The White Stuff.

We have actually had two additional snow falls with the remains of the previous still on the ground over the last week or so. It almost feels like winter here in Casper Wyoming. Never mind it will be gone here shortly.

Yesterday we snowed most of the day a light fluffy snow that didn't stick to the bare ground but gave a wonderful feeling of it being winter. The dogs and I went on an early morning walk down at the river.

The geese were foraging in the shallows, the wax wings have been in town for a couple days, and the squirrels seemed glad to tease the dogs from the bushes. I of course had no camera but snapped this one quick with the phone. Shiela as you can see still rambles along with us on many a walk despite the arthritis and age.

After I got home I received a call from one of the rescues here locally that needed to place one of their fosters in a home she couldn't escape from easily. So the Morgan dog is now with us until she's adopted.

We had her with us for about a week before to work on her fear of men. She got over it quick enough. She can still be skittish but she's a sweet little black lab that just needs a home that will love her. She's definitely a pack girl though. She seems to enjoy the company of the other four dogs in the house as much as she does Bob and I's. I would love to see her go into a home with a couple of dogs and maybe even a little kid to attach herself to.

Sorry, all the pictures today are taken with my phone so they are rather crappy and the last one won't pivot as it should despite how many times I try to fix it. Sometimes blogger can just be picky.

Anyway, I better get back to finishing up this pattern for our new beginning knitting class starting next weekend and get to work. I work the lunch shift today and a double tomorrow. The last two nights have been busy as can be, but good nights that leave the feet aching and the mind tired.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Q

On the hoof

I feel like the month is flying by. I decided when I was home between the double shifts today to write a quick post. Between walking dogs, teaching knitting and working my scheduled restaurant shifts I seem to have little time for other things these days. This includes blogging or simply reading the blogs I like to follow.

Tomorrow I work my final shift at the hospital. To all that have been waiting for the dirt as to why I resigned from the hospital I hate to report there is little. Mainly I thought it would be horribly inappropriate and unprofessional for me to gripe about it here. In this day in age such a stunt could cost me future positions. In another facet of this topic, I have not ever been nor intend to be a mouthpiece of the hospital for social media of any form and considering my words towards others at the same organization when they have done so, acting as such would smack to loudly of hypocracy in my own ears. On top of this it really just boiled down the the basic fact that my concept of caring for and providing healthcare to the community and county differs greatly from that of the organization and I find myself unable to rectify this disparity or be a part of it.

Now, I will return to my normal stance of not discussing my work on my blog. Some of you may have already noticed that I play it quiet about my professional life on my blog. If you wonder why please see second point made above.

Shaking all that off I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day and may you all get mind blowing sex for it. Or any good sex will do. And remember in case your thinking of making just any old sex do, "Sex should always be friendly, otherwise it's just mucous membrane friction." Sorry, I do not recall from whom that quote is from and google seems to be suffering some sort of siezure right at the moment.

Q.

PS: I had to lighten the mood up and what's lighter and more laughable than sex? Or at least it should be and if it isn't you're either to young to be doing it or doing it wrong.

Experience, it's all in the experience

Do you see these?

These are the two scarves I have knit myself over the years. Yes, I have in fact only knit myself two separate scarves. All those other scarves that some of you may have seen on my needles were for other people and have found what I hope are happy homes with them.

Let's take a closer look at them...

Yeah, that one on the right is looking a bit ragged, no? It has it's reasons and they are not the poor scarf's fault. You see this is the first thing I knit. EVER. Yeah, so it's at least a decade old. The poor things ends are coming loose because quite frankly, I didn't do them properly. Why not? I didn't know how.

This poor doomed scarf is a simple garter stitch that I cast on length-wise and knit until I had the knit stitch down. He's a bit wonky in places due to uneven stitch tension, and I didn't know the striping would be odd on one side, I didn't know that I wouldn't have a lovely flat texture and if I did know how to purl to get that texture that I would have fought the scarf fighting over the last decade. But, I learned, and in the decade that I've been knitting, I've learned a lot.

Enter my new scarf I just took off the needles.

Isn't he handsome? It's a brioche cable that's reversible on either side in Classic Elite's Chalet which is a 70% baby alpaca-30% bamboo viscose plyed in a chain. It's lofty, cushy as can be and in a charcoal grey that goes with all my winter jackets. I'm in love.

