Yesterday, I got so beguiled by the beauty of a 70° day in February that I decided to take the afternoon off. I didn’t even open my calendar, just grabbed a book and headed out into the sunshine. I read The Golden Compass and ate an apple and shared the core with the chickens, and watched the sheep graze the mostly-dead winter pasture and periodically bolt and flock together.

When it got dark, I went inside and made Fudgy a new jacket, pink with a little fancy red stitching around the neck just for fun.

Then, all hopped up on a sewing high, I went through this huge bin that contains years of to-be-mended clothing, looking for this week’s mending project. I was utterly astonished at how tiny everything was, and how short! I just re-joined Weight Watchers after years of packing on the pounds, and I’m finally feeling confident that I can edge back to my goal weight, so maybe I’ll actually be able to wear some of the less-tiny stuff again, though I think the really short dresses are definitely a thing of the past (hope springs eternal, though, apparently: I didn’t toss them out yet). I finally settled on some vintage pajamas to mend, and I think I’ll give them to Ron.

Later on, I caught up with some blogs I like and did a little knitting and read some more. What I didn’t do was open that calendar.

If I had opened my calendar, I would have realized I had a business-y dinner last night, and I completely spaced it! This is why I will never be a captain of industry. The siren song of freak gorgeous weather completely overrides any sense of responsibility.

My afternoon off was lovely, and we’ve got beautiful weather scheduled all weekend. I’m going to make sure I spend a couple hours a day outside, but I’ve also got a mountain of TCB.

Here are my plans for the weekend. Hm. I went back and slapped a time guess on each one and I clearly can’t do all this this weekend, unless, you know, I don’t sleep or even pause at all.

1. Hang up lighter curtains and decide which I prefer (1 hour)
2. Fold up losing curtains and get them ready to return (30 minutes)
3. Put up bubble wrap (hour/room?–10 hours?)
4. Flyer (2 hours)
5. Finish and pack up Color Source Book orders (4-6 hours?)
6. Swatch my sweater options and make a yarn decision (3-4 hours)
7. Catch up on the building scarf (Hm. 10 hours?)
8. Spin my Spinsters Club batt (2 hours)
9. Spend a couple hours cleaning (3 hours)
10. Do some laundry (1 hour)
11. Pick a template! (2 hours)
12. Replace rotten or broken planks on the palettes in the hay shack; toss out all the leftovers (2 hours)
13. Hang some tarp on the east side of the hay shack (1 hour)
14. Make a rack for all the tools I like to keep in there (2 hours)
15. Examine Agnes’ front hoof that looked like it might be cracked (30 minutes)
16. Repair Fudgy’s old coat and put on Hokey Pokey (1 hour)
17. Make a new coat for Mr. Shivers. (1 hour)
18. Catch up on my stuff elimination (1 hour)
19. Try 2 new recipes! (2 hours)
20. Finish destash cardigan (4-6 hours)
21. Remove, pack and return defective screen (1 hour)

I have 3 candidates to swatch for the sweater I’m working on for the March Craftzine. Just in the ball, the Sheffield is my favorite. It’s 70% merino, with 15% silk and 15% angora. It’s fluffy and super soft, with a gentle halo. Plus, I love the icy pale blue.

My monstrous rolls of bubble wrap arrived today. I’m planning to put it up this weekend, while it’s still warm. Hopefully we’ll get a little greenhouse action going with the afternoon sunshine. Hm. I just checked the forecast again and now they’re predicting thunderstorms Saturday and clouds Sunday. Boo. Well, at least I’ll get the bubble wrap up before winter kicks back in on Monday.

I’m super-awesome because I just resisted a very tempting elann.com update. Naturally Natural Wool 200g hanks under $5 in both aran and DK. And you know how much I love the natural browns.

And earlier this week, I resisted this very cute tablecloth on clearance at Target even though I was dying to buy it for a circle skirt. But I’m prohibited from buying any clothing this year, and that includes tablecloths! But I could hear the cogs creaking in my brain trying to rationalize that one. Instead, I’ll see if I have a cute vintage tablecloth in my stash I can use for a circle skirt.

(ETA: Extra credit because I still denied it when I found it again last night for 75% off. It was very hard to convince myself that the same arguments applied when it was $3.76. But cheating is cheating and a busy print still makes my ass look bigger, even when it costs less than a case of Diet Coke.)

