Monday, February 12, 2007

Ribby Update and Feline Frolicking

My Ribby Cardi is blocking. I finished the sleeves last night and then basted the pieces together - scrap yarn, big stitches, just to see if I'd totally misjudged the size. It was OK, though strangely it doesn't look quite the same on short plump me as it did on the tall slender model. LOL! I didn't know quite how much to add to the width and length in the blocking, so I tried to be careful not to stretch the ribbing too far, just evening up the lengths and widths of the parts. Then we get to the tough part: my first ever venture into mattress stitching. After that, there's the front bands, the collar - should I do the rolled collar or the deeper one? Decisions, decisions. And after that, I have to brave the wilds of zipper installation. Eeeekkk! Grumperina has recently done one of her mini-seminars on this topic, and I'll go back and study that.

The snow depths in New York are so incredible, and there's apparently more on the way. Yesterday I saw that a place called Mexico, New York
(named that why??) has had 115in in a bit over a week. When I lived in Wyoming, the wind generally blew the heavy accumulations east to Nebraska, though there was one storm when I was in high school that drifted clear to the roof of our house. But the biggest levels I've personally seen were in the Tetons near Jackson Hole, WY, where I went one February to cross-country ski. We went out into the foothills area, to ski up to a little lake. The snow depth was about 3 times as high as the car, and this was on the flats; the plows had just scraped away the parking area drifts leaving a flat surface, but the seasonal accumulation on the fields was untouched, and was probably about 15 feet deep.

The Denver area had several feet of accumulated snow in January, and that amount seemed horrendous. I cannot imagine a suburban or urban area trying to deal with that much snow in a week's time. I lived in Denver for many years, and less than a foot would virtually bring everything except emergency traffic to a stop. And of course lesser amounts would create fearfully hazardous travel - I escaped injury in 2 snow-related accidents totalling my car, and then escaped to LA. Do people in these New York areas go to work when there's this much snow?? I send lots of prayers that people in non-critical businesses will choose to be safe rather than on time for their jobs.

And for a bit of furry eye candy, here are a couple of
shots of the lovely Midnight, the computer companion. More and more, she jumps up to the computer desk whenever I'm here, and does an excellent job of clearing anything piled in her lounging area, defined as the entire center of the desk. Frequently she demands petting, which she accomplishes by oozing toward the keyboard, and leads to my attempting to type one-handed, which isn't really successful.


Oh, and of the Famous Felines, I like my purrful self!




Which famous feline are you?




You're Hobbes. First of all, the makers of this quiz would like to congratulate you. You have our seal of approval. You are kind, intelligent, loving, and good-humoredly practical. You're proud of who you are. At the same time, you're tolerant of those who lack your clearsightedness. You're always playful, but never annoying. For these traits, you are well-loved, and with good cause.
Take this quiz!


8 comments:

jayne said...

I was Hobbes too. I was glad -- I love Hobbes.

Look at your Ribby!! You're going to be done before you know it. Looks good. I bet you find seaming to be a piece of cake. It's not that mysterious, like matching up two ladders and going up rung by rung.

Or like lacing up a football is what I tell new knitters.

In any case, you know my email if you get stuck.

How come kitties come with a built-in sense of what the exact centre is? Our Tigger always knew.

smariek said...

It's really her desk... she just lets you use it now and then. :-)

I got Hobbes too...

Grace said...

I haven't attempted mattress stitch I have a knock em dead back stitch from quilting days that works beautifully, undetectably and I just go back to that Your sweater is going to be smashing !!!

Sandra said...

I haven't done the quiz yet (I'm really a dog person), and I'm afraid I WON'T get Hobbes. He's my absolute favourite! At a former job, I had two external hard drives to keep track of. You guessed it - I named one Calvin and one Hobbes. The joys of using a Mac - I even had their pictures as the identifying icons. Ah, the good ole days...
We are expecting about 10 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow - and yes, I will probably come to work. Or not - I'll decide that tomorrow!
Love the Ribby - one day, I'm going to make this...

Kim said...

The cardi looks fantastic!

junior_goddess said...

Great....I'm the Pink Panther. Much eye-rolling!

Madge said...

Your Ribby looks great! And you'll be a mattress stitchin' pro by the end of sewing it together, too. If you need help, give me a jingle. :)

Scritches to Midnight.

LisaW. said...

Can't wait to see the finished ribby. great color! love the "oozing cat" photos.