Snow Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all!! Okay, so it is officially Thursday and thus not Valentine's Day, but I didn't have time to post before midnight, Wednesday. Dear hubby made me yummy chocolate chip cookies on Tuesday night, so I had an early Valentine waiting for me when I got home from work. He IS the perfect husband!!!

For some Valentine Eye Candy, go to Kristin Nicholas's blog to see uber-cute photos of newborn lambs. You will just say "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

Here's some knitting content. A watchcap for dear hubby that just needs the ends woven in:

Project specs:
Yarn: Plymouth Encore worsted weight, 75% acrylic, 25% wool from my stash
Needles: Brittany Birch DPNs, size 5
Pattern: basic roll cuff watchcap

The colors are a bit washed out because we have such bright light due to the snow.

Here is a cowl also from the same yarn stash ~ colors very washed out:

You need to imagine that a human head and neck are where the bear is:

I tried putting this on and taking the shot in front of a mirror, but I got too much flash bounce, so the images don't show much of anything but a bright flash spot.
Project specs:
Yarn: Plymouth Encore worsted weight, 75% acrylic, 25% wool from my stash
Needles: Brittany Birch DPNs, size 9
Pattern: basic cowl ~ cast on enough stitches to fit around head, alternate stockinette and garter stitch for desired length.

Well, we finally got enough snow to cancel classes. The weather has been particularly wicked this past week. Frigid temps last week, well below zero Fahrenheit during the day; all K-12 schools were closed due to the freezing temps, but as I mentioned in a previous post, not my college.

Tuesday night the snowstorm was DREADFUL. We quickly had six inches within a few hours, very strong 50+ mph winds, and visibility was nil. Very treacherous driving conditions, especially at night. Yet the snow wasn't deep enough to cancel classes before 3:00 p.m., so we had to make the dangerous trip in and back. Thank goodness someone had sense enough to cancel Wednesday's classes.

Hubby shoveled lots of snow Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning. I spent most of the day getting the snowblower to work so hubby doesn't exhaust or kill himself shoveling (remember, midwestern snow is heavy and wet, not light and fluffy). Drove all over town looking for a siphon to empty out the snowblower's gas tank, hoping a new mix of fuel would start the damn thing up. After finally siphoning out (read: tipping the stupid thing upside down and pouring the fuel into an old gas tank) last year's gas and getting a new mix in, the snowblower sparked right up, and I tackled some drifts in the driveway. The stupid siphon was a piece of CRAP. I got gasoline all over my hands trying to get the siphon to work. I got so annoyed with the thing I ended up just picking up the snowblower and tipping it completely upside down.

Because my hands were soaked with gas while I was outside, I couldn't put my gloves back on while I cleared the snow. I have washed my hands at least two million times today with all kinds of cleansers and harsh detergents, trying to get the gas smell off them, to no avail. I refuse to knit until I can rid myself of the smell. Any suggestions how to do this are welcome! I left soap on for five minutes, soaked, scrubbed, hand-cremed. Still stinks!!!

We still have more to tackle come tomorrow because some of the drifts are four to six feet deep, but we got the critical stuff cleared today.

Thank goodness we have a decent layer of snow, though. The Great Lakes have been receding over the past 10 or so years, so we REALLY need the snow to boost the lake levels and to fill aquifers. When we don't get enough snow during the winter, we have terrible drought conditions during the summer. It would be great if we could get several more inches before winter is up, and we are supposed to get another three to five by the weekend, but more would be better, even though the constant shoveling is a pain!!!