As if I have any business draping a busy print over these hips! (It was actually that thought, and not my slavish devotion to my Überlist, that made me put down the tablecloth. That and lately my poor checkbook sobs a little every time it opens. I’ll be glad when we can shut down the boiler for the season. Did I mention how grateful I am for this warm spell?)

Today one of the Kansas Day organizers sent me this great pic of me tandem spinning (me drafting; someone else treadling) with some cute random kid. I’ll bet I did this with 50 different kids that day, including a couple who were so little they had to hold onto their parents’ knees and run in place on the treadles.

Yes, that is my ghetto tin can cupholder. I totally covet one of these (with the slotted option for my coffee cup, natch), but my birthday is not til September, so it’s all travel mugs and Diet Coke cans for me right now.

A while back, I decided to go through all my old patterns and clean them up and make nice, tidy pdfs to sell. The free patterns will stay right where they are, but if you want to shell out a few bucks can get a nice, printer-friendly pdf that can live in your ravelry library.

I wanted to make Ron a new Critter for Valentine’s day, so I decided to take the opportunity to revamp the pattern and design some new clothes for the little guy! The paid version of the pattern includes my new critter designs as a free bonus. In addition to the 2 scarves and wizard hat already available free online, the pdf includes a new toque and cowl,  a sweater vest or cardigan and a Hemmingway sweater (cabled aran turtleneck)! I have to admit I sort of want my own Hemmingway sweater now.

After lots of winter, we suddenly got a fake spring a couple days ago. It’s been in the 50s, and it’s supposed to be 70 on Thursday. Of course, this comes right after I buy thermal curtains and order a shitload of bubble wrap to try out this trick. It’s not like we’re going to quit having winters–or even that this current winter has run its course–but it’s vexing to spend money at just the wrong time.

There was a long-range (450 ft, longer than the 300ft remote weather station I use successfully in the chicken coop) video baby monitor on sale as Amazon’s deal of the day today. Is it wrong that I briefly coveted one for the barn?

(And by “briefly,” I mean that I am still coveting it, but know that I should be appalled with myself.)

I started this sweater while waiting on some yarn to swatch for another sweater I’ll be knitting this month. It’s worked by using 5 different yarns and alternating yarn every row. It’s super fun to knit, but managing 5  balls of yarn is a little annoying. But I’m happy to solider on because I do like the notion of having a unified use for all those random odd balls that always seem to hang around. If I were clever, I would have knit a trial version in a single color.

I need to quit getting distracted and finish cranking it out so I can start my next sweater! And the next one after that! Yes, I have more 2 sweaters already planned out. I actually have one more planned out, but it’s almost an art project, so I may end up saving it for the summertime, when I’m free again. February is a short month, and I have an awful lot of catching up to do already.

I also want a new shawl, something nice and warm, and that will stay on my person without constant adjustment while I TCB. After refining my search several times on ravelry, I finally decided on Sarah Howard’s Super-Simple Scandinavian-Style Shawl, and not just because of the alliteration, though that didn’t hurt. I haven’t yet decided on the yarn, or whether I’m allowed to start it before I finish my destash cardi. It really seems like I shouldn’t, considering I have a whole other sweater that’s been on the needles for a year now, and February is supposed to be catchup month, not get-farther-behind month.

It’s funny how much better I feel getting a little bit more daylight these days. It’s only about 30 extra minutes so far, but it’s luxurious! Something about utter darkness by 5:30 was just so defeating. Oddly, I never seem to completely wake up until after dark, though. Something about winter makes me sleepy all day. Maybe it’s the blue light?

We’ve got another Winter Weather Advisory underway. With all my friends in the real snow territories getting blanketed repeatedly, and without any pressing need to leave the building, these little snow events are starting to seem kind of cute. (Hm. I think the weather heard me. The wind just kicked up and the snow is completely horizontal now. Hey! Cute is a good thing! I love cute weather!)

Ron and the boys are all flying in this evening, so I’m hoping the weather stays fairly mild, if snowy, and that they don’t run into anything nasty on the way home. Luckily, it’s super cold, so ice shouldn’t be an issue (nothing worse than a snowstorm right at the brink of freezing), but the wind is always a brutal question mark out here. It’s rough driving on a road that’s just a swirling witches’ brew of ghostly white ripples. You can’t tell where the road ends and the ditch begins.

