under the weather

Posted on annePosted in lace/shawls, projects, Uncategorized

i am trying not to think about the fact that we are having a blizzard. it’s more snow than i’ve seen since i moved to ohio. we just haven’t been getting much snow. but today—well, today the sky is hooded and the world is closing in. earlier it looked like this

and later, like this. there is no street in sight. the plows have stopped coming our way, probably to concentrate on more important roads.

i don’t even want to know what that strange tinkling sound is that comes from all the windows, as if a squadron of angels is hovering around, tossing thin icicles at us. it’s well below 32°, so what’s up with the chunks of ice that are falling from the sky?

normally i would not be freaking out about this. i would be smiling to myself and planning all the cozy knitting i’ll do when i get away from this desk for the day.
but it’s less than 36 hours til i leave for new england. i’m supposed to drive over 800 miles to get to SPA between thursday and friday, and all the news coming in is about bad weather. i don’t think this would bother me so much if we’d had even ONE iota of snow before this week.

david began dropping gentle, concerned reports about the impending bad weather into our conversations starting on monday. i poo-pooed all that, since i grew up in the northeast and was used to bad weather. he’s asked me four times if i have any plans to cancel the trip. he’s not really a worry-wort by nature, so his suggestions are starting to sink in and make me feel less confident.

but you never know! it could all change, right? it is the weather we are talking about here . . . i’m going to reserve my judgement til tomorrow night at least.

meanwhile, i’ve been working very hard on the starlight wrap and finally got the edging done for the second time. it still buckles a bit, but this time i am confident it is an amount that will block out nicely.

i’ve been wondering how the join for the other half of the shawl would go. i began the piece with a provisional cast-on and jumped right in on the first row with patterning, in order to set it up so that i could pick up the provisional stitches and work a purl row.

now working with the provisional cast-on has one small drawback—the stitches that you pick up are the bottom edge of the beginning stitches, and thus are a half-step “off” in alignment from the beginning stitches. this is not very noticeable in the body stitches, but causes a small misalignment in the edging.

when i stretch it a bit, it is barely noticeable, so i think i will not obssess about it.

the other small issue i needed to solve was that my lace pattern has an edge of 3 sts on one side and an edge of 2 stitches on the other side. when i picked up, that needed to be reversed to make the pattern work out. that’s where having the first purl row came in handy; i made the adjustment and then all was well when i began working the pattern on the next row.

the lace is a one-way pattern, so i was concerned about picking it up mid-motif and working it in the other direction. i can see where that one spot differs ever-so-slightly from the allover pattern, but the busyness of this lace hides it very well i think.

so now i am off an running with the other half. i just might tote this along to SPA after all. i’m undecided; the lace pattern requires me to pay attention more than i’m used to—for some reason this one is not as intuitive for me as, say, fir cone. so i thought i’d just pack socks to knit, or maybe a new hat.

(i still want a shoulder-length stocking hat, even though debbie says i should NOT wear one . . . )

and now i’ll leave you with a lovely valentine, which i am lucky enough to gaze upon daily, and which i have been all too selfish about sharing with you.

because, well, red lights aren’t just for christmas.

29 thoughts on “under the weather”

  1. The storm is supposed to be done here in mass. by tomorrow night, so you should have clean driving by Thurs. Just think of all the pretty views you’ll get on the way!

  2. The forecast for here (Southern Maine) looks like it’ll be okay for travel on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully, it’ll be the same between there and here 🙂

  3. My husband is in Dayton right now and he said the weather is awful. Of course he’s used to the very mild weather we have in western KY! I love your snow pictures:) Hope the weather gets a little better so you can go to spa!

  5. I hope all works out and you are able to make your trip. I think the storm should pass by then.
    Just kick back and relax and enjoy your snow day.

  6. Oh yes! Forge ahead with the lace. It looks like it will be just fine as it is.

    Whatever you decide to do – be safe. Fun is fun – being stuck in a snowdrift on the interstate is not. I’m sure you will be saavy tho. 🙂

  7. Yowza – that’s a drive! I’m about 50 miles south of Albany and the lovely weather man just announced the main part of the storm should be over Wednesday night, and totally over by Thursday eve.

    They started announcing school closings this afternoon for tomorrow even though we had nothing yet – crazy. The kids are excited though, it will be the first snow day of the year.

    It will probably be a much slower drive than you wanted but hopefully still very much doable.

    Still loving following your thought/design process 🙂

  8. I like the way the shawl edge is working out this time. Much better than before. Looking forward to seeing it blocked.

