A 2nd Meathead and crazy weather in Seattle

The weather this week in Western Washington has definitely been crazy! We've had everything from wind to rain to snow to ice to freezing rain----all in five days! I can't remember the last time I saw snow and ice on the ground continuously for that long around here. I also can't remember temperatures in the teens and below with the wind chill. Brrrrrr!

I think I've recovered from the trauma of our snow and ice expedition home from Canada earlier this week. It has been nice to be snuggled at home for the last couple of days during all of this and watch it on the news, rather than being in the middle of it!


All of my current felted projects are felted and drying. My booga bag is dry and ready to put on the handles, just in time for the end of Norovember. I also have two cute mini versions of 'my special companion' bags felted and drying---I'll post pics when they're done.

Meanwhile, still working on the poinsettia dishcloth from the latest monthly KAL, and finished a second hat for the Meathead KAL. Thought I would take advantage of the current weather conditions to photograph the latest. Here's a Meathead on the snow....

And here it is, on the rocks...


Looks like the weather is returning to normal today.....rainy. Hey, I may even leave the house!

>^,,^< >^,,^<

It was such a lovely weekend in Victoria, until.....

It was such a lovely and relaxing weekend in Victoria, BC. Here was the view of the inner harbour from our room window...

And here is the fun and delicious gift that was waiting for us in our room when we arrived....

The large teacup is made of chocolate and is filled with chocolates and dried fruits. The small cups are chocolates as well. In the center is a canister of the Afternoon Tea Blend served in The Empress Tea Room.

We had such a nice time...We relaxed, had a sumptuous Thanksgiving meal in the hotel's restaurant, toured around town, and had an absolutely beautiful room. I also visited a great yarn store, Beehive Wool Shop, where I bought some new yarns for a couple of new projects. I even had lots of time to knit happily, while sitting in a comfy armchair in our room with a view of the harbour.

On Friday while driving around the area, we spotted a little tea room and decided to stop in. The shop was run by a charming Scottish woman, and we had the best afternoon tea EVER!

The rest of the weekend continued this way until it was time to return home on Sunday. That's when THIS showed up!

It even started to snow in town in Victoria, which is really unusual! This is a view from the car window on I-5 around Bellingham, WA. Very beautiful to look at, but it was an absolutely treacherous, 2-day trip home. A trip that ordinarily takes about 5 hours, including border crossing and ferry crossing, took us two full days!

Talk about terrifying! Cars were off the road right and left on both days. The highway itself was sheets of hardened ice and snow, with a strong wind blowing. Somehow, we must have taken a wrong turn and ended up in Siberia! There was over a foot of snow in our travel area over the two days we were trying to get home.

The first day of travel, we got across on the ferry, then drove to somewhere approaching the border, where we were stuck for hours. We finally gave up and thankfully found a hotel not too far from our travel route. We checked in, starving and exhausted after over 7 hours creeping over just a few miles. Here's a view from our hotel window the next morning....

We then set out on the road again, and had a fairly easy drive to the Canadian border. The Canadians were well-prepared and all of the roads were plowed and sanded. After the border, the rest of the trip was a real white-knuckler! I-5 south of the border was even more treacherous than the roads the day before. The roads had not been plowed or sanded for hours. We crept along and held our breath, and finally made it home safe in about 6 hours (usually a 2 hour trip from the border). We didn't even stop for food or a break---we just wanted to get home in one piece! Here's a view from the car window on the second travel day...

For those of you from a snowy climate area, this may seem overly-dramatized. However, conditions like this are rare in this area, and for some reason, they are never prepared. The coniditions have been so icy, some say the worst they've ever seen. I'm grew up in a southern climate myself, so I am never too happy when they say the "S word" on the weather forecasts. But this last couple of days has had even long-term snow veterans feeling a little shell-shocked!

As I watched the news last night, finally snuggled safely at home, I saw that people sat on the icy roads in gridlock for up to 8-10 hours in the evening after we arrived home, even overnight, trying to get home! Many ran out of gas in the gridlock and had to abandon their cars and walk home! Even the Metro buses pulled over and told riders that they could go no further and the riders were on their own!! Yikes! I much prefer less adventurous times around here, weather-wise!

I'm also a little worried about my dear husband----he needed to go to work this morning. It took him a couple of hours, but he got there safely. I'm just hoping he can get back home again this evening after the ice freezes over on the roads again---it's supposed to be in the teens again tonight!

The funny part of this whole adventure is, I never, never, never travel on Thanksgiving weekends because of all of the crowds and bad travel conditions. But just this once we thought we would go ahead, since the certificate for our room would expire December 1st, and we really needed a relaxing weekend away...