This cold weather really seems to be putting the hurt on my hay supply. Last winter, they were eating only half a bale or less a day, and doing a lot of winter grazing. This winter, we’re going through a full bale on many days. Between the hay and the gas bill, I’m starting to think this winter is as bad as last winter. Although this one had the good manners to start almost a month later, which I deeply appreciate.

Before I forget, I have 2 free, fast hat patterns up on ravelry. These were from the quick hats class at Jen’s shop last month.

First Hat includes a detailed photo tutorial for absolute beginners. It’s knit completely on 16″ circulars, so you can avoid dpns entirely, which makes it crazy fast (takes me about an hour). It’s also dandy for handspun, because it’s nice and plain.

Quickie is a 48-stitch, 32-row cabled hat knit of doubled chunky yarn or lighter superbulky (the gauge of storebought superbulky is all over the map, so swatch!). It also works up in about an hour if you’re fast. The pattern includes a little photo tutorial on cables and both charted and written instructions.

As a result of all my pattern testing and timing, I have a nice little stack of wool hats. Maybe I’ll sell the handspun ones and bring all the others to the store in town and make a little FREE WARM HATS basket. I should probably make a really big stack of them. I could do some mad destashing tonight…

I’d better go hay the sheep. I’ve been holding out for that 8° high, but it looks like they’ve revised the forecast down and the current 6° is as high as we’ll get. Boo.

I got these suede slipper soles for my pink and Ron’s brown Bunny Hop thrummed slippers (and I’m selling them in my etsy shop, too!). I’m washing both pairs tonight while the boiler’s still going so I can have them all fixed up. I want to be able to wear them without slipping too much, and without getting them totally filthy when I’m cooking in the kitchen or trudging through the boiler room. In the warmer months, I should even be able to wear them outside, yay! Plus they’re lined with that fake shearling stuff. While  don’t like the feel of that stuff against my bare skin, it will be just the thing sandwiched between my thrummy sole and the suede.

Unfortunately, these only go down to and adult small (women’s size 6), so they’re no good for the wee blue slippers I made for Kyplee. So I just used some some leather to make them non-skid and a little more durable. They won’t hold up as well as the wrap-around grownup style, but I figure with kid stuff, they’ll probably outgrow them before they wear them out.

HOW! TO!

You’ll need:

Thin leather large enough for both soles. You can get leather in most craft stores. The thin stuff typically is sold in an 8×10 square, or you can look at the scrap packs and see if they have thin stuff that’s big enough (scraps often have a lot of heavier stuff, which is a big pain to sew through). You can also repurpose some thin leather from worn-out or thrift store jacket, purse, skirt, etc.

A heavy, sharp needle. I used sharp Clover yarn darner needles.

Heavy thread, crochet cotton, embroidery floss, etc.

1. Trace the slipper soles on paper, cut it out as a template (or trace right onto the leather if it’s a light color), then cut out both soles.

2. Thread your needle and knit the thread. Tack it down into the sole on the edge, underneath where the leather will go, to make it nice and secure. With a running stitch that goes through the edges of the slipper and leather, sew on the sole. You could also use a blanket or slip stitch. I chose a running stitch because it sinks in a bit, so I figured the wear exposure would be a little less. When you’ve gone all the way around, tack down the other end with a few hidden stitches on the inside of the slipper and weave in an inch or so of thread into the knitted sole.

That’s all there is to it!

I’m really psyched it’s February. I’ve designated this as my official catch-up month. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s all snowmen and cupcakes–my catching up involves some VERY heavy lifting–but it does mean I don’t have any event-type commitments breaking up my mindspace.

Did I just say mindspace? What the hell kind of talk is that? Sheesh.

Anyway, so January was chockablock with all kindsa busy busy crap, so my ongoing craft goals from the old Überlist are a bit neglected. But considering how jam-packed January was, it’s a small triumph that I achieved any of them, and I will definitely be making them up.

Here are the ones I kept up with:

8. *FIX: Mend or eliminate an item of clothing every week. I mended a skirt and 3 pair of jeans!

57. *MAKE: Sweater a month. Convertible Hoodie for Craftzine.

58. *MAKE: Spin a pound a month. I spun this dk-sh 2-ply from a 1-pound Decadent Fibers Jellyroll Corriedale batt, bought Rhinebeck 2009. It will become a sweater of some sort. I also spun 4 oz of thick & thin from some Marilyn Pickle merino from the 2009 Spinsters Christmas swap.

from

63. *ORDER: Destash NET 100 balls and 10 pounds of fiber I’m down about 40 balls between destash and knitting.

