Knitting up a storm (get it?)

I had work today because the power came back on at the library last night. Home, however, is a different matter. As of noon, we didn't have any power so I'm staying a little late at work to use their electricity and running water. I think I should flip the light switches a couple of times just for the fun of it.

I'll first talk about my recent knitting and then show you a few storm-aftermath pictures (not many because I mostly forgot to take my camera with me when I was out and about). I can't remember if I talked about this project last time (probably not because I am lazy!). The new knitty came out last week and it was full of really nice patterns. Two of those really grabbed me and, even though I have a ton of stuff already going, I had to start them immediately. Waves of Grain was the perfect pattern for the merino/tencel lace I had just spun up and my yardage was close. The pattern has been a lot of fun and it has become my travelling project.

I've gotten through the part with the beads at the end (you can't see them in the picture) and into the 75 repeats of 2 rows. Once I'm finished with those repeats, I'll break the yarn and start it over again.

The other pattern that really grabbed me was Maple.



I LOVED making this bag. It was a really interesting construction. You knit the brown handle/bottom/side part first in a giant loop and then you pick up the stitches for the light brown section. I also really liked the small intarsia of the leaf though wasn't thrilled about the number of ends to weave in. The veins of the leaf were needle felted in rather than embroidering them on afterwards. This is off to be a Christmas present for my cousin. I wasn't planning on this bag (obviously because the pattern wasn't out there) but I think it will be perfect. The leaf color looks a lot like the mittens I made for her present last year (which *cough* aren't finished yet *cough* but will be after tomorrow!)

I've also been making hats because you can make them in the dark or by candlelight. I could work on socks but don't feel like working with fingering weight yarn by candlelight. This is one hat that I'm going to keep for myself. The rest are going to be Christmas presents.


Next up, tree pictures. This first one is a picture of the backyard. As you can see, we hardly had any damage which is really surprising for living in the middle(ish) of woods.


This is the tree which is going to have to come down. The inside is all rotted out so it is just a matter of time before it falls down. You can't really see the branch which is poised to fall in this picture. It is on the left of the tree on the other side.


These next two pictures are from my aborted trip to work yesterday. The first picture is taken out of my righthand window and the second is out of the lefthand one. Me thinks it will take a bit of time to remove them.



This last picture is our backyard after everything was picked up. Isn't it nice and pretty?


Well, back to the power-less house!