Sheep Shots

That's how long our power was out! And it's 21 degrees here at noon today, so you can imagine how cold it is in the house. We bailed out at 3 yesterday afternoon and spent the night in a motel. Where there was heat and running water.

This house is all electric. With no alternate heat source (like a fireplace). And a well. So no water.
Imagine your very worst sleep over camp experience. Remember the out house? And the showers? Now imagine it in the winter.

That awful! Or worse.

I will now attempt to recreate the entry I was working on when the lights went out Saturday night. (It really was incredibly clever.) Please forgive my frozen fingertips!

I started out writing about these:




Yes, I know they are granny squares. They are all that is left of several very large boxes of granny squares that were sent to me for joining over the past couple of years. I think all told, I put together about 10 laprobes and crib-size blankets from these squares.

This last few were edged and stitched together into a couple of scarves. Not the warmest in the world, but definitely trendy. (I got the idea from a grocery store knitting ragazine--not a typo--for new knitters.)


And here's a little bit of cleverness I cooked up while working on my Adult Surprise Sweater For Me (tm). Recognize this?



It's an earring (one of a kind) with what I believe is called "french wire."


The Surprise sweaters call for lots of decreasing and then increasing at two points along the sleeve/body/sleeve section. Marking the double increases isn't difficult. You isolate a stitch and M1 on either side of it. However, the double decreases (slip, k 2 tog, psso), that's a whole different story. The center stitch (the one you'd need to mark) is consumed in the center of each decrease. That means moving the marker every other row (tedious but doable) or knitting it in (fine if you are using those skinny little rubber bands, but not with any marker you'd like to use again since you have to cut them out).

But look at this:


One of a kind earring put to good use marking the center stitch! Easy to move. Easy to replace.

Truth is, the decreases are so very obvious that after the second or third, you can see right where you need to put them. The marker serves as a tactile reminder when you are breezing along on this many miles of garter stitch. (Yes, I can knit without looking. I've been knitting longer than many of you are alive. )



You just keep moving the little hook dealie up and up so that you touch it when you get to that place on the row. Isn't that just the coolest thing??





I am pleased to announce that the software for my new camera (with zoom and closeup and all sorts of nifty features) has been installed on this computer.

As soon as I figure it out, you should see a remarkable improvement in the quality of the photos here. Or not.

Now I think I'll go nuke some water for tea and see if I can get some blood circulating in my body.
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