101. *TCB: Submit a pattern to an online or print magazine every other month. I missed the knitty & Twist deadlines, but I successfully pitched a great new sweater pattern for Craftzine. It will be coming out in March.

And on these I fell behind:

47. *MAKE: Knit 2 feet a week on the building scarf I worked zero feet, so I’m behind 8 feet!

50. *MAKE: Photograph and document each foot of building scarf and make a giant scrolling panorama page for it. Haven’t yet started.

56. *MAKE: Sock a month. (Mitten = sock.)  Nope.

60. *MAKE: Write, photo, make a pdf and publish a new free pattern every other month. While I did have 2 free patterns published this month, I didn’t make their pdfs and self-publish, no coutsies.

104. *TCB: Write, photograph, make a nice pdf and publish one pattern for sale each month. I did write and photograph a couple new patterns, but I didn’t seal the deal with a new pdf in my ravelry store, so no countsies there, either.

And here are my crafty Überlist plans for February:

8. *FIX: Mend or eliminate an item of clothing every week. This month, I’ll be darning a big pile of socks, plus a pair of mittens. I plan to photograph and write up a nice how-to.

57. *MAKE: Sweater a month. This will probably be my Craftzine sweater for March.

58. *MAKE: Spin a pound a month. I’ll be spinning the rest of this:

and this

(Both from Triple R Farm, bought at Rhinebeck 2009.)

These will either become nice, sturdy socks, or I may spin them together and make a vest or little cardigan or something. I really need to get back on Weight Watchers so I can keep making smallish sweaters…

Plus I’ll spin up my Spinsters Club batt from last weekend. Those three together equal a pound. I originally planned the Spinsters Club batt as sort of an art yarn, but I recarded a little strip as a test, and I kind of love it reblended, so I think it has a future as a pair of mittens!

Plus I need to double up to escape my January craft debt.

February has begun with a big snow storm. Odds are, it’s impacting you in some way if live in the U.S., either by snowing you in or at least delaying your flights or package deliveries. After a day of freezing drizzle yesterday, I promised I wouldn’t whine about piles of snow if the ice stopped. Snow’s a bitch, but it doesn’t down the power lines. Winter’s too dark for too long to be without power, and I HATE hooking up and babysitting the generator.

It’s quite snowy but it’s really really windy. The problem with the wind (besides freezing your tits off) is that it fills in the ditches and obscures the road, so it’s very easy to wind up in a ditch. I don’t plan to do any driving until this thing’s over, but I worry about other people who must travel. I hate those terrible stories of people freezing in their cars a couple hundred yards from a store or something.

The wind also makes it impossible to tell how much snow there is. There’s really nothing to stop the wind out here, so between the back door and the barn, there are big swaths of bare ground, and waist-high drifts. When I went out this morning, the sheep were thickly dusted and there was a ton of snow swirling around inside the barn, so I stapled a bunch of empty feed sacks over all the western gaps and some of the southern ones, and it was instantly much snugger. See, I’m not a crazy person, folding and saving all my empty feed sacks. They’re very handy!

The gaps in the chicken coop were much more insidious. Earlier in the season, I used the feed sack trick on the north and west coop walls (the dominant wind directions in winter) and I made a sort of false ceiling out of more feed sacks (to keep more heat inside) but there was still a bunch of snow coming in from who knows where. I stapled some pieces of sack over the spots I could find, and moved a wooden box inside to hopefully make another little sheltered spot, but the hens still seemed discontented. Even inside the coop, it was well below freezing, and their treats (including half a brown avocado, normally a favorite) froze before they got very far with them. I’ll probably bring them some warm porridge or some bacon fat tomorrow and Wednesday morning, since our overnight lows are scheduled to be 0°F/-17°C and -7°F/-24°C, respectively.

On my way back inside, my path had already been completely filled in, and the snow was so thick it made me think of those Little House on the Prairie stories of people going out to the barn with a rope tied to them so they wouldn’t lose their way in the blizzard. That was Little House on the Prairie, right? Those pioneers were so ingenious.

I would have been an awful pioneer.

Ma, the wi-fi’s down. Pa, we’re out of Diet Coke and I can’t find my #7 Addis. Mary, where’s the remote? Oh, right. You’re blind. No help. And um, where exactly am I supposed to pee? In that thing? This sucks.