Ice Cloud MKAL

This was the first time that I have participated in one of those mysterious knit-a-longs and it wasn’t too stressful. The designer of this one is Carol Feller of Stolen Stitches. Yesterday I received an e-mail from her about the next KAL that I had signed up for with her for a sweater. Uh oh. I forgot about that one. I’m not sure there’s any yarn around here for that project so I might have to opt out. I know I’m going to opt out.

I am on the 2019 Yarn Diet. Have you heard of that one? It’s where you cut down on a whole lot of fiber. Lot’s of fiber. You don’t buy any cotton, wool, alpaca, linen, silk, or that ever popular acrylic or anything else that comes in the shape of really long strings. No hand dyed sock yarns, no gorgeous sweater yarns – none of that.

Why? I have a whole lot of it already so I’m forcing myself to use some first. I’ve also got a Diet Buddy. She’s over in Canada. She told me in an e-mail last night that, yes, buying a kit just to get the pattern is cheating. Ok. So, I won’t do that, either.

I’m knitting shawls right now to give away to my mom and sisters. We’re going to a book signing later this week in Ann Arbor. After a little more internet searching I might knit one for the author as well. Turns out, my mom has known the author for a while even before she became a chapter in the book – my mom, that is. She was interviewed in 2015 for a book about how technology has changed. I’ll share more about that later this week or after the signing.

As you can see, I’m still extremely negligent about blogging. My fingers are just too busy knitting.

This is the second Close to You shawl that I have knitted. It’s a free pattern on Ravelry from Lete’s Knits, Justyna Lorkowska.

It’s so much fun and so easy that I’ve already got another one in progress and, as long as I can keep finding these gradient yarns in my stash, I’ll keep making them. I might look for another similar pattern eventually. One must branch out.

In the meantime, the Ice Cloud MKAL is underway. Carol Feller of Stolen Stitches released Clue #1 yesterday. I’m cruising along but put it down for a little bit. I have until next Friday for Clue #2 to be released – or is that two Fridays from now. It’s all secret. We’re not supposed to share photos other than in the Spoiler Alert forum that she created on Ravelry. Did I peek? Sure did.

Just a Tree along I-75

We were up north at our cabin for three days after originally planning on a 5 day trip. We just couldn’t get ourselves together to get up there on Friday night so we finally made it up on Sunday afternoon.

It was nice – sort of – for a northern Michigan December – then it all happened. On New Year’s Eve the snow started. Over a 12 hour period 9″ of snow fell. Hardly anyone was up in our community since there was no snow until then. After hunting season is over the next season is snowmobiling. Without snow, that doesn’t happen. I’m betting there’s going to be a few up there this coming weekend. They better hurry. The temperatures are predicted to go up into the mid 40s on Monday. That will make for quite the slushy mess.

When we went for breakfast on New Year’s Day it was 3 degrees. When we left to head home yesterday it was 6 degrees. I’m thinking of heading back up for the first knitting group meeting of 2019 which is on Tuesday of next week. After that, I may not be back for a while since I plan my trips back and forth on the weather.

You see, I never need to be anywhere bad enough to drive in that nasty weather. After three years of enduring trips during torrential downpours and white-out conditions I can now time my trips between weather events.

Ah, the joy of not working.

This is how my day started out. Nice and pretty. Within minutes it was totally cloudy and no sign of the sun anywhere. Just after lunch the rain came and it’s still raining now. If it were colder, we’d be getting quite a bit of snow. They say we may have an icy Christmas here with a wintry mix of precipitation.

Day 20 of my Advent KAL is complete so I’m back to finishing a sock. I can’t share a photo of this pair of socks as it’s part of a group project. Check back next year for that photo.

Frozen

This week I started another photography course online. The subject is learning how to take better nature photos. Since nature surrounds me I’m thinking it’s going to be fun. The instructor is one that I’ve had before so we’ve already been acquainted with each other. I had to razz him a few times because he doesn’t seem to like to acknowledge that Sony DSLR cameras are top in their field. More than one photography publication has mentioned that the alpha line of mirrorless Sonys are in the lead over and above Nikon and Canon. I even shared a link to one of those articles. Maybe I can wear him down yet.

It’s Really Cold Out There

On my first trip outside with the dog this morning it was rather crisp. As she walked her 23 pound little spotted self out there to find the perfect potty location everything was making crunching sounds. They say it’s going to be our coldest Thanksgiving Day since they started keeping track of such things.

That should make for an interesting color shift for my 2018 Temperature Blanket, eh? Yesterday’s Real Feel temp was 21 degrees. I’m hoping that I don’t get back into the 70s anymore this year as I’m running low on the yellow that goes along with that temperature range. For some reason, I only ordered two balls of yellow which I think isn’t right and there must be a hiding place here somewhere with more of the yarn stashed. I’ll search.

Turkey isn’t one of my favorite foods but, I’ll have some anyway. If I had my choice, I’d have just the vegetables and desert but, my mom might get mad at me. No, kidding. She called me Old Lady the other day after my birthday. Yup, I reminded her that she is older than I am. Ahahahaha.

Have a great Thanksgiving whatever you’re doing today. I’ve never been one to be all profound about being thankful for this or that because everyone else does it and we all seem to want or feel pretty much the same way. I am thankful, though, that I am here on earth and so are those who matter to me and we’re safe and sound.

If you are able to help others, do your best. Yesterday I donated to the California fire victims fundraiser that an online yarn shop was conducting. That was simple and painless. Buy yarn and 100% of the proceeds go to the fire victims. So, I bought yarn. The same shop, Little Knits, had done that before for other victims. I couldn’t resist.