully we live near several nursing homes so this was a priority area.  (Then, last night our furnace igniter went out and we were without heat once again!)  Other residents aren’t so fortunate and are looking at being without power for days.  Generators are a hot commodity right now, as are candles, and batteries.  This morning I heard a resident near the main highway into town say that he saw 35 Alliant Energy trucks heading into town. 

Here at home we lost some huge limbs from our beloved cedar trees and our yard is littered with small limbs, sticks and general tree debris.  It will take months for our area to recover from this. 

What I learned from the storm and power outage that followed:

• kids can fight in the dark as well as the light
• DH doesn’t handle emergencies well
• I CAN knit by candlelight
• Peanut butter sandwiches and nachos is a balanced meal if the cheese sauce is the ’salsa con queso’ variety.
• Always keep unscented candles on hand.
• Don’t give blood the morning of the storm
• My next range is going to be gas, not electric
• Eat the ice cream, it’s going to spoil anyway

Today I’m thankful for my warm house, especially for our wood burning fireplace.  I’m looking forward to warmer temps this week, that is, until the next round of storms; Friday is supposed to bring more freezing rain. 

My Magic Loop Discovery

I didn’t want to do it.  I was fairly happy with DPNs for sock knitting.  Of course my Susan Bates size ones were a bit fumbly and occasionally a stitch would sneak off one end, after all there are eight needle ends to guard.  And when carrying my knitting down steps I think, “If I fall on these I’m dead.”.   I was in love with the slipability (is that a word?) of the Susan Bates needles and I adjusted to the other unpleasant aspects of them.   Peeps, I’m here to tell you there IS a better way.  Recently I ordered the ‘Magic Loop Method’ from Patternworks.com and some 32″ circulars from Knitpicks and finally got around to trying it.  I really had to force myself because I’m a pathetic, lazy creature of habit.  The circulars are so awesome! WOW!  I am such a convert.  They are even slippier than my beloved Susan Bates and the best part, there are only two needle ends for stitches to sneak off.  I have already finished one ’sister sock’ for sis’s birthday and working on the second.  This is such a faster method than DPNs.  What a revelation!  It didn’t take long to learn, only about half a day to become truly comfortable with it.  The biggest problem is making my brain convert from a  DPN pattern to the new magic loop method.  It’s totally do-able but I’m hoping for a new Sensational Socks edition with instructions for magic loop for each sock. 

I’m off to the post office to mail my box to Socks For Soldiers.  I’m hoping for a nice thankyou from the soldier who receives them. 

I’ve started a block garter stitch blanket from Debbie Bliss’s Baby Knits for Beginners.  Not because I’m a beginner, but because I thought it would be fast and the finished blanket looks more complicated than it is.   The catch?  I have to knit 56 3×3 blocks, and then I have to put the damned thing together.  I finished block 7 and realized I didn’t have enough yarn.  Each skein will make only 7 and I needed it to make 14. UGH!  Lord help me, I will never learn.  I thought I learned from Icarus (still a UFO) and the national search for matching lot #s that ensued to always order enough yarn, but the tightwad and optimist that I am, I am always sure I will have enough.  It’s clear to me now, I’m hopeless. I’m doomed to pay unnecessary shipping fees for the rest of my days.

I became a member of the American Knitter’s Guild this week.  I am thinking about taking the Master Knitter Level 1 course and membership is required to do that.  I’m not sure what to think of this guild, it seems like a good thing, but I realize many people wouldn’t see the value in it.  I know one person who completed all three levels so she would be prepared to operate a yarn shop and teach classes, and she thought it very worthwhile.  It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile, but it’s costly, about $100 for each level.  I’d like to teach classes someday or maybe private lessons.  But I really think these courses could drastically improve my knitting.

In other news, I am kicking myself square in the ass today and going to swim for the first time in two months.  It’s about time.  Years ago I told my middle son that I wanted to start walking every day to lose some weight.  He was about four at the time and said, “What do you think will happen, it’ll just fall off while you’re walking down the street?” 