I originally tried to knit this scarf a few years back when I saw another local knitter working on it. We didn't get along so well and without her aid I couldn't figure out Brioche from the resources I found at the time. This past year Kurtis at the Rocky Mountain Mens Knitting Retreat taught a brioche class. It was one of those "duh" moments from the start. It was so simple, I just needed to see someone do it. Once I had that down I came home and promptly forgot about my own scarf trudging along with my trusty old wool one that had seen me through as many Wyoming Winters as Alaskan ones. Then one day I got done with all the Christmas knitting and remembered that pattern. When I printed it off I immediately thought of this wonderful cream yarn I had seen at our yarn store. I bought the only 3 remaining skeins and got to it. I quickly wrapped up a beautiful scarf but it wasn't to be mine. The cream just wasn't my color but it got so many Wow's that I ended up using it for a model and teaching a class this last month on this scarf.

During class I picked out the charcoal yarn that was ordered just for us and after finally getting to work on a project for my, my new scarf is finished. Though my trusty old scarf has seen better days, I will still put him away in the hat and glove box for when I care about warmth and not looks. There are still days that I simply need something to keep the drafts from my zipper and collar line and something to pull up over my chin as I walk into the wind driven snow. He may be old, and maybe not so pretty, but he has a lot of warmth left in his battered wool.

Tired days equal more spinning it seems.

Yesterday I concentrated on not falling asleep to assure that I would get a good nights sleep and flip over to regular days after working a night shift. To do so I fell back on knitting on my replacement scarf (more to come later) and spinning.

I got a second single of my special order done. Four more to go.

I still think I'm going to have a lovely dk weight 3-ply when I'm all done. And I'm pretty sure I will have a fairly large amount of yardage. But hey, having extra is better than not enough.

At the end of the day as I wrapped up the single I decided to take a bit of a break from orange. I have plenty of time to wrap up this project. In fact if it turns out as well as I hope I think I'm going to enter it in the state fair this year. I always say I'm going to but never really get around to it but I think it's time to suck it up. But first I have plenty more spinning and a lot of knitting.

But, back to the break from orange, I jumped into "Crossing to Safety" which is this months fiber of the month club installment. It makes me think of springs fresh blossoms of crocus, iris, and muscari poking out of the mulch of last years leaves. It's beautiful so far. I broke it all up last night and began spinning. After this morning's walk I continued.

Shiela started some new drugs for her arthritis this week. Still not sure how I feel about it. We're just at that point where I balance her comfort with making sure I don't keep her around for my own peace of mind. She seems awful spunky today so fingers crossed.

Well, I better clean up, shave and all that and head to work. I'm working a double today so I better make sure I'm awake and with it.

And They Arrived

Which knowing I'm speaking of socks isn't a big deal, but if you knew me and how my name seems to open a wormhole in the postal service sorting systems that sucks my handmade gifts into another alternate universe (or this is where I assume the end up since the intended person never sees the item), this actually borders on a small miracle. Usually I package up items and have Bob take it to the post office, but this week he had a hectic schedule and I took Betsy's socks that I have kept a blog secret to the post office for shipping myself.

That's right, a blog secret because I didn't want her to know I was knitting them and I know she actually reads my blog. But now that the have arrived and she has furnished me with pictures, I can share.

Betsy has a blog of her own that you can find here. I always love reading it to not only catch up with her but to be in on things back home. Especially on winters such as these her pictures make me a bit homesick for ski trails and actual snow fall. That's right, Anchorages meager snow this year is still more than ours. She is a wonderful photographer and I encourage anyone interested to wander that way and peruse her photos.

This Christmas she also got a scarf from me that made me think of our kayaking days. This was my favorite self portrait she did because I can see she's trying not to smile or laugh at herself. I have to agree with her though that wrapping it over her head I want to call her Babushka. Wear it around your neck Bets.

This was Romi Hills Alcyone Shawlette. It is supposed to be reminiscent of the surf with the garter stitch edge being the beach, the initial lace motif waves rushing ashore and the body being bubbles that froth the surf. I added some small brass beads to the edge and it made me think of driftwood and the other treasures you sometimes find on our beaches back home in Alaska. Sometimes you can still find the old Japanese glass bubble net floats.

Well, I need to finish prepping for my "Mistakes, Mishaps, and Oh Craps" knitting class I'm teaching at the Blooming Needle Yarn Shop today. I have a lot to cover in two hours. Fingers crossed. If all goes well I was thinking about posting my handout here to share.

Have a great day and don't fill up on to much junk food while enjoying the game guys,
Q.