Snow? In Austin, Texas?
The high yesterday in Austin was 81 degrees. I wore flip flops. It’s amazing what can happen in a few hours…
Yes, we actually had some flurries last night. It cracks me up how excited people get when it snows here (Daniel and myself included). It’s just so rare, that even a few flakes are enough for people to take take their kids outside long past their bedtimes so they can experience it. Everyone whips out their cameras and starts calling, emailing, and texting each other.
One thing that I found interesting was that it was raining and snowing at the same time. There were these large snowflakes that were beautiful, but at the same time most of what was falling was rain. There was also ice and hail. At one point we had a nice little collection of ice pellets in our mulch.
These pics are all from this morning, and even though it looks like snow, and is what many Austinites will call "snow," it’s really all ice on the ground. The snowflakes all melted on impact.
Still, even for those of us who have lived in Minnesota and truly experienced the real stuff, when you live in Austin, you take what you can get and you enjoy it. Because it’s so rare, no one complains. And that’s why I love snow in Austin - whether it’s real snow or just "snow," everyone gets excited and has fun with it.
In other news, the finals crunch has led to lots of knitting. I turned my seminar paper in at 11:50pm on Friday night, just in time for the midnight deadline. I couldn’t knit while I was working on that because I had to type. I also had handbell concerts on Thursday and Saturday which took up quite a bit of time, and I’ve been trying to get the journal ready to go to print. I’m very excited because I SENT THE JOURNAL TO THE PRINTER yesterday! This is the first time it has ever been submitted on time, and I am thrilled, both to have met our deadlines and to be done with this issue.
I also found out I passed the MPRE (professional responsibility exam required to join the Texas bar) with flying colors on monday afternoon which was excellent timing for my professional responsibility final yesterday morning which I think I did fine on.
So now that all of that is done, I can finally start studying for my Friday Wills & Estates final. Nothing like trying to learn both the common law (most states) and community property (Texas) rules in their entirety in 2 days. I would feel fine if it was open book, but having to memorize all these rules is scary. It is, however, making for excellent knitting time.
I finished the Baby Surplice for Daniel’s colleague.
Project Specs:
Pattern: EZ’s Surplice Baby Jacket in Vogue Knitting Spring 2007
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy - Deep Seaflower
Needle: US 7’s
For: Chloe’s baby girl
Started: October 8, 2008
Finished: December 7, 2008
Mods:
- Cast on 120 stitches. Always slip the last stich and knit the first stitch through the back loop for a beautiful edge.
- Begin sleeves when 82 stitches remaining - 30 ridges (substitute 19,21 for 24,26 in the pattern)
- 26 stitches between arm markers (sleeve=28 stitches around).
- 3 needle bind off 25 stitches.
- 8 rows of stockinette for the cuffs.
Thoughts: This is the 4th sweater I’ve made out of this pattern in the last few months. It knits up super quickly (the only reason it took me so long was I wasn’t really working on it very much). It also works well with different gauge yarns, and I like that I was able to make it out of 1 skein. I probably could have gone up to a size 8, as the garter stitch does condense, but it’s fine on the 7’s too. I thought I could copy the numbers from the two I made out of Shepherd Worsted, but apparently the Classy did not knit up the same way at all, so I had to adjust. I did stockinette on the cuffs instead of ribbing because I thought it looked less boyish than the ribbing- if I had had extra yarn I would’ve done a picot edge, but I used every last inch. Even though I’ve already made 4, I imagine I will knit this pattern again as it’s great for last minute baby presents, or just those I don’t want to spend too much knitting time on, and it’s great for the budget cause I can buy 1 skein of pretty worsted weight yarn. Moms love it because the buttons make the sizing adjustable, and I always use machine washable yarn.
I also finished the Lost socks for my FIL.
Project Specs:
Pattern: my own, using the Garter Rib stitch pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Cider Moon Glacier in Lost, contrast in Louet Gems Sport Weight in Caribou
Needle: US 4 Bryspun dpns, 3’s for the brown parts
For: my FIL Ray, size 10.5 foot
Started: November 15, 2008
Finished: December 7, 2008
Thoughts: The fastest pair of socks I ever knit! And I was working on other things at the same time! These socks are very stretchy, and I probably could have cast on fewer stitches. As it is, I only cast on 44. It will be interesting to see if my FIL likes these as much as the fingering weight pair I made him. I like the contrasting heels, toes, and cuffs a lot - they look fun. I’m looking forward to having a pic of these on actual feet, because the ribbing makes them look pretty goofy off the foot.
Finally, Major would like you to know that he’s working very hard helping me study for Wills. That’s the sleeve of Sahara that I’m working on. And that’s the 3" binder of stuff I need to memorize by 1:30pm on Friday.
Ok, well, maybe it’s a little boring.
