Saturday, December 13, 2008

Detour

When I was a kid, waking up in the morning to some kind of fearsome weather, it was an exciting moment. My sister and I would huddle next to the radio, listening for our town in the alphabetical list of school closings- and let out a whoop at the delightful moment when we heard our school name. Snow day!

As an adult, snow days are pretty rare- nothing short of a real disaster causes my work to close. The day last year when we were let out early because we'd had 30 inches of snow (over 3/4 of a meter) in eight hours? Involved a three hour commute home followed by several more hours of shoveling. Kind of sucks the fun out of it, really.

So when I got up yesterday in the dark, powerless deluge of freezing rain and showered by candlelight I wasn't thinking about much except whether I could score a doughnut and coffee on my way to work in lieu of breakfast. (I could- double chocolate and cinnamon coffee- it was the highlight of the morning.) I headed out into a dim landscape of bleached trees and white-limned branches. When I turned into the street my job is on, I saw this:
fallen tree in ice storm

Moments later, I found that my work was dark and empty. A lone employee keeping station by the light of a fork-truck headlamp told me we were down, they'd call if we got power back, but they weren't expecting it until Sunday.

So I turned around and headed home. By this time we had some actual daylight and I could see more clearly what we were up against.
ice-covered bush The news reports had by this time enlightened me to the scope of the thing.

Back in my chilly living room by 8 am, I contemplated my options. At some point I needed to build a fire in the woodstove. But the really important question- what to knit? I had started swatching for the last remaining Christmas project, but I needed needles in a size I didn't have. But that would be for later. Right now, I needed a simple project, something that I could work in variable light. What I had was sock yarn. So:
socks

Garter rib in Panda Soy (soy/bamboo blend), colorway Fudge Brownie). Soft and lovely stuff, and it's giving me a wicked sweet craving. I've christened these the Fudge Brownie Sundae socks.

Just about the time I was thinking about calling my LYS and seeing if they were open, my work called. Power's back, come on down. When I got home in the evening, I knit brownie sundae socks by the light of an oil lamp beside the wood stove. If it weren't for the many many people still struggling without power, I'd call it a pleasant diversion.

We got power back early this morning, my LYS has supplied needles to continue swatching the Christmas project, and I'm back on track. Now I just need to figure out how to put the socks down...

3 comments:

  1. That branch with the berries is gorgeous, though. You take care of yourself there, y'hear? Brrrr.

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  2. While I certainly wouldn't want to drive in it, the ice did make everything look quite pretty. And Fudge Brownie Sundae socks sound delcious, too!

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  3. Given that an inch of snow last night, mostly gone by today, and temps just below 30F left the symphony half-full this afternoon in downtown Seattle I expect everyone here would take the rest of the week off of life if we had that much ice. Keep warm and drive safely.

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