Winter weather

More Snow and Mandalorian Stitch Markers and Progress Keepers

/ LDSVenus

As you can see we had another snow storm this past Thursday, also notice how bare it is without the trees that were taken out with the Derecho we had last year in August, the yards look so sad :(. We got about 5 or 6 inches so I have to ask, is it Spring yet? It snowed again today for a bit, about 1 inch and we are due more snow tomorrow, but what makes it not nice is our temps have finally dipped into sub zero weather. It’s -13F right now with wind chills, ambient is 6 degrees. Tonight without wind chills it will be -17F and -34F with wind chills. ugh. I know the ground hog said 6 more weeks, but that doesn’t really apply to IA :P, we may get snow storms into April.

I got the new Mandalorian stitch markers and progress keepers I purchased and couldn’t be more happy!! Those of you familiar with the Mandalorian series on Disney+ will know exactly what these are (if you don’t my previous post explains them)!!! She even threw in a Grogu, aka baby Yoda, progress keeper, so cute!! I also bought a valentine Snoopy progress keeper with a heart stitch maker, I love Snoopy and these are perfect. I got all these from AdoreKnit on Etsy, I love her stitch markers and progress keepers, she has soooo many to choose from and you can choose the whole set or just the stitch markers or just the progress keeper! I want to start a new project so I can use one of these, but UFO’s (Unfinished Objects for my non knitting friends) first, sigh, I don’t like to have more than 2 reg UFO’s and one mindless UFO on the needles.

Hope everyone is fairing well during this winter season. Take care of yourself and try to do something you enjoy everyday that makes you smile, and do something kind for someone else that brings a smile to their face, winters are hard on everyone, well except maybe Santa :P.

Flax Infant Sweater and SNOW

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

I am working on the Flax sweater for an infant for a friend (size 6 months to 1 year.)  The Flax pullover sweater is a free pattern by Tin Can Knits and it’s a really easy sweater to knit and goes from sizes newborn to 4XL.  I am at the bottom ribbing on the body, I will be starting the sleeves tomorrow :).  It’s done from the top down so there won’t be any sewing things together.  🙂  I am using I Love This Yarn by Hobby Lobby and size 5 (for the neck ribbing) 16″ circular Knitter’s Pride Karbonz needles (I am loving the Karbonz they are mostly carbon fiber with brass tips so they are not super slippery like metal needles, I am not a fan of reg metal needles tho sometimes that is what I have) and size 7 16″ Knit Picks Radiant Wooden circular needles for the body  (wood needles are always my first choice), and a size 7 9″ Circular Chiagoo bamboo circular needles for the sleeves and size 5 9″metal Chiagoo circular needles for the sleeve ribbing..  All are fixed needles and not interchangeable, the interchangeables of the needles I like are pretty expensive :P.

You can also see from the pictures that we have had our first and 2nd snow for this winter, sigh.  The first snow was 3 inches on Monday night and the 2nd one was 2 more inches last night.  Monday nights snow mostly melted on Tuesday because it got up to 40F.  Last nights snow is still on the ground because it only got up to 34F.  Poor trick or treaters, it’s in the upper 20’s right now and is suppose to be 20 over night :(.   I am not ready for winter, fall isn’t even over yet!!!

If you live somewhere where it’s already getting cold, stay warm!

Still More Snow! Working on a Project

/ LDSVenus / 1 Comment

More snow mid Feb 2019

Yes more snow!  It’s been snowing since sometime last night and they say will continue until sometime tonight.  We are expected to get between 4 to 6 inches.  I left this picture a little bigger than normal, so you could see the snow flakes, I could have made the picture bigger but you can still see all the white dots in the picture :).  I can’t believe I actually got a picture of the snow falling!  But, you know there is always a but, it’s because they are huge flakes :P.  I took this a littler earlier around 1 pm.  Also it looks like more snow this coming week and next Sunday, sigh.

I am working on a project with the yarn I spun from the rolags, but won’t comment on it yet.  When it’s done and safely in the mail, I will post a picture.

Hope if anyone else is getting snow from this rather large storm, that you are safe and warm :).

Cold Temps and Another Hat

/ LDSVenus

jan2019snows This is a picture of the back yard of a friends house so you can see all the snow we have had this Jan.  We also got another 2 inches today, that would make about 19 inches this month, sigh.

We also had some pretty low temps the past 3 days.  Tuesday night got down to about 25 below zero Fahrenheit and with wind chills was about 40 to 45 below zero.  Last night we broke a record with a low of -30 below zero and with wind chills it got down to about 55 below zero.  Our daytime temps were in the lower 20’s below zero  and with wind chills close to 40 below (that is in the day time!), On Wed the post office actually closed and said no postal deliveries.  We got up to -1 today!  Tomorrow should be 18 above and by Sunday we should be around 40 above, a heatwave!!!!

Another Basia Hat

The hat my daughter chose for me to knit from the alpaca I hand spun (a fingering weight) for her was the Basia hat, unfortunately it calls for sport weight, so I added my last skein of the polypay yarn (a sport weight) from the last fleece I sent in a couple of years ago.  I died it brown and tho it is much lighter than the alpaca (I knit them together) it is a very pretty marled color.  I think she will be pleased.  She could have used it this week :P, but it will be done hopefully by the week end.

