It was a dull and gloomy Wednesday, here–gray and damp and . . . ah well. I did take Chappy out for romping earlier–it was warm enough today that the snow softened, which made packing it into snowballs much, much easier. It also meant that Chappy came back in covered with little snowballs attached to his legs, his stomach, his chest . . . if I didn’t put a coat on him, he’d have them everywhere. This is our only complaint for snow that comes up above his shoulders–if it were only up to his knees there would be no problem.

Still, they were bad enough that I popped him into the bathtub when we got inside (leaving a trail of tiny, snowballs with brown fur centers). Warm water is by far the easiest way to get rid of those buggers. While we were in there, I pulled out the conditioner and just gave him a full bath–he’s kind of needed one lately anyway, and since this is going to be the warmest day of the week, now was the time. (It’s not supposed to get above 18 tomorrow.)

 I got some spinning done on my lunch break. It’s a nice blue-and-green batt of corriedale I got from Grafton Fibers just before Christmas. I spun up half of it, then put it on hold to work on Cindy’s fuschia. But now that has changed. I’m taking this half slowly, trying to figure out the long-draw drafting technique . . . or at least, something that resembles it. The problem with figuring things out yourself from a book is that you can never be entirely sure that you’re doing it right . . . but hey, if it works and you end up with yarn, is there really a problem? (grin)

I joined Alison’s “February Fix-It” group and am very excited about it. A chance (not to mention incentive) for fixing some of the knits that haven’t come out quite right! My very first thing will be changing the zipper in my DB green, cabled cardigan It’s completely the wrong color, shows too much when it’s zipped, and scratches my neck, to boot! Not only that, the hood is too long–I think I’ll undo the cast-off and frog an inch or so of that . . . and then . . .

I took two stitch-pattern books with me to work today to photocopy the directions for two different lace stitches that I want to use in my Pi-are-Square shawl. I was already to start the next section last night, but realized that I was going to need to read two different lace patterns at the same time . . . and from two different books . . . in order to continue, and that’s just a little too much to juggle in your lap at one time. So, I photocopied them today, and tonight I can keep going. I really missed working on it last night. I just finished the next-to-last stitch increase and am going to do a Travelling Vine lace stitch in the back, and starting here, I’m going to do a lace panel down the front, straight edge of the shawl as well. I wouldn’t want the front to get bored, being all, plain garter stitch while the back (which, let’s face it, I’m not going to see as much of) gets to be all fun and fancy. So tonight, me, my yarn, my needles, and photocopies.

Here’s a picture of my shawl-collared cable from Dale of Norway. It stretched badly when I blocked it (and I’ve since learned that Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran has that tendency), so I summoned up my courage over the weekend and rewashed it (in a net bag this time) and then put it in the dryer. Yes, I know, it scared me too, but there was no way I could wear that tent! As it is, it’s still a little big, and I’d like to get the bottom hem to fall in a straight line, but it’s a tolerable fit, in its oversized way. It did felt the tiniest bit, but the only thing that seems affected by that are the bobbles, and really, I don’t much like bobbles anyway. Now if only I could figure out why everyone keeps telling me it looks green . . . to me, this is a mustard/brown with maybe a hint of green, but it’s not actually GREEN!.

One last picture (to make up for the photographic draught of the last few days). Here’s Chappy from last night, tucked up in his bed, and absolutely exhausted from chasing snowballs. It’s rare for him to cuddle under a blanket of any kind, but when he does, he looks extra sweet, like a child does tucked under their covers.

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Winter Wednesday //