skittermagoo!

SNOWSNOWSNOW! And some other stuff, too . . .

Okay, so maybe it's not really classified as SNOW in all caps for most of the world, but in Dallas/Ft. Worth the big news of the day is that we had Winter Weather! And by "big news", I mean that it sleeted a bit and snowed a bit, and some of the overpasses and bridges got icy, and we had a dusting on the ground, and all the local network affiliates acted like we had a blizzard or an earthquake or a real natural disaster or something. And really, it is in fact Big News.

Lemme 'splain. I know that 1/4 inch of sleet that accumulates on the overpasses doesn't really count as "winter" . . . hell, I lived in in central PA for four years (where "winter" is spelled "Winter" and lasts at least 5 months with multiple inches or feet of snow on the ground that whole time). But I grew up here, and here in North Texas, any frozen precipitation falling from the sky is big time Winter Weather with round-the-clock news coverage and school closings and all. Canadians, please stop laughing. Also Minnesotans and North Dakota-ans.

Here in TX, we rarely get what can be classified as "Winter Weather". Sure, it gets cold (really cold, like wind chills in the teens and stuff) a few times a year, and the winter of 1989 was even cold by other people's (i.e. Northerners') standards. But usually we don't get white stuff falling from the sky. Usually white stuff falling from the sky happens in "spring" and is actually the cottonwood trees shedding their fluff.

Anyway, the one or two days a year that we get "WW" usually happen like this: In the morning it is above freezing, and nobody believes that it will sleet. Everyone goes to work, and around 9am, we hear that it is getting nasty outside, and lots of people go home. The people who don't go home (a/k/a "newbies" or "recent transplants") get stranded at work, because between 9am and lunchtime, all the highways turn into a sheet of ice, and the whole world (ok, the DFW Metroplex) comes to a screeching halt with 10-car pileups. It's always a gamble, because sometimes the sheet of ice/screeching halt thing doesn't really happen, and a bunch of people take the day off unneccesarily, and the next day the "recent transplants" publicly mock them. Incidentally, these "recent transplants" are usually always from snowy states, where people know how to drive in snow, and have special tires and stuff. But in fact, these people, though they know how to navigate snow, are just as inept as us Texans at driving on sheer ice, and end up causing wrecks and stuff. Just sayin'.

Anyway, I digress. Today was that special day*. Or had potential to be (see above, under "crapshoot"). When I left for work, it was raining, but soon after, the rain turned to freezing rain and sleet. So I dithered . . . do I go home, or do I stick it out? Because at my work, we have a "never closed" policy**, and although they leave it up to the individual employee to use their best judgement about whether it is safe enough to travel to work, one must use vacation time if they don't come to work on a snow day. Even if they are not considered to be an "Essential Employee" That is a direct paraphrase of the official memo we receive if the weather looks like it will be "inclement". So, in addition to the gamble of whether the weather (heh) will be bad enough to escape mocking the next day, there is the high stake of using our own money (i.e. vacation time) to place the bet.

Ah, but I digress. Sorry for all the background -- I've had a glass of wine.

Short story is that I drove in to work, and around 9:30am, it turned nasty. At around 11:00, Hub emailed me (he works closer to home), and said, "If you can leave and come home, I would.". I watched the radar. I watched the "storm" move closer and closer to my commuting route. I continued to dither.

At 12:30, I caved. I emailed my boss and headed home. I'm glad I did, because the roads were kind of dicey. It took me over an hour to get home (usually a 30-min trek), and it was sleeting heavily the whole way.

This is what my back deck looked like when I got here:

seriously, y'all. quit laughing. this is serious stuff here in D/FW!

(usually it's redwood-colored, not white)

** The funniest and most typical thing about the Winter Weather today? Yesterday it was 80 degrees. Seriously. I'm not kidding. You other Texans know what I'm sayin'.

* the "never close? policy: apparently this is due to one time years ago when it threatened to snow, and one of the medical students called in a fake closure report to all the news stations even though "The Administration" hadn't made the decision yet, and as a result the university adopted a policy that "We Never Close No Matter What And If You Think That It's Not Safe To Drive To Work With 6 Inches Of Ice On The Road And A State Of Emergecy From The Governor, You Will Have To Take Vacation Time Off If You Want To Stay Safe". (Incidentally, there is another university policy that immediately comes to mind that is stupid and stems from the dumb actions of a medical student. But that will have to wait for another time.)

