knitting with scissors

I'm tired of the snow. Tired of thinking about the weather. Tired of white - dingy white - swirling white - and cold heavy wet white everywhere.

This is why I have not posted anything here for some time. I seem to have a compulsion to document the weather! I am tired of that. But it was either that, or getting into trouble for posting inside pictures with people's faces in it. . . .

Now this post has no pictures of people's faces. None.

You remember this vest, don't you? I wrote about it here. When I was done, it looked like this: Note the lack of the opening at the front, as well as here, at the armholes. (Which may be expected to make the wearing of it a bit of a challenge. . . .) This is where the scissors come in. First, though, a sewing machine, another device one wouldn't think of when thinking of knitting. One has to secure the knitting before cutting! Don't be tempted to do either the crochet or hand-sewing alternatives - I was - the sewing machine works great and is the easiest and neatest way of doing this.

Watch now: Get as close as you can to the center line you will cut along - marked here by red thread. Yes, you will need to mark it, especially when you're working with a really fine gauge, like this is. And second, you might re-think the colour of the marking thread - it looks a little too much like it's bleeding when you cut along red. . . .

Now, for the cutting. Take a deep breath. Now cut. I felt a sense of euphoria afterwards, and did not need to lie down in a dark room for a half hour to recover as Elizabeth Zimmerman recommended, first time 'round, with, or without the stiff drink she also recommended.

I believe I did partake in a libation of some sort, however, as I finally got to see the vest looking rather more like a vest. I've finished the armhole ribbing, but now I have to re-do the bottom ribbing using a smaller needle and as soon as I've decided on a button size, I can decide on how many buttons there will be, and knit the front facing ribbing.

Speaking of ribbing, here is the best method for an elastic cast off method for ribbing I have ever found. Look how pretty. . . . And speaking of buttons, here is a website with one of the more comprehensive button collections I was able to find. I thought I'd find a wealth of available choices - but I was a bit surprised and looked long and hard to find this one. Any others out there you'd recommend?

snowmania, snowmaggedon, snowpocalypse!

Twenty nine hours of straight snow. . . . punctuated by late night thunder and lightening (which I apparently slept through), resulted in almost 3 feet of the white stuff here at the greenwood. Day three dawned bright and clear, with a cornflower blue sky. Did I mention cold? I should have. It was crisp!

The dig-out from the blizzard of 2010 had been commenced the day before at the height of the storm. I now realize the wisdom of this approach from the last storm (just before Christmas) and was a much more willing participant this time around. Before I gave out, I helped clear a path to the right side of the house (generator and heat pump) and then on down the hill to a toilet spot for Luther. The snow is so deep, he can't squat to do his 'business'! (and for a long-legged dog like Luther, that's deep.)

The king, meanwhile, went around front to the other side of the house (the other heat pump) and started a trench out to the Jeep which he had positioned at the end of the driveway up by the road. He's amazing. My hero!That's the Jeep at the top of the photo - still covered over. Talk about a good idea! Ludwig (my car) should have fallen in behind il Trukko. As it is, I don't know when I'll see Ludwig again.

The good news: we didn't lose power. Almost 50,000 in Maryland did - and even more in Washington D.C. We also have plenty of food and it's just gorgeous here.

Here's Luther in the trenches. The bench is recognizable only from the back. Who knew 10 feet from the road could be so far?!!! Next time, even a bit closer, I'm thinking. . . .

Did I say next time?!

Yes.

Alas.

There are reports of more snow starting tomorrow.

But back to this snow. It's heavy. And dense. One works up a sweat pretty darn quickly! By the way, to date, the greenwood receives no compensation for posting product photos. . . . although we would have accepted a case of this stuff. Time for a break. Not that any one could have delivered it to us today. . .

Here is the one exception to the rule "Don't eat yellow snow":
the beer slushy! Luther loves them. That's why his face is buried in the snow in this shot, he's going for the beer (he's partial to scotch-dipped fingers and ice cubes as well, especially if it's a single malt, peaty sort!). And no, we don't give him enough to piss off the pet activists - so stow that thought (and lecture) right now. We're talking about a dog that, left to his own devices, will eat dirt, sticks, rocks and entrails, so don't be giving us as hard time about a thimble-full of scotch. Or beer, as the case may be!

Sorry. I'm still recovering from the news about PETA's latest target: replacing Punxsatawney Phil with a robot.

I hope they don't ever take aim on Luther and force him to live "naturally", outside, in the snow, without his fake fur dog bed and rakish red collar! After a long day playing in the snow - his bed is all he's interested in. He tells me he will take exception to anyone with different plans for him. I'm hoping that he won't take exception to the peanut-butter-wheaten-oat-crunch-bones that are in the oven for him!*

I don't care if PETA approves or not.

*post forthcoming. . . .