Snowed In With Knitting Needles

Last week I heard there was going to be a snowstorm this past Saturday, and the weatherman said 6-12 inches.  Of course my first thought was that the weatherman didn't know is numbers - and I thought I was bad at math.  I made sure to leave knitting circle early, just in case the forecast was right.

On the way home there were a few flurries, nothing I'd consider a show stopper.  By 4p, there was a little dusting of snow.  By 8p, here's what I saw:

Well, how in the world did that happen?  It wasn't snowing that hard an hour ago.  The next day I went out to shovel and the snow was up to my knees!  Granted, I'm only 5' tall, but up to my knees?  And the snow was up my front steps and against my front door!!  I heard we got 18" of snow.  Now, I'm too old to fall down, and shoveling that much snow could give me a heart attack, so when these two guys offered to shovel, I let them have at it - for a price.  My slacker son was off shoveling other people's sidewalks for Christmas money.

Meanwhile, I finished the Nutkin socks and I'm quite pleased with the results:

I used Smooshy Dream in Color, but I don't know what color this is because the ball band is long gone.  Ill probably find it in a month or two.  I do know that I used US #2 needles and after these socks there was plenty of yarn left over.  The pattern called for a short row heel and toe, but I only used the short rows for the heel and did my usual toe bind off.  Cute socks, nice yarn and another Christmas present under my belt.

Then my friend Sojourn Knitter and I were talking about stash and I mentioned that I had some Misti Alpaca lace in what was sold to me as silver sage.  I had 10 skeins of it, I used 6 of them and to be honest, I was bored with the color:

Mercifully, she had some too, but in a much better color, merlot:

Too bad my camera doesn't do deep, rich purples, but it's absolutely beautiful and I know just what I'm going to do with it - right after the holidays.

And finally, I finished the Multnomah Shawl.  It had it's bath and is comfortably blocking which was no easy feat.  How does one block a scalloped edge?  I pinned the top, then I pinned the line going down the middle to make sure it stayed straight, then I pressed the scallops into shape and pinned.  Not perfect, but good enough:

I used one skein of gifted Cherry Tree Hill supersock yarn  (thanks Sojourn Knitter - again) and US #3 needles.  There was barely any yarn left when I was done.  Honestly, I should have gone up a needle size.  The pattern said that at the start of the 6th and 10th repeats you could add more lace, but I didn't.  I should have.   Anyway, now another holiday present is done in time for Christmas.  Yay!

Now I only have to make six more things, and I've only got time for 3.  Hah!  I laugh in the face of adversity.  I'll get all of my gifts made, even if I have to duck the recipients until a week after Christmas.