Oh!! And I have a picture of spinning for you! I didn't do any spinning today, unfortunately (even though I got home early), but I promised a shot of the nummy orange yarn I spun and plied over the weekend . . . I'm not sure that the color in the photo is even close, but it's the color of a Creamsicle.

Jen, does that make you say "yay"?

Allright, y'all. I gotta go and look at the "snow" again and then go kitchener a sock toe and bundle up with a book and a cup of hot chocolate. 'Cause you know, we have some serious Winter Weather going on here (snort). My apologies to the grammar police for the run-on sentences, too (and the excessive use of quotation marks) -- I swear it was the wine. And the excitement over the snow -- because even though I lived in Snowburg, PA for a while, I still get a little giddy when frozen stuff falls out of the sky.

Meh.

Yeah, okay, so I have a bunch of random, bordering-on-complainy stuff today . . . dunno why the mood; I think it's from having to go back to work today after a great, relaxed five days of no work (at least not of the Job variety) . . .

So, in no particular order:

1. Why is it that I don't really mind cooking, but I really resent the washing-up part afterwards?

2. How come all the wreaths I find at Target that I like are so spendy? Or when I find one that is not so spendy, there's only one of them? (I have a double front door that just screams for a wreath on each).

3. And why are all the purses at Target and all other retail stores So. Damn. Ugly? Why can't I find a cute bag? They are all hideous, I tells ya! HIDEOUS!

4. How can I even start to get into the Holiday Spirit when it is 80+ degrees Fahrenheit outside? Yesterday I was at the grocery store in shorts, humming along begrudgingly to Xmas songs. Grrr.

5. Why won't the Thanksgiving leftovers just be gone already? It seems like that's all I've been eating since Thursday, and they aren't getting any smaller.

On a good note, though:

1. I am knitting a sock. And I'm almost done with it. It is for me, and is plain stockinette, and I love it.

2. I taught one of my semi-coworkers to knit last Tuesday, and she is smitten with it (smitten with knitten, heh)! We're knitting again tomorrow at lunch.

3. I spun my best yarn ever yesterday. And plied it. And forgot to take a picture of it. (maybe tomorrow, along with a picture of the sock)

4. The yarn I spun? Is orange.

In other noninteresting news, Hub and I spent an hour or so yesterday replacing the washers in our shower faucet handles (the shower head was drippy), which made me feel like a total DIY maven, and we didn't get in an argument, and I didn't shout any curse words (as is my custom). Unfortunately, the showerhead still drips. I have no idea what's next on that front, or even why I mention it.

In other (maybe also noninteresting news), I saw this the other day on Neil Gaiman's site and it totally cracked me up . . . it's the "Helsinki Complaints Choir". Some of it is very Finland-specific, but most of it is universal (or at least you can get the context). In any case, it made me laugh out loud, and then I had to make my coworker watch it.

Whoa, Nellie!

Wow, y'all, I almost forgot to do an entry tonight! It's been THAT kind of a day.

There were soooo many things to see and buy at Kid n Ewe this weekend, it was almost hard to even make any decisions! There was the guy spinning silk straight from silkworm cocoons swimming in simmering water (damn, I wish my picture of that had been half decent!), there were angora bunnies, the softest thing ever. There were spinning wheels and spindles just begging to come home with me.

Amazingly, I stayed within my budget!

One of the coolest things I picked up was some dyed wool from a sheep named "Nellie". Seriously! Each bag of wool had a tag with the sheep's name on it . . . I'm not sure why this tickled me so much, but it did.

I totally admit that I bought this based on the name of the sheep and nothing else. Nellie is a mishmash, really, of brown and purple and blue. It may turn to mud when I spin it, but I'm ok with that. Here's a closeup which shows some of the colors pretty well.

I also bought a big ball of roving from a vendor whose name I don't remember, but the colorway is called "Adventure". I'm hoping to spin for some socks out of this!

Also, NanC gave me some gift roving! I think it may have been blackmail, but you'll never know! What happens at Kid n Ewe STAYS at Kid n Ewe, right NanC? In any case, the color blend is called "sandlewood" (yes, spelled like that), and I can't wait to see how it spins up.

