Baby, It's Cold Outside--and Snowy Too

Now that it has stopped snowing (for a day or two) I can take a break from shoveling and post my knitting from last week. I have to say I'm crazy about knitting in the round, on circulars or on DPNs; I love it. So I found a hat pattern in last fall's Knit Simple magazine for an earflap hat with a sassy tassle on top. Loved it. I looked and looked at Patti's Yarn Shop for big fat yarn to make it out of. I liked the look and feel of Lamb's Pride Bulky which was still too thin but Patti suggested I use two strands together. Duh. Bought a skein of red (of course) and one of charcoal. Sat down after supper that night, fired up the size 15 circs and knocked it out. It was so toasty warm it called out for matching mittens. Naturally I had bought the last skein of charcoal so I thought I'd make charcoal cuffs and a red hand. Great idea, right? Except I tried a new pattern from the same magazine and it was too small, which I only realized after I had closed the top and cut the yarn. Drat. Frogged that. Then I thought I'd just use the Quick & Easy Holiday Mitten pattern I got at Links & Loops holding two strands, charcoal and red for the cuff and all red for the hand. It kind of worked out but I had more charcoal than cuff on mitten one, so I had to make mitten two match. Close up it looks a little odd; far away it looks pretty good. I'm happy and my fingers are warm; that's the point, right?

Just so you'll have an idea of how much snow we got Sunday and Monday, here's a picture looking down the street. Notice the row of icicles on the gutter? The second picture is to show you how deep the drift just at the steps is. Thank heavens for snowblowers; without my big red Yard Machine we'd be hip-deep in the white stuff.