Oh Christmas Tree . . .

The pine tree photographed from my bedroom window as a barometer of our snowfall suffered limb damage during the last storm. It was my baby, a tree we used to decorate with lights for the holidays . . . until the six foot ladder was to short to reach the top. It towers to the rooftop now and always had wide-spaced branches. Now that many are on the ground it looks quite threadbare.

The view from my bedroom window now:

There were many photo ops during the storm. It was truly a winter wonderland. Still is:

And while it snowed I wove. My second project came off the loom and was mailed away to Melissa who has since called to tell me it arrived and she loves it . . . Hmmm, was that "love" or "like"? Anyway, she was wearing it as we spoke, she said.

And while Melissa and I spoke I beaded woven project #3 and discovered a mistake. Why do I find the last lingering mistake after I have fringed and started to bead?!!! Melissa's had one as well. To fix or not to fix? I have decided that as before it will remain a design feature. As Melissa reminded me, great artists intentionally make a mistake and leave it in their work, sort of a signature mistake. I guess I am a great artist. I'm leaving it. Perfectionist tendencies/OCD be damned!

In the bright sunny day that followed the latest storm the LWDs could hardly been seen as they ran through their shoveled maze looking for good pee-pee/poop-poop spots. Can you see the LWDs in their snow trough?

Can I have a little privacy, please?

And this one seems especially appropriate as we turn the page to Valentine's Day 2010. Can you tell me why?

Off to the tri-loom,

Bona Fide Knitter

Snowmageddon!

In case there is anybody left that doesn't already know, we had a big snowstorm here in the City of Brotherly Love Friday night into Saturday afternoon, the second in as many months. This one they claim to be our second biggest in recorded history. Who's doing the measuring? And where?

I was so excited to be snowed in I couldn't sleep the night before. I popped up from bed every other hour to check the landscape for snowfall. It was like Christmas Eve in days of yore (when I was a child) when I popped up from bed to see if the landscape around the Christmas tree had changed, in other words, had Santa been there yet.

From my bedroom window:



I was up before daylight with the LWDs (Little White Dogs) for our potty time. When I opened the back door they use, the snow bank was taller than they are.














Two feet high!

They stopped in their tracks, looked up at me and said (with their eyes) "Are you kidding?!!!"











"Wipe Your Paws"

So off we went down to the front door. They are hesitant to step out the front door without being hooked up to leashes. It's a no-no under usual circumstances. I gave them the okay and they stepped out. The shelter of the porch kept the snow accumulation low and they were able to do pee-pees at the first bush.

They finished and ran back into the house shaking every trace of moisture off their newly coiffed coats. They had just been groomed two days before.

So, I had the whole day to weave, knit and look at movies streamed to my TV. Our local stations broadcast the weather all day long for goodness sake! It was like nobody ever saw snow before. The talking heads were in their element. Puh-leeze!

It was the kind of day to "put on a pot." Hearty meals were called for. Ham hocks and butter beans simmering away in my kitchen. After all there would be a whole lot of shoveling to do--NOT!!! We are past the shoveling age. We had our guy come with a snowblower and clear things out after the snow stopped. However, we did do the hearty eating. One must keep ones strength up. We (at least I) had to check the weather from all windows. You need strength for that. It was also a good time to call friends who are usually out and about. Everybody would be home. All that chatting takes strength too!

A work table I ordered had been delivered the evening before and I spent the time between meals, telephoning and looking out windows putting the table together. The table is actually a computer desk, but just the right size not to make too big a footprint in the studio. It also matches the TV table (coffee table) and side table, inexpensive things from Target that fill the bill. Actually I have filled the bill to capacity. The seven-foot loom and its tripod take up a lot of space when I'm weaving. When its free of weaving the loom is dismantled into three sticks and the tripod folds. The whole thing fits nicely into a corner. But while it has weaving on it, quite a bit of the room is taken up. Thus the need for small scale furniture . . . except for the large dog bed in front of the TV.

While I got no knitting or weaving done on Saturday I more than made up for it on Sunday. Lots of weaving, knitting and movie watching was accomplished. Judy, Janis and Melissa provided plenty of talk time as well. It was another wonderful snowed in day.

My studio is cozy and warm and calls to me. Time to start my third consecutive snowed in day.



Bona Fide Knitter