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Saturday 9 January 2010

no end in sight.....

this was taken from the west of our house - not close to nightfall, but at three o'clock in the afternoon! heavy snowfall - luckily not for very long. it just covered everything nicely again - and the flash caught a snowflake! you can see that it's very cold, because they were huge and fluffy! well, if that was a leftover from "Daisy", I suppose we got away lightly - it's supposed to cause major disruption in germany today and tomorrow. though our area couldn't really be more "disrupted" - water pipes frozen, streets covered in ice - and no schools open nationwide at least until wednesday! which didn't exactly turn out to be a major disappointment to DS:)) though it doesn't really make a difference for us anyway - probably much more of a problem for parents, who have to organise childcare now!
luckily I did manage to dye the multicolor yarn for the "tree of life socks" in time. I didn't try it out, but I don't suppose "rinsing" out dyed skeins in snow would be much fun! winding them was another story though - my old ballwinder keeps having hiccups - I'll have to replace it asap (i.e. when I can get to banks or the post office to make payments!). it winds ok for a few rounds, then it starts rattling like mad, which makes it all rather wobbly and uneven - then it works again for a little while and so on.... and I have to wind slowly - or the whole ball jumps off - and I have to start from scratch again:(( definitely time for a new gadget! I wish I could find a good one like strauch over here, but ordering in the US would cost a fortune in postage and customs etc., so it has to be one of the simpler ones from Germany.... I do have the new nostepinne - but winding that much yarn would take a lot longer!
I also started to use up some of my leftovers of Kilkarra Donegal Tweed. this is the first circle of a handbag - knitted like a tam without the rim.
the other one is finished too, I just have to do the stripe in the middle, for the handle. it looks a bit weird, because it's actually more than a circle - the disruption in pattern on the left side is due to me folding over the part that's too much! which might well lead to disaster in the felting process - somehow I have a feeling that the larger part won't shrink properly, but I'll just do it anyway - if all else fails, I'll cut up the felt and use it for something else:)) I am not sure that it's down to the weather, but I seem to develop a rather fatalistic streak just now:)) off to finish the handle - and then everything goes for a nice hot bath in the washing machine (I wish I could join the bag for a while - but I don't fit through the loading hole:)) enjoy the snow - if you can!

7 comments:

Jinx said...

Wow ... Snow in Ireland! This happened to me once, when I was in Dublin in late December 2000. It was really cold and a bit of snow fell, but next day it was all green again and 12° Celsius ...

The beginning of the handbag looks really cool!
Jinx

Helen said...

we have not had more snow-yet- but it remains cold although here is bright and sunny with the hills going pink in the sunset.
Love the bag and the over socks are a good idea!

Delighted Hands said...

What a winter......still crazy here, too.

I love your patterned knitting-be sure and post a pic of it felted.

Sorry about the ballwinder malfunctioning-it is an essential tool.

Woolly Bits said...

Jinx - we sometimes do have a few mm of snow - but as you say, usually they melt away after 2 or 3 days at the latest. that's what makes this big freeze so hard to deal with... imagine though: it's supposed to get milder during the days towards the end of the week - now all our hopes go up; I hope they don't get dashed again afterwards....
I am trying to finish the strap for the bag today - burned my left hand and knitting isn't much fun right now:(( I'll show pix as soon as the bag is out of the machine:))

Eliane Zimmermann said...

hier im südwesten is wieder business as usual, gestern fielen zwar in der secondary school sechs von acht stunden aus (alle lehrer die im osten wohnen kamen nicht, nur für die aus dem westen waren die straßen zumutbar) aber heute ist wieder alles beim alten. sogar der brave county council hat schon alle schlaglöcher auf der N 71 geflickt!
ha, das krumpelwort ist fast textil: fetled, fast gefilzt!

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