The Sound of Snowplows

There are many sensory associations I have with winter- the sound of the wind, the sharp cold scent of the air, that translucent shade of pale, pale, blue in the sky that you only seem to get on a clear winter day.  But one of the most evocative sounds is the sound of snowplows, scraping and clunking away outside in the dark, while I'm cozy indoors.

I'm not sure there's anyone on the eastern seaboard who hasn't heard about the snow today in the northeast.   It was only the third time in eleven years that my work has closed early due to weather.  It was a slow drive home- windy and snowy with poor visibility, but not otherwise notable.  It did mean that I got to work at home in the afternoon with Biscuit on my lap.  At least until he got annoyed that I kept tapping on the keyboard instead of paying attention to him.   Then he bit me.  I yelled at him and summarily dumped him off.

He grumped away in a dudgeon, and although he did eventually come back and settle next to me on the couch, I think he's still a little miffed.

It's been a pleasant quiet evening.  We had waffles for dinner, and I finally got around to blocking the hat, scarf and socks, as well as washing the blue skein of sock yarn from last week.   Here's an FO shot of the scarf:

Really, rather a lot like the last picture, but longer and without the knitting needles.   But the real charm of this yarn is only evident when you look more closely.   The cottony poofs are super soft, and the rayon twined around them has a subtle shine.

It's still not really my thing, but it has its own charm, and hopefully will provide comfort and pleasure to whomever winds up with it.

In addition to the sock, I've started to do some work on a baby afghan.  Inexplicably, I appear not to have shown it to you before. It was a WIP that arrived on my doorstep some years back, along with the blue sock-yarn sweater.  And I'd always meant to do something with it.  It's a series of strips, and while there's no instruction on how they're meant to be joined, I have a  plan.

Or at least I did until I laid them out side by side, and remembered why I hadn't just sewn them together ages ago.  The problem is, there aren't enough of them.  I have five, and a fair bit of yarn.  But it's going to need at least another four or perhaps six to make it a reasonable size for a blanket.  It did have the pattern with it, however, handwritten in pencil.  So I cast on a new strip, quickly realized that my gauge is way different, went down a needle size to get gauge, and am finding the pattern rather charming, not to mention that the narrow width gives you a nice sense of progress, as the piece lengthens very quickly.

We'll see how it goes.  This is going to be a test of my finishing skills, as putting these strips together is going to need some care to do neatly.

And last but not least, a new pair of mittens.  I'm eager to finish off this brown variegated yarn.  Together with the scarf/hat set, finishing this yarn will use up a whole bag from the stash.  A small bag, only five skeins, but certainly welcome.

And with all this snow?  Someone is going to need them!