It is cold. Beyond cold. Way beyond freezing even (heck, if it was 32 degrees, we'd be breaking out the shorts!). Yesterday was cold. Single digit temps, with a bit of a breeze. This morning, it was just brutal.
It actually dropped to -7, but my hands were too cold to get out the camera again. It hurts to breathe outside. The air is so dry that the snow is now "squeaky". I piled on all the fleece and handknits I have to make the trek from the parking garage into work (about a 6 minute walk). I was still cold. Luckily today there is no wind.
The dogs (except Ace, he is Arctic dog!) only go outside when they absolutely have to. Poor Otis - his paws were so cold yesterday afternoon, he plunked himself down in the snow and lifted his feet off the ground! He'll get booties on this afternoon. It is a big day for him - he gets his stitches out! He'll still need to wear the E-Collar for a bit longer, but I'm hoping he can get back to normal soon!
With the chilly temps outside, evenings have been confined to inside activities - like knitting and, for Naomi, spinning!
This is some superwash Merino in Blue Raspberry she got from
Jessica's Esty shop! Since she has pretty much spun up all the fiber she had, she bought some different things to try. She also got some BFL in a beautiful yellow. Anyway, my holiday gift to my mom was a cowl. I wanted to let her pick the pattern, and Naomi offered to spin the yarn! This is her first attempt at spinning thicker than fingering weight. She's really, really good at spinning thin - she can spin cobweb weight if she wanted, so this is a great challenge for her! The thickness of Malabrigo is what she's going for, along with the same, single ply (it's the yarn used in the pattern my mom picked). I think it's coming out great, and the color is just amazing! It's a bluish-purple with hints of a dark pinkish-burgundy color. Dying genius!
Her sock is coming along well - I'm into the gusset decreases The
last two socks I did had short row heels. Not my favorite. Heel flap, I have missed you! Short rows are just not my thing. Never have I gotten them to come out really nice. Many methods have been tried, there is just something about picking up the wraps and that whole second half of the heel. Just not pleasant for me. Give me a good 'ol heel flap any day!
The mittens I designed are another story. The corrugated ribbing was
done, I had the pattern designed and tweaked and started knitting. Ick. Double Ick. Super Ick. It was just nothing like I wanted and it was not fun to knit.
The previous mitten and cuff are now two balls (beautiful center pull balls, may I add) of yarn again. The cuff will be changed to a ribbed cuff (better for keeping out the weather as my dad is a walker in all sorts of temps) and I have to re-work the design again. Back to the drawing (Excel) board.....
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