So much fiber, so little time

Plow turds, redux

Grrr. I just went out to dig out the mailbox and retrieve the mail. So what comes charging down the road? The snowplow on the shoulder-clearing run. Poof! The end of the driveway gets a mound of snow 18 feet long, four feet wide and about a foot high in the middle.

Even though one of my mottos is "if it has tires or testicles, it will cause trouble", a snowblower is looking pretty good right about now: Harvey the Honda, to keep Henrietta company.

Dug out

Urk. This is the 28th day of January. We've had snow on 22 of those days and rain on three of the others. I had to snowshoe paths for Bear through the 20+ inches in the backyard and shovel an area for Cookie in the hope of keeping her sutures dry(ish). Plus, the plow turds at the end of the driveway were formidable this morning...

I do have a pair of Gotland/Shetland socks going, using yet another chart from Here Be Wyverns. I'll take a picture soon, maybe.

Pup's home

Cookie's home. She's missing mighty chunks of hair, what with two incisions, but she doesn't seem to be in pain. Plus, she barked at Huey, whose weekend of peace and quiet ended as soon as she walked through the door. I'll just have to keep an eye on the weather forecast - I'll need to shovel before taking her out to keep all those sutures dry.

So the weaving sample was effectively scuttled. I'm going to start another pair of socks, either from the Gotland and Shetland yarns again (path of least resistance), or from musket Shetland and the light gray, if I feel like winding a ball.

One sock, two sock

Finally finished the second Gotland/Shetland sock. These puppies will wear like iron.

And speaking of puppies, Cookie is doing pretty well. Unfortunately, despite the ultrasounds, no parathyroid adenomas showed up during surgery, so we're back to square one and looking for ectopic parathyroid tissue. (My vet, for very good reasons, calls her "Cookie, dog of mystery".) They removed bladder stones, a side effect of the hypercalcemia, which at least should hold off a late-night emergency trip.

Poor pup is still on an IV, but she'll be home tomorrow morning. I'm not going to visit her today, because she's acting pretty calm. I'm afraid if I show up, she'll think she's homeward bound and then get upset.

Good vibes

Think good thoughts about a puppy dog. Cookie will have parathyroid surgery tomorrow, which means several days of ICU to monitor her calcium levels.

Shadow weave

I think the reason I like shadow weave so much, particularly on 6 or more shafts, is the sheer fun of getting curvy lines from straight ones. So I've been playing with a draft for a blanket in black and very light gray. That will go on the big loom after the taquete bathmat for which I've measured a sample warp. (Note to self: Must Weave Sample This Weekend.)

Washer Woman!

Every other Sunday tends to be my laundry day, but today's is the extended version: not the sheets-and-towels day, but the handknitted sock day. Many pairs are soaking in the washer now, and I have to look for the gallon of vinegar for the intermediate rinse.

Plus, since the temperature is hovering just below the freezing mark, I ran Henrietta through the car wash with the works. Of course, the brief period of sunshine ended somewhere on the drive home, and it's now snowing steadily, but at least the worst of the salt is off her and she's again gloriously orange.

One down

Here's the first Gotland/Shetland sock. I'm just about to start the second. It will keep me busy while I stay home waiting for yet another power failure. The wind is really howling, and there's evergreen detritus scattered all over the yard.

There are a few new pictures in the photo albums. I added a closeup of the huppah and a plaid blanket brushed by Ihana to the woven album and a qiviut shawl picture to the lace album.

Found!

Shadow Weave turned up at the bottom of a very large pile of textile books, many of which are out of print. (And speaking of out of print - Cornell has a copy of Keep Me Warm One Night. I must go over and check it out!)

Searching

If you were a bedraggled copy of Marian Powell's 1000+ Patterns in 4, 6 & 8 Harness Shadow Weaves, where would you be hiding? I think I put it somewhere safe so I could take it to Kinko's to be spiral-bound before more of the elderly pages loosened.

Off to search!

Finally

Well, the power outage got me to do something I've been meaning to for a long time: order a UPS for the computer. But things are better. The basement is drying (and humidfying upstairs at the same time :), and it warmed up enough for the dogs to poop.

Minor excitement

Well, last night was certainly fun at my house. The power went out around 5:45 pm, while the temperature outside was not so much falling as plummeting. I have a battery pack that will run my Ott Lite for at least six hours, so I plugged in the light, found the FDNY flashlight, and headed for the basement to connect the sump pump to the generator. Unfortunately, the pull on the generator was frozen. mutter, mutter. I hauled the generator into the basement garage to thaw, went back upstairs and put a pot of water on the boil (why a gas stove is a Good Thing) to heat a hot compress. I packed the compress around the pull cord housing, while watching the basement puddle grow larger. In the meantime, power company estimated that the power wouldn't be restored until 10 pm. mutter, mutter. where are the parts coming from - California?

But bless Honda and gas stoves. The cord freed up, so outside went the generator to start on the first pull. The sump began draining the large puddle, and I went upstairs to heat some cider and read. Fortunately, the power came back around 8 pm, so I didn't have to stay up to babysit the generator and keep the pipes from freezing.

Growing sock

I redid the heel and am cruising towards the toe. To "smallen" the foot (as my sister used to say when she was little), I dropped down a needle size. That should keep it from flopping around on my banana feet.

An emergency project has sprung up: I'm going to recycle a worn out Polartec jacket into dog booties. The dogs had real trouble with their feet Saturday (-17F in the morning), and while the weather has warmed up (and dumped twice the predicted amount of snow on us), it's supposed to get cold again Wednesday through Saturday.

New toy

I just ordered a naviPod, which is a remote control device for a 3G iPod that includes a line out. Woo! That makes plugging into my stereo much easier. Now I can listen to pre-recorded internet radio from my knitting chair (insert middle finger raised to the DMCA here).

Rock Day

I made it to the guild's Rock Day party, although I only stayed for about half. Wendy came from Rochester, wearing a beautiful cabled sweater that I recognized. She's the third fiber blogger I've gotten to meet in person, Caroline and Eve being the other two. Considering that it was extremely cold (the -25F windshield washer fluid was quite slushy when I poured it into the reservoir this morning), turnout was good, and we had more vendors than I expected. I just hope they all made enough money to return next year. Certainly, many succumbed to tempation, but since I had about four bucks in my wallet and no checks, I was safe :) Plus I caught up with some of my favorite people in the guild, one of whom is making very cool glass buttons, and carefully avoided one of my least favorite ...

The sock instep and heel are frogged, and I'm just about to restart. It will be a good project to do while watching Babylon 5 Season 4 DVDs, since it will distract me from the frightening resemblances between Clark/Cheney and ISN/CNN.