So here it is. The entrance of winter. The nights get longer and the days get colder. Flip flops have been replaced by snow boots and a walk down to the beach now entails shoveling a path down the hill to the entrance. And at the end of that shoveled path is a solid coat of white that makes it nearly impossible to tell when the beach has stopped and the lake has started, that is if you don’t take notice to the docks randomly sprouting up where, I suspect, the edge really is.
Yes, the time has come for taking shorter walks more often due to the threat of possible face frost. Many would say that I’m straight up just not prepared, which as much as I would like to think that I am prepared for anything all the time, I’d have to say that I may have to agree with them in this specific instance. But that’s okay. I’m pretty alright about taking shorter walks more often for now. I mean, you have to be flexible sometimes.
Good outdoor and winter gear. It’s one of those things I come across that takes so long to make the jump and almost every time I just wonder why I didn’t just do that earlier and realize that it is totally worth investing in. And then, although it seems that I should know better, the pattern is just repeated over and over with every piece of “investment” gear I end up buying.
It’s kind of like getting new tires. Everyone knows that they are one of the most important features on your car but it seems like the process gets stalled when it comes to getting new ones. And then when I finally get them I realize that half the problems I thought I had with my car were all due to ridiculously shabby tires and that I was very consciously driving a death trap every time I turned the ignition and attempted to drive anywhere.
Of course, I don’t do that anymore. That one finally stuck.
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the emergence of winter. The lack of daylight. The cold. The snow. The chance to hibernate for a little. The snow started a couple of weeks ago and, with the exception of a few days last week, hasn’t come to a full end yet. There are times when just a few flurries are floating by and the skies are spotted with a distinctive blue. Then there are times that it’s tough to see the lake out the back window of our cottage.
They say that this is due to “lake effects,” though I’m a little unsure how to tell the difference between a true snowstorm and a storm that is brought upon by lake effects. This topic may need a bit more research to come up with a definitive answer. You can’t expect me to get this stuff right away…I am only a greenhorn in this area, you know.
So needless to say, with all this sporadic snow activity we’ve had lots of time to get comfortable in the rental cottage. Between taking walks, cooking, playing music, arting and crafts, well, most of our snow days have been eaten up pretty quickly.
I finally finished some knitting projects that I started during the summer. I was a little bit humbled after that first attempt I made at knitting but I guess, not everything can end up the way you want it on the first try.
My second attempt, a scarf of course (the next logical step after a pot holder), came out much more to my liking. I stayed within a thirty-stitch parameter for the entire length of the scarf and even incorporated a couple different yarns into the mix. Not too bad.
With a little more knitting experience under my belt and confidence in my technique (which to this day may still be the wrong technique, but hey, whatever works, right?) I upped the ante and used the same scarf pattern but incorporated into it different stitches and yarns. I was happy with the final product although it wasn’t exactly how I had imagined when it was finished.
This is when I learned about the importance of using yarns that are the same weight instead of my usual approach, which was to strictly match yarns based on color. The scarf ended up a little wavy, the thicker yarn making wider areas and the thinner making skinnier ones, but I use it everyday and it definitely serves its awesome purpose.
One of the most recent projects I finished was a little bit more of a crap shoot, not really knowing what I was going for until I got to a transition point. At first I thought about making it a soft laptop bag (I know, how frickin’ dorky). Then I thought maybe it could just be turned into another pot holder. They always come in handy, right?
In the end I decided on a simple shoulder bag (no, not a purse). I never really planned too far ahead for the next step of the process and didn’t have any real pattern to work off of, which made it fun to make but also meant that I had to redo a few steps in the process too. Oh well, it probably turned out better that way.
I am usually pretty hard on just about everything so I was also a little concerned with the durability and strength of the bag. I gave it a few week trial run to test her out and she passed with flying colors. I use it just about everyday and it seems to keeping up with me pretty well. If this doesn’t redeem my knitting status at least a little bit, well, I’m not sure what would.
