First Snow Then Sun

Boy, is it ever bright out there when the sun shines on snow instead of wet grass, sidewalks, dirt, and blacktop. I now remember why those who live where there’s a winter full of snow don’t suffer as badly from Seasonal Affective Disorder as those of us who live in the soggy wet. (It’s not surprising that the top specialist in this field is from our own University of British Columbia.) However, the snow is melting fast. This is what it looked like on my top deck this morning.

Now it’s a puddle of sloppy slush. Brilliantly reflective slush. I can actually see the dirt on the floors that I missed when I vacuumed yesterday. Unfortunately it’s too wet to sit out at my favourite table today to knit and read the paper. Oh well. I did a workout on this instead.

I love listening to podcasts while I do my 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Time goes by so quickly and almost painlessly that way. Picture me with my eyes closed. There’s nothing much to look at in the laundry room/dye & glass studio anyway. In case you’re wondering, those steps and that little door go into the cold room/wine cellar under the front stairs. Like an extra huge refrigerator this time of year!

Remember my Indoor Garden? Some of my little seedlings are coming up already. That was fast. Good thing I checked them to see if they needed water because some of them also needed to come out from under their blankies to get some light! Gardening in the house is so rewarding. No slugs. No wireworms. No snow. However I did harvest a fistful of flower bud shoots (look like rapini) today from some broccoli-ish plant that managed to make it through the winter in my garden. I’m not even sure what it is (something in the Chinese/Japanese greens family) but it’ll make a nice stir-fried or steamed veggie. There’s still quite a few big leeks too which I had better harvest before they bolt. Last year was my first experience growing leeks and surprise! — they’re easy-peasy. Who knew?

In fibre news, I’m heading for the toes on the Ninja’s Tabi Socks. These darn things are so big and I knit so slowly. I’m a bit nervous about knitting the split toe but I found a pattern in the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook and also one at SpunMag. (BTW, the new issue of SpunMag should be up soon. Finally.) Between these two patterns I should be able to extrapolate a bigger size. I’m pretty familiar with making glove fingers and this isn’t much different.

Our fun Spectrum colour/dyeing/surface design study group is meeting tomorrow. We’re going to make some quick-and-dirty stamps to use with fabric paint on cloth. You take pieces of foam core board and glue string or craft foam shapes onto it. Painting over the string with acrylic paint makes it more durable. The best part of this group is the camaraderie and the potluck lunch! Looking forward to it.

Pardon me while I test a damselfly picture here. I'm trying to learn more about manipulating things on my blog.