Yardage for Simple projects

 

                 child's sweater                                                   364yds

A Cold Winter Day

    About 2 weeks ago our fuel oil company called to let us know that another round of HEAP allotments were going to be coming out and be sure to sign up.  Well, I know that you have to have 1/4 tank or less to qualify and we had just less than 1/2 a tank at that time so I figured we had to 'burn down' some.   After the super cold spell we had the last few weeks with daytime temperatures below freezing and nighttime below zero I knew we'd get down to 1/4 of a tank pretty quickly.  Jeff thought we had done it by Sunday so I planned to call HEAP and signup on Monday but I got busy and never got to it.  

   Tuesday morning we woke up to a cold house.  We had run out of fuel oil sometime in the early morning and the house got chilly quickly!!  Jeff started a fire in the woodstove and kept it going all day.  He even went to town and got a couple of more bundles of wood to be sure we had enough...besides what was in the garage.  He stayed up all night Tuesday feeding the fire and the house stayed comfortable.  We have a fan in between the TV room where the woodstove is and the rest of the house and that keeps the kitchen and parlor very cozy.  In fact, the butter in the butterdish on the kitchen table was softer on Tues & Wed than it's been since August!

   It was my turn to feed the stove during the day on Wednesday while waiting for the oil delivery and Jeff got some sleep.  I sat in the parlor working on a shawl, watching the clock so I could feed the fire on a regular basis.  The thermomature on the wall by my computer showed that the temperature in the parlor stayed between 70 and 72 all day except for one spike when it went up to 75!  Quess that piece of wood was extra heavy.  The oil delivery finally came around 3:30pm.

   Fuel oil in upstate central New York this week is going for $4.03 a gallon (our empty tank took 250 gals), because we were on 'empty' it was considered an 'off-day' delivery and we were charged an extra$65, and to have the guy come in and start the burner cost another $25.  The wood Jeff bought was $9.75 a bundle and he got 3 bundles.  I'll leave the math to the reader but it was an expensive cold day.  Oh, and there was 8.5% sales tax on everything, too!  Still it was nice to have the woodstove to fall back on.  In fact, I don't remember the last time it had been that comfortable in the house.  You can't beat wood heat.

   Here's the shawl I'm working on: "Easy as Pie' by Marissa Hernandez, available on Ravelry.  I'm doing it with Sundara Yarn's "Hills of Mist", a 100% superwash extra fine merino on US5's.  I've got 145 sts heading for 207. It will stretch out and look 'finer' after it's washed and blocked.  It gets a 30-row edging of lace to finish it offf.  The price for this shawl will probably be $80.  I've got another hank of this yarn but I think I've got to find another pattern.  I ordered yarn from Knitpicks, too.  I'm hoping I can do 4 or 5 shawls to add to my display in the shop for our April reopening.  I had thought of doing 'smalls' but my hands don't like that idea too much. I think I'd be better off doing a shawl (that sells for $80) than 6 small things that sell for a total of $80.  

A Winter Wonderland

      We haven't gotten the snowfall that was forecast (9-15") for this 'major winter storm' but since it's still coming down, who knows what we'll end up with!  This first photo was the view at 10am today from the kitchen door.  If you know how high the back bumper is on an Outback you can figure out how much snow we got over night.  Zoey, our short Beagle, says it was too much!  She went down the steps and was suddenly 'swimming' in snow!  Fanny followed her down the stairs and was just walking without any trouble while Zoey was leaving a 'belly path'!  Since this photo was taken, we've gotten at least 2" more!  The forecast was calling for 4" of new snow this afternoon but who knows what we'll end up with! 

   The mouth of our driveway is blocked by the road slush pushed there by the town plow.  There has to be at least 18" of frozen snow and ice built up there.  Needless to say, we're not going anywhere anytime soon.  Jeff had a doctor's appointment today but I called and rescheduled it.  The woman wanted to change it to March 1st at 9am but I couldn't do that to him...it's his birthday!!  So he'll have to wait to May 6th to see his MD.

   This second photo is a view from a bedroom.  Those are tracts left by a snowmobile...not a very wide truck!  After the last storm, Wally had a friend of his come over with a pickup truck and a plow and open the road.  I sure hope he does it again tonight or we will be snowed in for a few days!  The berm in the mouth of the driveway is too big for a 'walk behind' and neither our Cub Cadet or Wally's is in any shape to tackle this job.  

   Well, Jeff and the dogs are taking advantage of a quiet day to nap but I think it's time for a cup of something warm and maybe a good book.

 

Yarn Pal Time

           The dogs seemed to know that the soft squishy package UPS just delivered had something special in it for them...and it did!  There were 3 different kinds of dog treats!!  The package was from my current Yarn Pal, Nina Weiss in Huntington Beach, California, and it held more than just dog treats!

   Besides the beautiful yarn and the package of coffee beans, there was a book on tatting, a shuttle and a ball of tatting thread.  Now, I can't tell you how many times I've tried to learn to tat.  An old friend of my mother's, an expert tatter, even tried to teach me and I'm afraid I nearly gave the poor woman a nervous breakdown!  And I wasn't a kid!  I was an almost 30 year old professional woman with a good job AND a thriving craft business but I couldn't remember the easy directions she gave me! By the time I got home I had forgotten everything!  But, boy, could I make great knots! Now with the book and its beautiful photos I think I just might be able to master tatting.  Let's keep those fingers and toes crossed!  Please!!

And Thank You Again, Nina Weiss!  I am looking forward to trying to tat!!  

(Oh, I had to put the dog treats on a high shelf because Zoey's Beagle nose found them on the counter and was urging Fanny to get them down for her.  When you're only 11" high at the shoulder there are times you need to rely on your 'big' (20" at the shoulder) sister!)