SPRING SNOW IN THE ROCKIES and some KNITTING.

Best Pecan Bar I have had in years.

(as you can see, I ate most of it before I thought to take a picture)

Little Oaks Sweater

the girl loves it, though I need to get some buttons.

Autumn Blocks Cardigan was a fun knit till I got to the sleeves. Then pattern reads; increase 2st 

 every 5/8'. Oh , and stay in pattern---but no info where to start 10st repeat pattern so everything meets up 'in line' for the yoke. After several attempts and grafting out pattern, not to mention hair pulling and messaging a knitting podcaster in Norway for advice. She messaged me right back, which I appreciated and said ' I had to imagine it in my head and go from there.' What????

 I think I figured it out and off I went, so far I think it will work, but the proof will be when I get to the yoke. 

I love European patterns because they give minimal information, unlike some American patterns that can be 20 pages long, with way TMI,  that only confuses the knitter....me.  But, I would have appreciated a little more info on the sleeves for this pattern. I do feel a little like I can now do any pattern or I will when -and if the yoke works! 

Scandinavian Sweater Book

Another small top finished that has been sitting on the shelf for to many long....years. 

I have one more finished top that has been hanging around for years that I hope to have done next month. My hope is to get through these finished tops and start making more NEW tops. I have a thing for running fabric through a sewing machine.....so relaxing.

Snow pictures taken early Sunday morning before the Blizzard really turned up the snow dial.

 We survived the Spring  Blizzard here on the Front Range. When it was all said and done I believe we got around 30" of wet heavy snow. The blizzard ended Sunday night and by Monday afternoon already so much had melted, being sunny and in the low 40's. The above picture is Tuesday morning and the snow is melting fast. The city did come through and plow our street Tuesday morning at zero dark thirty, plowing frozen snow/ice into our truck, as well as blocking our driveway with a wall of ice snow. We dug that out early on Tuesday wearing t-shirts, again sun out and temps rising. We have more snow, (so they are saying) coming in tonight and then again early next week, nothing big, just an inch or so......

I do love the fickleness of Colorado Spring weather and find it entertaining listening to all the folks that have spent little time in this great state complain about the late season snows. Ha, wait till they experience a blizzard in the middle of May, and yes I have been through a couple of those too. These snows is what fills our rivers and reservoirs, water that will be much needed during the summer. 

I hope to see a couple more snow drops, measurable snows come through before summer turns on the heat.

Joining Kat Unraveled Wednesday

A GREAT WEEK AHEAD FOR ME

 Things here the past week has been happening in the kitchen. Artisan Breads have been made, and the Mr.states 'it's the best he has ever had'. Wow, now that is an endorsement! Also yesterday, made a total of nine quarts of chicken bone broth, we were dangerously low, maybe only one quart on the shelf...yikes. Just for fun, I made bacon date wraps and we ate them for a lunch. 

Little Oaks Sweater is finished, (except for buttons) but no picks yet ;-]  

Reading: Dark Sky.  C J Box is always a great escape read.

Shadow Box By Luanne Rice.  A 3 star, didn't hold many surprises for me, I finished it in a day to see if I was correct as to who the murderer was, I was correct.

Now for the exciting news:  I have my first vaccine scheduled for this morning! I could hardly sleep last night knowing the end of this pandemic is within sight.

Second great news of the week; we have a snow storm coming. A real Rocky Mountain, upslope March snow......which means a prediction of 2-4 FEET of snow. Those totals will get more accurate by Thursday night but this storm is working up to be a whopper. I love a good RM Spring storm! Today, we will run errands ahead of the storm, gas for the snow blower, googles for the Mr. so he can clear all the snow. Due to the pandemic we don't need to stock up on food items, our pantry will due fine.

Joining Kat   

SEEING THE LIGHT

As we are all aware of-it's been a long year! The anxiety of COVID, of a loved one being stricken with the virus and worse, the economy, financial issues, family separations and the ISOLATION.

I am a serious homebody and thought I was doing well the first 11.5 months of this crazy stay at home thing. Heck, I have been practicing this isolation thing most of my life! But, these past few weeks I have really been struggling, not sure if I'm just over it all, (not a good enough excuse to give up now), am I experiencing the end of winter blues, or do I see the light at the end of the tunnel , (my name goes on the vaccine call up list Friday.) I think its all the above! 

Tuesday, I said to Eric; "lets go up the mountain and get lunch by the river." Oh my gosh, it was glorious, 60 degrees, up in the mountains, pine trees, snow, sun, the river, fresh air, very few people and lunch...out, not made byEric or myself, and a beer... from a tap!  Everyone keeping their distance, masks on when not eating! It felt like getting off a space ship vacation, ( no, I have never been on such a trip, remember I am a homebody),  back to earth and normal living. 

I hope to be vaccinated within the next two weeks, then Eric and I can breath a bit easier.

I re-soaked some skeins of yarn to get more 'pig tails' out of the skeins. A class I took said to 'whack' the skeins wet on a hard surface. I thought, yeah right. It worked beautifully! 4 skeins out drying in the sun this afternoon. I often wonder what my new neighbors think of me, whacking making for a very loud noice and then seeing hanging skeins. I tell myself, they will get use to me.....haha.

I see spring popping up through the ground.

Friends I visit out walking.

Mountain Quilt finished and to be donated.

Altheda done and even worn once. Only change I made - was short sleeves! Much more practical for Colorado weather. This is a fun and easy knit, I will probably make another or three for my girls.

READING: 

The Power Worshippers, by Kathrine Steward.

This book is well worth the time to read and understand how the 80% of American White Christians are working within the GOP political framework to control the politics and laws of this country. It is eye opening and very frighting. 

 Mary Lincoln: by Ruth Painter Randal

Excellent book about Mary  Todd Lincoln. So different from other books about her, but then those have been written by men. This book is written by a women who spent endless hours reading Mary's correspondence to her family, friends as well as her enemies.  Also are the letters to Mary from Abraham, who was so very much in love with his wife!

Linking up with Kat for Unraveled Wednesday