Snow Day

The city is closed today. Originally we were suppose to get 37 cm of snow but I think since some of it came as rain, we will only get about 15 - 20 cm. The roads are a total mess, and we have been asked to stay home. My kids are working from home, so they didn't bring my little buddy for his grandparent day, today. This was Doug's reaction when I told him.

He looks dismayed.

Outside the world is dull and wet.

However, my dining room conservatory is showing hope of spring.

The amaryllis will flower soon. Beside it, the Christmas cactus is in bloom and that azalea just keeps going. It is a joy to step in there.

Ravelry suggested a pattern to me last week. Although I don't need another knitting pattern, this one sucked me in. It helped that I had the yarn available in my stash. So, I started a spring shawl.

It can be my Lenten project, and I will try to finish it by Easter. The pattern is called Floatini. The grey yarn is a merino and silk light fingering and the hot pink is mohair and silk. How could I not?

Meanwhile, I continue to create order to my sewing space. This week, I added an IKEA storage unit called Trofast. It is sold as toy storage, in the kids section, but I now have two of them to store bits in. This one is entirely for purse hardware and goodies.

The drawers are labelled things like "straps" and "closures". One drawer is still empty. Having dedicated homes for stuff really makes the tidying simpler. On top of it is my cub car/ venturer van from my days as a Venturer Advisor. It won second prize in the beauty category for leaders, at the cub car rally. Of course, like all good minivans it doesn't go very fast. My son took first in his category for speed. I first blogged about it here.

I also placed these drawer organizer boxes on the top of the fabric storage. They are to hold the current WIP so that finished bits don't wander.

I splurged and bought a new ironing board pad and cover (It was $10 at IKEA.) As you can see, I haven't put it on yet.

A Family Day Distraction

Monday was Family Day, which. for us, meant that we could do whatever we liked because everything was closed. So, while playing in my office, I came across a pattern book that I have had for awhile. It is called "More Polarfleece Pizzazz" by Ruthann Spieglhoff. In it was a pattern for mittens for littles.  I found a piece of fleece, from my Polarfleece era of sewing. I copied the pattern, and soon had this.

Since it is February, and the stores have no mittens, just shorts and bathing suits, some new mittens seemed like a good idea for a guy who keeps losing his.

They are easy to put on, because they open up. There is a flap that comes down into the wrist area to keep the snow out. It doesn't show well, as blue on blue.

They do up nice a warm, with velcro.

Today, we took them for a test play. The conclusion is that the wrist band needs to be a bit wider and the flap that is on the inside of the mitt needs to be a bit longer. So, I will modify the pattern and try for a new pair for next week. They only take about an hour to sew.

I cast on a new sock to take to appointments and my kids knitting classes. Simple and mindless.

Just a plain vanilla sock knit in a lovely yarn that needs no embellishment. This is "What Does It Mean?" from TurtlePurl yarns. You can find it here.

I added another storage unit to my sewing room and after I fill it, I'll show you.

A Seven Day Quilt Top in Just Seven Weeks

Just after Christmas, I saw a Mystery QAL on Kim Lapacek's Blog Persimmon Dreams. A one week quilt along, how hard could it be.

Today, I finished my top. Surprise, it's giant spools of thread.

It is much bigger than I expected. The top is 32" x 52". The blocks just kind of grew.

The first block was the 8" square in the middle of this block. I thought that it was going to be a pretty easy quilt. Eventually we added the top and bottom of the spool and some background fabric to make all the blocks the same height.

Block two, is an elongated churn dash.

Block 3, flying geese.

Block 4 is a square in a square, and I had to add some cats.

Block 5 is an elongated version of a block I have done before but I don't remember what it's called.

It was lots of fun to make the whole top from my scraps. Now that I have it all together, I need to find a backing and quilt it.  I wonder what I have in my "What was I thinking?" collection.

February Begins

The groundhog did or did not see his/her shadow, which means we only have about two more months of winter left. Winter usual ends about the end of March or the beginning of April, with the occasional blast toward the end of April.

So, I was delighted to see this in my dining room.

Looks positively tropical. I think I should have been drinking something with an umbrella in it.

The azalea is showing us that winter means nothing to it.

The amaryllis bulbs have started to sprout. They spent last summer on the patio, and have just decided to wake up after a nap in the sun room for a few months.

Meanwhile, a new scarf will make my winter look better.

This is the Pembroke Scarf, and it is knit in hand dyed yarn I bought at a yarn festival, last fall. Lots of great spring colours, there. I just need to weave the ends in.