Hopefully.

Llamas, Ice, And Visiting the Queen

Today feels like Monday.  Presidents Day and miniature bout with the Chinese Sleeping flue yesterday has taken a toll on my week.  I should be grateful since I only have one day of work this week and the week is half gone already.

Most people probably had a relaxing day at home enjoying Presidents Day, not us.  DH vowed we’d be on the sledding hill by 7am to beat the melting.  I had my doubts.  I was right.  We finally hit the snow around 1:30pm.  It was 45 degrees and much melting was underway.  We went to a local state park and were shocked to see men ice fishing in the middle of the lake.  It was 45 degrees!  I was nervous to walk on the ice at first, but seeing these men were still upright at the middle of the lake, we decided it was safe to hike around the lake a bit out on the snow-covered ice.  The boys had a ball snowboarding down the hills and out on the ice.  I’ve lived in this area most of my life and have only seen that lake in summertime so was amazed to see it totally frozen over.  My grandfather told stories of the Mississippi River frozen so thick they would drive their cars out onto the ice!  It blows my mind completely.  I can’t ever remember the river ever freezing over, let alone thick enough to drive on.  I have a healthy fear of frozen bodies of water, from seeing too many docu-dramas I suppose. 

In other interesting weekend news, I dragged DH to see “The Queen” on Sunday night.  We deposited the kidlets with the grandparents and off we went.  I thoroughly loved it, after all, Di and I are distant cousins according to a geneology researcher (no, I don’t buy it).  DH repeatedly checked his watch and seemed to be in great pain during the entire second half of the show.  At the end he said, “What exactly was that movie about?”  He’s the sweetest guy, I swear.  I told him I’d go see a boy movie with him next time.  “The Queen” was great, it reaffirmed what I’ve believed for years, that the royals are completely out of touch with the real world and hung Diana out to dry.  I do feel a bit bad for Queen Elisabeth, she seems pretty isolated in her job which she has dedicated her life to, and a pretty thankless job at that.

The best part of the weekend was a visit to a fiber farm.  I forgot the camera or I’d have lovely photos to prove it.  The owner had a lovely shop with yarn and fiber, spinning wheels, and books.  This farm had llamas, angora goats, sheep and angora rabbits.  I fell in love instantly with the goats. I didn’t realize sheep were so anti-social, that llamas could spit, and that you could put so many rabbits in such a small space.  Yikes.  I have dreams of having sweet little angora goats now.  If we only lived in the country . . .

The kids loved all the animals and I of course was thrilled to finally find a local-ish place to buy fiber.  Yee haw!

 A good weekend was had by all.

Snowy Day Knit-In

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Yesterday we had a snowstorm and the kids had a snow day and I ditched work.  Most of the day they fought and drove  me absolutely nuts, but then Middle child said, “Mom, where’s my knitting?”  My heart sang.  (He’s knitting a scarf for his dad, Missy Moodle is knitting a blanket for her animals.)    Before long Missy Moodle got in on the action and we had a little knit-fest.  Kids are so fun to teach to knit, they are truly little sponges.  They’ll be tackling fair isle and steeks any day now.

Big Day For My Scout

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After years of attending the ‘Blue and Gold Banquet’ and watching other’s boys cross over to boy scouts, I had had the thrill of watching my oldest cross over today.  He started in the first level of scouts, a tiger, and I’m so proud of him for continuing in scouting.  The most challenging part of it for him was enduring the meetings.  He absolutely loves the outdoors activities and especially camping, but the meeting were sometimes boring for him.  I know Boy Scouts will be a much more interesting experience for him.  And if you asked him he’d say he’s excited about Boy Scouts because they go camping once per month all year long. 

Although the Boy Scout organization has gotten a lot of negative press in recent years, at the heart of scouting it really is about the boys and their journey in becoming responsible, moral, and capable men and the dedicated leaders and parents who help them along their way. 

cozy beer

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This started as a ball band dishcloth from Mason Dixon Knitting (prompted by my buddy Roo-bee who is quite addicted with these now) but something happened as I grabbed my cold beer Friday evening.  Inspiration hit me and now, I no longer have cold hands as I’m drinking my beer.  Hurray!