Winter 2018-2019 – First Substantial Snow

/ LDSVenus

Winter 2018-2019 first substantial snow We have finally received our first substantial snowfall for the 2018-2019 winter season and it’s already into January.  We have a had a few little snow storms this season, but you noticed I didn’t even post a picture they were so minor.  We will probably end up with between 3 and 4 inches.  It started last night sometime (I was a sleep :P) and it is still snowing (about 1:30 pm my time).   I took this picture about 10:00 am. The weather map shows it continuing until sometime after 7:30 pm.  These are tiny flakes so it take a lot to make an inch :P.  I hear the snow plows going over the roads off and on, noisy critters they are. 😛

Happy Birthday Dad! And Snow is Coming!

/ LDSVenus / 1 Comment

My Dad Happy 29th Birthday (again) Dad!!!  Best Dad in the world!!

Our weather report says snow over night and into tomorrow totaling between 1 and 3 inches.  In the 30’s here today and 20’s to low 30’s tomorrow, sigh.  Guess the Old Farmers Almanac is gonna be right about more snow and colder temps this winter.

**UPDATE** The snow here was only a trace, 1″ and up was south of us.  But it was our first snow for the 2018-2019 winter.  Yeah, it’s already melted :P.

Year of Spinning

/ LDSVenus

This year in the Fiber Pusher Podcast on Ravelry we are working on spinning.  This month it’s getting things finished that are on our wheels.  I had finished the first spool of singles last year, and had started the 2nd spool so am now working on finished that 2nd spool.  I’m excited to see this 2nd spool finished and plyed with the 1st spool because I know it will be a beautiful yarn.  My yarn usually ends up being a light sport weight.  You can see the rolags I am spinning from, here.  I’m trying to commit to at least 20 min of spinning a day, but at the very least 3 or 4 times a week.  That way I won’t feel bad if I miss a day or two because of odds and ends unplanned things that happen in life.  Would love it if things never happened unexpectedly however…. :).  I haven’t decided what I want to make from it yet.

I will still be working on the mitts, but I have decided that rather than chance I will fail at the yarn chicken game (made me nervous to see the ball going down faster than I had hoped)  and I really did not want to have to frog two mitts to redo them with another color yarn, so, I am going to insert one of the other colors where the design is so it will be a two tone mitt and better match her 3 color cowl :).  I’ll post a picture when I have passed that design point and you can see it better.

I have also promised that I would finish the socks I am working on for someone for their birthday (next month) and I need to make two hats for two little ones as we are in the throes or a polar express here :).  We were at -21 yesterday (New Years Day and this bitterly cold weather started with the early afternoon on New Years Eve) with wind chills dipping from -30’s to -42 and it was still very cold earlier today, tho now, late afternoon, it’s only -2 with a wind chill of -14.  woo hoo, a warm up :P.  So I should have a very busy next few weeks with spinning and knitting :).

My Christmas Knitting Done :)

/ LDSVenus

Basia Hat

My last knitted gift for Christmas, YEA!!  This pattern is call Basia and is a really interesting and easy knit.  Just enough texture to keep your attention but an easy texture to memorize :).  I kettle dyed this with an acid dye and it is a deeper blue than my picture shows, I’m not much of a photographer.  This is my 2nd Basia hat (made one as a Christmas gift last year) and I knit this with the same sport/dk weight yarn I had processed at the mill from the Polypay fleece I was given.  I have only one more skein of the yarn left out of 11.  I do have two more fleeces in the trunk of my car, but haven’t had the extra money to have them processed into roving or yarn.  If my car would stop being a money pit I could send them off to process :P.

1st Snow 2017-2018 This was the first snow of our 2017-2018 winter.  This was a week & 1/2 ago or so.  I should have put it up before, but…  It wasn’t much, just a dusting, and it has since melted.  We are suppose to get some snow tomorrow morning and Monday, so just in time for Christmas, tho it isn’t suppose to be much, maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 inch.  This, so far, is a very low moisture winter for us, and I won’t complain about the warmer weather, much better than -40, tho I think Jan will bring much colder temps than  we have been having.

 

The Blizzard – 2011

/ LDSVenus / 2 Comments

Blizzard 2/11

Blizzard 2/11

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Thought I would post a couple of pictures to show you what it looked like when I got up this morning.  My work delayed opening until 11 so I did get to catch a few more winks :).  According to the news we got somewhere between 13 and 18 inches.  All I know is the roads were piled with snow on the sides.  The road crews did an excellent job of clearing the roads.    Is it spring yet?

More Snow, and It’s Yarn again

/ LDSVenus / 1 Comment

More Snow

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.It wasn’t snowing yesterday when I went to Church, however this is what it looked like 3 hrs later when Church was over and I was headed home.  And more snow storms are predicted for my area through Saturday.  Is it Spring yet?

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click on picture for larger image

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I finally got enough of the Llama roving spun to make a skein of yarn.  Because it’s a little bit heavier than worsted weight I could only get about 80 yards on my spool.  I will probably have about 2 more skeins of yarn by the time I am finished.  I hope my son will enjoy it, it is a soft yarn and should make a nice scarf.  Having a larger spool would be very nice for plying the bulkier yarns so that you have skeins with more yardage.  But you use what you have ;P.

Stay warm and enjoy whatever your local weather brings.  I’m gonna go turn my heater up ;P.