Heartbroken

I'm so sad I couldn't make it to see Debbie Stoller tonight! I am going to whine for a minute or two, ok?

My girlfriend, who knits but couldn't go, offered to watch the kid (my man's on a business trip). She lives up up up the hill from me. I dropped my boy off at 6:25, then skidded most of the way down the hill on my way out to the main road. The ABS engaged and everything. I didn't fishtail, but the sensation of not being able to stop while braking firmly freaked me right out.

I then turned right around to pick the kid up and take him with me, as the road's only getting worse, but I was too freaked out to leave right away. It took me half an hour or so of very pleasant conversation for me to calm down enough to get back in the car. My girlfriend advised me to put the Subaru in gear 1 and go like two miles an hour. I still skidded on the steepest part, but I was able to make the turn to get back to my house safely.

Just had a purely medicinal dose of alcohol, but I am still pretty freaked out.

Three people passed me on the way down the hill. They must all have better tires than I do, as one of them was another Outback.

I'm very sad about missing you grrls at the library.

One bonus: I am no longer envious of the houses with the "real view".

Coldies!

It's freezing in my house. The heat's out, and I've got a guy coming to look it over, but in the mean time I'm bundled up like an interior snowman. And I look like one, too. I'm wearing a hat, a huge, unmatching scarf, a furnace of a handknit Aran, wool socks, slippers, long underwear, jeans, you name it and I'm wearing it. I've also got the fireplace going, and it' s gone up a degree in two hours, so that's good. I've got about another hour to wait for the guy, and if he doesn't fix it, I'm off to a friend's for the night.

Maybe I should do some baking? Extra heat from the oven couldn't hurt...

Edit: 5:10 pm: the heat's back on! Apparently we had a bad igniter, which is a small part designed to catch on fire. Can you tell I'm not the engineer in the family ;-).

All's well that ends well and everything, but I didn't realize how stressed out about this I was until it was over. Wheew.

Don't tell my husband, but I've turned the heat up to 68F in celebration.

Meet The Twins:

Here's my husband's latest FOs: two tables. Aren't they the greatest? I'm so pleased with how they turned out. The finish is black as pitch, but that's actually fine as they're destined for (separate) homes away from here, where their shiny almost-blackness will match perfectly with the decor.

Shh, don't tell, but they are Christmas presents!

Ta-Da!

Big lotta snow

The view from my back window Saturday afternoon.

Crazy, no? I'm pretty sure we got a foot of snow; it started up again after I took this picture.

In other news, my hand's better and I can knit again! Yippee! I celebrated by taking out the long-neglected Cambridge Jacket I've been making for my husband for, what, a year and a half.



First step: untangle the yarn. Good thing I had a DVD from the library to keep me company, because it was not very enjoyable. I didn't look at my watch, but I figure it must have taken me at least half an hour. Somehow I thought it would be fine to stuff all four pieces and their associated yarn balls into one bag.

Second step: admire all past progress, as well as the yarn:












Third step: restart the sleeves with a knitted hem. I had maybe ten rows of one sleeve started, and I love hems, and I don't have confidence in my crochet ability, so I decided to rip out the little bit of sleeve one and make a mod. It might be a mistake, though. It is bulkier. It looks so tidy, though, doesn't it?