Let's just say my policy of not traveling over the Thanksgiving will resume, effective immediately! It was SUCH a nice weekend overall---a little rainy and chilly, but we had a really nice time overall. But I think I produced enough stress hormones on that drive home to overcome any relaxation gained over the weekend. I can live without another road trip like that for a very long time!

And I was worried about it being a little too rainy last weekend......silly me! Today sounds like a perfect day for staying home and working on my knitting projects! I've already felted my booga bag for Norovember this morning, and I'm going to felt two little mini-bags I knit while in Victoria later today. Here's a picture of my happy little booga bag drying in the window...

Have a happy, warm and dry day, everyone! Hope you can curl up in a nice, cozy spot and knit contentedly----that's what I'll be doing, for sure!

>^..^< >^..^<

A finished Meathead, and words of wisdom from the Divine Miss M

My Meathead KAL hat is finished! I had to think a while about what kind of embellishment I wanted to add. A crocheted or felted flower was my first thought, but that didn't seem enough to make my hat unique---lots of flowers on hats already! So I decided to pay tribute to what makes each of us (and our meathead hats) unique in our own little way.....

This is supposed to be a picture of the tag details----but once again, Blogger has decided to cut off the bottom of my picture (I guess that's one of those little things that makes Blogger "special"....)

Thanks to Bette Midler for the perfect quote:

Cherish forever what makes you unique 'cuz you're really a yawn if it goes!

Words to live by!

Meanwhile, cute hubby, the Stash Alpaca and I are off to Victoria, BC for the Thanksgiving weekend! I'm really excited to go away for the weekend. Even if it is going to be cold and raining----it's still away!

My only hope is that it is not windy, because then the ferries get cancelled, which will bring the whole trip to a grinding halt! I'll tell ya right now, I'm going to Victoria this weekend if I have to swim the Georgia Strait myself!

Just have to remember to bring along a waterproof bag so the knitting won't get wet while I'm swimming.....

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

>^,,^< >^..^<

Norovember Booga Bag progress

Here's my booga bag, almost finished and about to be felted! You can see the tiny tidbit of yarn let to finish the last of the I-cord, but I did finish without using the extra skein. (thank you to blogger for cutting off the bottom of the picture...).

Okay, I'm an idiot....

After a surprisingly short search yesterday, I actually found a LYS that had a skein of Kureyon in the same color and lot number! I was pleasantly surprised. I brought it home and began working on the I-cord bag handles, starting with the scraps I had left, of course.

Knitting along, one I-cord completed with yarn on hand ......hmmmm..... maybe this yarn is going further than I thought it would. I am now two-thirds done with the second I-cord, and it appears I'm not going to run out after all! It's very close, but I think I'm going to make it.

So, the result is this---I am now the proud owner of an entire extra skein of Kureyon, in a color I now will not need to finish my bag, obtained by driving into Seattle in the pouring rain, and feeling very triumphant about my bad self that I was so tricky and and found an extra matching skein!

I'm an idiot. Is there a class on how to predict how much yarn you need to finish something? I could really use it.... I guess that I-cord uses waaaaay less yarn than I thought....

>^oo^< >^oo^<

I ALWAYS buy extra yarn.....except this time....

Of course, the inevitable happened----I'm just a little bit short! Aaaaack!

For the first time, probably ever, I bought the exact amount of Noro Kureyon that the Booga bag pattern called for. Very seldom have I ever needed to use the extra I buy, so this time, I bought only what was stated on the pattern. Let THAT be a lesson to me! I can't believe this, but I am actually short of what I need to finish the bag handles!

So today, rather than the posting pictures of my beautiful bag in progress, while marveling that I actually almost finished it in a couple of days (my knitting speed normally falls into the snail-on-a-slow-day category...), I'm off to try to find Noro Kureyon yarn in the same color, from the same dye lot. I'm hoping that fact that I bought this particular Noro in another state won't hinder my search! Actually, I'll settle for the same color, but the same lot number would be nice.... Wish me luck!

>^,,^< >^,,^<

Socktoberfest dropout....On to Norovember!

Okay, so call me a Socktoberfest dropout....I finished nary a pair of socks for Socktoberfest. But today is a new day...in November.....so in keeping with my never-flagging optimism that I will finish the project I intend to work on this month-----On to Norovember!! Here is my lovely new Kureyon stash, hopefully to become a lovely felted bag.

And just so you know I didn't sit complely idle in October, I did finish this lovely curly scarf, made from Queensland Soft Comfort mohair, knit lengthwise on size 13 circs.

For some reason, rather than working on my socks in October, I was somehow inspired to finally finish this scarf that has been on the needles since last year! I guess I went into a sort-of first-in, first-out mode for a minute, and decided to complete a project that was taunting me from it's knitting bag, at the bottom of the pile.

So, on to Norovember and casting on another new project!......




I'll probably end up working on the socks out of guilt.


>^..^< >^..^<