This week in snow, sleet, rain and knitwear

It was Monday morning. As is his habit, Nik stood on my chest long enough to wake me and make known his desire for his 4 a.m. feeding. He does this every morning, like I'd forget or something. Not bloody likely after 13 years. I'm a creature of habit, too, buddy. I know how it goes.

I glanced upward from my bed out through the slightly open blinds. It seemed so light out that I figured I really had overslept, leaving poor starving kitties to struggle for themselves well past 5 o'clock. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, squinted at the clock on the night table and saw that it was only 1:48 a.m. In my vast experience of such things, the only reason for the softly bright night sky was snow. The first real, stuck-to-the-ground, more-than-a-dusting snowfall of the pre-winter season. And me, caught with my needles down.

While it's true that I already have a beret and cowl under my belt, I want more. It wouldn't hurt to have another cowl or two, with matching chapeaux, mittens or fingerless mitts completed. I won't go so far as a sweater or lacy shawl because these things, while quite lovely, require the kind of patience I do not possess.

Watch out for sticky fingers with this one! She is called Super Cupcake and she will be mine this winter. Bonne Marie has come up with another practical, sensible and versatile knit to battle the wind and the wet. I have just the worsted in mind, too: 3 or 4 skeins of Lorna's Laces in the Vera colorway that's been marinating in stashland for quite some time.

Perhaps I need to put the baby dress aside and gear up for more suitable woolens. My original plan called for the dress to be finished in time for baby's first Christmas. Well, like the man says, plans change. I hear there's a bonafide winter storm headed our way by week's end.

A Change In The Weather

I looked out my window and got the shock of my life. I saw near white-out conditions, with winds whipping gusts of up to 50 miles per hour. All this instead of a little rain. That's all it was earlier. Rain and 50 degrees (F). The last time the winter winds went haywire, my 9-foot patio umbrella snapped in half and the outdoor furniture started moving down toward the back gate. Good thing I still have cozy knits on my mind.

The start of a top-down raglan cardigan in Noro Silk Garden, color 224 (disc.)

Organic cottons from Blue Sky Alpacas, destined to be a textured knit throw

In the quick update department, I've got one Monkey done and I've started on number two. A new yarn, Fiesta Boomerang in the color "Sedona", is all wound up and waiting to be knit into Lisa Dykstra's "Sedona" socks. I thought the synchronicity was too perfect to pass up.

In Other News
Some of you know the details of my spinal fusion and how I tried to wait until artificial discs were available. Reading this New York Times article makes me glad I didn't. The article implies that some of the glowing reports of success may have been tainted by surgeons with a financial interest in the devices. In addition, research results may have been cherry-picked so that failures were under-represented.

My replacement discs came from bone harvested from my hip. It still hurts on occasion, but at least I didn't risk rejection or rupture of synthetic materials in my spine. Thank goodness for small favors?

The Siberian Express Cometh!

If you live anywhere in the midsection of North America, you'd best pull out all your woolly gear and bundle up, because the frigid cold winds of the Siberian Express are here.

I heard them whistle into Chicago last night as my neighbor's giant wheeled trash cans were tossed about his yard. I heard them in the branches of large trees as they scraped against the side of our glass building. And I thought about the two scarves sitting on my work bench that remain in the WIP pile, and I cried, "Why aren't I a faster knitter?"

Thanks to pain meds, I was able to complete one miserable 32 row repeat of the ZigZag scarf. Hopefully, with some caffeine for fuel and the howling winds at the door, I can make some serious headway. Too bad it's not in time for the deep-freeze. Best advice? Cuddle up with someone warm!

By the way, I can't thank you enough for your enthusiastic support of the efforts of me and my collaborator in design, Rebecca. I also need to give a special shout-out to Monica, who has agreed to be my hands for the finished submission. See, none of us do this alone for which I am most grateful.