Winter Already?

On Wednesday a snowstorm hit. Not some wimpy October snow that melts as soon as it hits the ground, no!

This was a regular, full-blown snowstorm.

We went out early in the day for a get-together with friends we met during the presidential campaign last year. We went to Kneader's at Kimball Junction for breakfast and caught up on everything our friends had been up to. 

We had tickets for Wednesday evening at the Pioneer Theater, but decided to stay home. The snow was reason enough, but we would have missed the World Series game, and I had a feeling it would be the last game, since I was wearing my red "Fenway Pahk Sox," and every time I wore them during the Series, my team won. When I didn't wear them, they lost. See, Red Sox? It wasn't the beards after all!

It pays to be able to knit socks. I've made some progress on the "Green Tea" socks. Socks are so easy to grab when you're going out, and a couple of rounds here, a couple there, mounts up. The yarn is Panda Silk from Crystal Palace Yarns. It's 52% bamboo, 43% Superwash merino and 5% silk. The pattern is "Broad Spiral Ribbing" from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks.

This week's Thursday was the fifth Thursday, no regular meeting time, but Janet decided to host a special meeting at her house. We enjoyed seeing Karan's quilt top finished. She and Julie talked about how to quilt it.

Here's a nicer view of Karan's quilt top. 

Margareth was helping Jean learn to do needlepoint. This is one of the nice things about our stitching groups. When you need help with something, there's almost always someone who know how and is willing to help. 

Joanie came and was still showing off her Halloween gear. She was finishing up a scarf.

Friday I finally found time to finish warping the floor loom for the waffle scarves. I had a hard time, because the brake wasn't working. After some consternation, I figured out that I must have dropped a couple of links from the brake release lever, so when I put everything back together, it was if I were stepping on the brake release all the time. Then I had a couple of warp threads break and had to rethread two new warp threads to replace them. 

The yarn is some over-spun sport-weight yarn a friend bought me several years ago. It couldn't be used for knitting a sweater, but just for things like hats and mittens. However, it could be used for warp and weft. I was not yet a weaver when I received it. The friend must have been clairvoyant.

Joanie, Margareth and I were planning to go to the Acorn Antique Show in Ogden on Saturday, something Joanie and I do at least twice a year. When I drove by Gorgoza Tubing Park on my way to pick them up, I saw that they were already making snow at Gorgoza. It was 29° at my house, so it was probably colder than that at the tubing park. 

We were really lucky to get our trip in between snow storms! It was a lovely day for the long drive.

We had a great time at the antique show. Here's a lovely butterfly quilt one vendor had. There were many quilts, but this was the best one. It was clearly from the 1930s and in almost perfect condition. At $170, a steal. I wished I could have snapped it up. 

Joanie bought a basket, a yellow ware bowl and a primitive milking stool. Margareth found a painting with a nice frame at a good price. I saw lots of things I could have bought, but the things I really would have liked were too expensive for me. We finished the day with lunch at the train station in Ogden and a visit to the Needlepoint Joint and Shepherd's Bush. I bought a couple of pullover patterns and two skeins of yarn from the sale bin, and two cross-stitch patterns. 

Sunday it snowed again. Yikes! Next weekend, Margareth and I will be driving to Salt Lake City each day for our rug-weaving class with Jason Collingwood. I sure hope the weather is better then!

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms, Christmas Waffle sweater and Green Tea socks with a few more pattern repeats finished. I've ordered yarn for a couple of baby/child sweaters, so I'd better get finished with the sweaters. 

What's on my loom: The aforementioned warp from you-know-where for more scarves for Christmas presents. Also need to warp the table loom for my rug class in a couple of weeks. The linen carpet warp arrived from WEBS for my class project. 

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Wolf". First bobbin finished. No progress this week. 

What's on my Sewing needles, Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, piecing the Delectable Mountain block panels. Appliqué panel #3, Making progress.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: listening to The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore on the Overdrive app. Reading Cry of the Peacock by V. R. Christensen on the Kindle App, purchased through BookBub. Listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast.

What's my app of the week: VK Knit Buddy from Vogue Knitting. Margareth had a question about how to do raglan decreases to get the effect she wanted, and I was able to find photos of the K2tog and SSK decreases in the app to help her decide what to do. 

What's in my wine glass: Nathanson Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. Lovely!

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.