Knitting for the Troops

Peeps, I have to share the joy today.  I finished my first pair of socks for soldiers and I’m so proud of myself.  This past twelve months I’ve knitted what feels like a zillion pairs of socks and gotten barely a thank-you from some recipients.  I am really feeling like I’ve done something that will be truly appreciated by some soldier.  The Socks for Soldiers project has thank-you letters from soldiers who’ve received their socks posted on their site, and many of them are very touching.   Check out the socks for soldiers site.  Their website isn’t fancy, but they are a nice group of women trying to do a great thing.  It really is a great project. 

Today I downloaded a list of items they need and am filling a box to send off with the socks.  I’m including my hand-crafted soaps and lotions, what lucky soldiers!  I also went to this site for pattern info for much needed helmet liners for soldiers.  These look incredibly easy and how many of us have extra wool in our stash (or will be buying yarn soon!)?  I am planning on knitting one up in an unapproved color to use up some stash, then dying it  to be the olive drab which IS an approved color.  Clever stash usage!  Not to mention I’m an incredible tightwad.

Also, for those who cannot afford the yarn, the socks projects has donated yarn and will ship to you upon request. I’m also including a check so they can purchase more yarn for their project.

Knitting for friends is great, knitting for family is fine.  But knitting for soldiers, now that is something I am truly proud of.

Will you join me?

Owl Prowl

I did the most asinine thing last night with my family.  Our local county conservation department organizes an annual Owl Prowl and we took part in it.  DH took Missy Moodle for the first time last year when she was four and they both loved it.  Basically it involves wandering in the woods with a group of people and recorded owl calls and a handheld owl call and listening for owls to call back.  It was seven degrees and though I thought I’d dressed warmly enough with thirty seven layers, I quickly found out I hadn’t.  The first thing we did was scale an enormous snow pile to get to the trail.  Snow instantly got in my boots and I felt it melting around my ankles during the entire trek. 

I had truly done my best trying to get out of going on this outing.  The cold weather was a wonderful excuse, but DH wasn’t buying it.  He really wanted to go AS A FAMILY.  And unfortunately yesterday’s migraine conveniently vanished a few hours before the outing was to begin.  I had no excuse. 

 So we’re wandering in the woods, three inches of powder snow on top of slippery ice, trudging around listening to nothing, trying just to stay on our feet.  At one point a woman in the group said, “I hear owls outside my house and sometimes they’d loud enough to wake me up.”  Maybe I’m wrong, but if had owls on my property I heard frequently I wouldn’t intentionally go out on a freezing cold night twenty minutes from town on a hike to hear owls.  Halfway through the hike and still no actual owl sounds to be heard I was hoping we’d take a vote to stop the insanity and go to that woman’s house to hear them over a nice cup  of tea.  No such luck.

We did actually hear a pair of Barred Owls (Bard?) chattering in the trees.  It was very cool, but by that time all I could think about was getting back to the warm car.  And really, it sounded exactly like the tape of owl sounds we had played to attract their call.  Live or Memorex?  Who cares.  It had been forty minutes and I couldn’t feel my toes at all.  I really need to replace my boots, or maybe just my DH for one who will be content to sip tea by the fire and knit with me. 