    I’m not even going to comment about driving 800 miles in all that snow. I don’t live in snow country. Never have. The most snow I’ve had to deal with is when I felt like coping in order to go skiing, then it was only from the snowline up to the resort, and only for a weekend. At most. I’m not equipped to comment. 😉

  9. Anne, I so hope the weather doesn’t ruin your trip to spa! Darn it anyway, why couldn’t we have had some of this snow around Christmas time? Maybe that would’ve helped to put me more in the mood this year…. We’ve been getting socked with snow storms here in northern Illinois too. My two oldest even had a snow day today. At least it’s warming up a little, not zero all the time anymore!

    Well, the shawl edging looks fab this time! Don’t obessess about those little “quirks” going on in the pattern. I hope your hat works out for you too. I really like the reds you’ve chosen for it. I’ll say a little prayer that the weather clears up, and you have a safe trip to spa!

  10. You were much on my mind as we listened to the news this evening about all the dire weather in Ohio and east. Huge major disappointment if the weather shuts you out of SPA, but you don’t want to get stuck driving 800 miles in blizzard, or harsh winter conditions if you don’t absolutely need to.

    I love those Valentine lights with the snow.

  11. Is bus, train, or air travel a possibility? Driving 800 miles over icy/snowy highways sounds like it could leave you too tired to enjoy SPA. (I’ll never forget the time that H & I drove in separate cars from Cincinnati, OH to Lexington, KY in a blizzard, and were lucky that neither of us slid off the Interstate.)

    By all means, leave Starlight at home. At this stage, it’s a big project to tote, and you probably won’t have a lot of free time for knitting. The half-stitch misalignment is barely noticeable, but I remember reading about this in MARY THOMAS’S KNITTING BOOK, and I think she had some instructions for solving the problem.

  15. What a cute Valentine House. I’d be hard pressed to be motivated enough to decorate for Valentines Day. Besides, wouldn’t that take time away from the true activity of the day … eatting chocolates?

    Crap weather in New England too. Snow, ice, etc with schools and colleges closed.

  16. If you don’t have to leave until tomorrow I think you’ll be fine– all the roads should be thoroughly de-iced. And over here in Boston as usual the storm’s a bust grumble grumble GRUMBLE.

  18. You’re driving to Maine? That’s a long trip. Bring snacks. 🙂

    We’ve got a few inches here in MA, but the worst of it is yet to come. Those of us who came to work today are speculating about what time we will be sent home. (My money is on 2 pm.) Still, I think it will not be nearly as bad here as it is out your way.

    Have a lovely snowy Valentine’s. It’s cold, so make sure your husband wears his manLace!

  19. The first fall of snow is not only an event, but it is a magical even. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up to find yourself in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, then where is it to be found?

    J.B. Priestley 1894-1984
    First Snow

    It’s all in how you look at it! Come to Maine, Anne!

  20. I’m still hopeful too, they saw it will all be over here tonight! Hopefully that will give them plenty of time to clear the roads.

  21. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the weather cooperates for you. What a terrible disappointment that would be!

    And, of course, the Starlight Shawl looks magnificent!

  22. I spent the day home from work, shoveled the driveway once only to find it completely covered again by the time I finished! I’ll try again today…

  23. I’m hoping things clear up enough for your trip! I spent an enormous amount of time shoveling yesterday and now I’m back in Snow Central. I’ve been putting it off today but I’ve got to get back out there and clear it out before I get stuck tomorrow in my own driveway. AWESOME. I’m having serious thoughts about snow-blowers.

    I’m very jealous of your valentiney neighborhood. Heh.

    Be careful driving! I’m sure you’ll have little trouble since the worst is (supposedly) over.

  24. Your wrap is looking so beautiful. I love seeing your progress pictures.

    Well, it’s a good thing you are not driving through New England today, cuz the weather royally sucks here right now. But I think it’s all supposed to be over by tonight. Have a great time on your trip!

  26. So, I’ll be thinking good travel thoughts at you. In 1998, when I drove up here to meet my husband for the first time, I drove up I-71, across I-90 to Syracuse, and then up I-81 to the Thousand Islands crossing. I only mention this because a good piece of I-81 runs through Oswego county, which is the piece of upstate NY that got slammed with 10′ of snow. I managed to drive all of this during snowstorms and in a 1994 Geo Metro (the doorwedge-shaped kind, with 3 cylinders). If you have front wheel drive, you’ll be fine. Besides, I think the worst of the storm will be over with when you hit the road. Take that with a grain of salt, though, because I haven’t looked at anything but Canadian and Cincinnati weather for the past few days.

  28. Wow … great red light decorations (!!!!) for the celebration of Valentine day and of course love! Me and my husband actually don’t celebrate this special day since we’ve really not gotten used to it – it’s a pretty new phenomenon here in Sweden. But I think the idea is very qute!

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