Superbowl and Bad Knitting

I knew it wasn’t going to be good when a guy showed up at church yesterday wearing an earwarmer with the Chicago Bears logo on it and continued to wear it throughout the service. I think he jinxed it for the entire country of Bears fans.  The Bears fans were just a bit too confident.  DH just called to remind me that the last time the Bears won the Superbowl we were fifteen years old. Thanks, honey. I feel really old now.   I am totally not a sports fan.  In fact, I love to root for the other team.  I was hoping the Bears would blow it.  I was actually hoping for a huge player (gang) fight in the middle of the game.  One player was on special privileges from probation because of all his weapons charges.  Give me a break.   And what’s with everyone knocking the Prince show (isn’t he still ‘the artist formerly known as Prince?’ I didn’t hear anyone say that last night.  Whatever happened to that?  I was trying hard to explain that to my 11 yr. old during the show and he said, “That is so dumb.”  Amen.  Then five year old Missy Moodle plops down and says, “Is that a boy or a girl?” Tee hee.)  I thought the show was a zillion times better than the Stones show last year and really wish everyone would clam up with the negativity about him.  There’s really an anti-The Artist Formally Known As Prince undercurrent in our country. I think many people can’t get past his appearance.  Whatever.  How cool was that he played Purple Rain in the rain?  That so rocked.  I admit the dancers sucked and I wished they’d slip on the wet stage and fall with a spikey heel in their foreheads, and I was most glad when he ditched his aunt jamima doo-rag.  He has great hair and the doo-rag bugged me.  But the show was too short and the crummy game returned.

What really made the game horrible was my knitting.  As a favor to a friend I agreed  yesterday to knit a hat for her daughter.  She gave he horrid Yarn Bee boucle’ yarn from hobby lobby (generic Bernat soft boucle’).  I wrestled with it throughout the entire game and ended up frogging it and restarting.  The gauge isn’t what the label says at all.  The yarn catches on my rings and skin and is just icky.  Worst of all, when the hat is done it will suck and it won’t be my fault and I have to give it to her and act like it’s okay.  Why did I agree to do this?  The woman said, “I will pay you to knit it.”  I said “No, but your daughter gets a free knitting lesson from me as my payment.”  God help me if she asks me to knit anything else ever again. 

I got sad news yesterday that an old schoolmate was killed in an plane crash.  Although we weren’t friends, I dated one of his good friends for a bit and we had band together.  Though I hadn’t seen him since high school, I remember him as a genuinely good guy with a hilarious sense of humor.   I’m so sad for his wife and three kids who were waiting for him at the airport.   The thing that is bothering me the most is that he probably said goodbye that morning to his wife just as my DH did this morning.   It’s true we should live every day to the fullest and remember to tie up loose ends with relationships.  Life is short and unpredictable.

Then again, it’s been zero degrees for about six months here and the burdens of life seem never ending.  Most times when I see obituaries of those I knew my final thought is, “Lucky bastard.”

FOAD Thursday

An acquaintance recently told me of an experience a group of girls scouts had at our local pseudo yarn shop.  The girls each paid $14 to take a knitting class in order to earn a badge.  When they arrived they were given a Nifty Knitter loom, a skein of eyelash yarn, and a 25% coupon for the next skein of yarn.   The girls had one class at the shop and then left to complete their scarves.  After the girls became frustrated and gave up, most of the mothers ended up completing them since the project took too much time and patience for the girls.  In addition, the yarn was difficult to work with since it was difficult to see the stitches. And since one skein wasn’t enough to complete the scarf, they had to return to the crummy shop and spend more money.  The scouts, having decided that they would never ever knit again because it was obviously horrible, will never look at yarn again.

I am so temped to call the shop to tell them what a disservice they have done to these girls and their parents.  They won’t get return business this way and I am appalled that they would think it okay to teach knitting this way. 

I can appreciate that it’s a challenge teaching a knitting class when you only have one session.  But how about a suitable first project like a bookmark or coaster or headband?  To admit that true knitting is too complicated to even attempt in one session is not the message we want young girls to have.  I am guessing that they didn’t even show them knitting needles or explain what knitting even is.  I am fuming at the owners of this stupid little shop, that they could take money from girl scouts and leave them with such a bad crafty aftertaste.  I have offered to teach knitting basics to one of the girls but she has banned knitting of any sort after this experience. 

The Montesori schools teach knitting as part of the cirriculum beginning at 6 years old.  It’s like learning piano or dance, it’s just a matter of regular instruction, practice, and encouragement.  Kids can definitely do it.