And of course, I couldn't pass up the sock yarn at the Jojoland booth. Actually, only buying two skeins is showing great restraint, I think. I seriously almost bought some sock-weight 100% cashmere to make some "no walking in them" socks, but I came to my senses. As it turns out, this yarn may be part cashmere, but we'll never know, since there was no tag.

And last, but CERTAINLY not least, was my first purchase of the day. I think I told y'all how NanC and I ferreted out the Brooks Farm booth first thing . . . I had bought some of their "four play" at Maryland, and it seriously is like buttah. Not that I've knitted it yet, of course, but just squishing the skeins is like some sort of therapy.

So I bought enough for a sweater.

denimy blue! it's not green, y'all!

I wasn't the only one, though . . . I watched knitblogger after knitblogger at the meetup venture over to the Brooks Farm booth and walk away with sweater-quantities of the stuff. The tag says "50% wool, 50% silk", but I swear there's at least 10% magic in there. Seriously. I dunno yet what sweater I'm making, but whatever it is, it will be magical.

I still can't believe that I didn't buy more than all this . . . there was a man there who had made all kinds of beautiful wooden things, including the most beautiful handspindles I've ever seen (I know at least one person I know went home with one). And I felt some cashmere roving that was just, oh, just so very very. And amazingly, I didn't go home with any alpaca fiber at all (except what was probably shedded onto my jacket when I was petting them).

I don't care what anyone says. I showed some serious restraint!

And I'm already thinking about next year!

NanC and I went to Kid-n-Ewe, and we didn't even bring you a lousy T-shirt!

I was planning to at least start this post last night when I got home, but after a five-and-a-half hour drive following a night of little sleep, I just couldn't keep my eyes open long enough!

So on Friday afternoon, NanC and I set out for Boerne, TX for the Kid-n-Ewe (and Llamas too) festival . . . it's not quite Texas's version of MWSF or Rhinebeck just yet, but maybe a few years from now . . . anyway, there were alpacas to pet and knitbloggers to meet up with and yarn and roving to fondle and buy, so off we went!

NanC was clever enough to find us a route that allowed us to bypass Austin at rush hour on a Friday (any of you who have driven through Austin at rush hour knows what specific sort of hell that is); the bonus was that it was really kind of scenic and pretty! We got to Boerne around 8ish pm and checked in at our hotel. The room was gorgeous, and we even had a nice big front porch that would be perfect for sitting and drinking wine and knitting after we got some dinner.

That's when we found out that most of the restaurants in Boerne close at 10pm, and the liquor store closes at 9. 9pm on a Friday? Unheard of! Anyway, we ran by the liquor store and bought a bottle of wine on the way to eat some dinner at the Dodging Duck Brewhaus (local microbrewery). It ended up that we needn't have stopped for the wine, 'cause we ended up with a half-gallon growler of hard cider from the Brewhaus, which we shared on the porch of our room later.

Having experienced the rush on Socks That Rock at Maryland, we realized that getting to the Brooks Farm booth at the festival the next day might be wise . . . after all, they might not have anticipated a bunch of knitbloggers descending upon them, and possibly didn't bring enough yarn! So we got up early and had some brekkie and hit the fair, of course going to the 2 barns that didn't hold Brooks Farm first . . . finally found it, and it turns out that they brought PLENTY of yarn for everyone -- I think they had as much on display this weekend as they had in their booth in Maryland. Still, we were there early, and got to chat with the owners and throw wads of money at them. And try to pet their doggy.

This is Abby, the Brooks Farm dog. She has a monkey toy that squeaks, and didn't want to be petted

And as it ends up, the knitbloggers meetup was set up right next to the Brooks Farm booth, so we were able to make return forays and try to resist throwing more money at them. But I get ahead of myself.

After Brooks Farm, we walked around the three buildings they had set up with vendors and exhibitors, and talked with some really nice alpaca farmers and spinners and dyers. Then we went out to see the alpacas . . . . if you are allergic to cute, please take some benadryl now -- these guys are seriously cute!

I love how that last guy is peeking out behind his siblings!

After the alpacas, we patted some bunnies and watched a guy spin silk thread from cocoons simmering in a pot of water (that was so cool!) before heading over to the knitbloggers' potluck.

And wow, the knitbloggers! We'd met some folks at Stalker Angie's meetup in Austin, but there were a lot of people there, but not too many, you know? I didn't get to talk to everyone, but I did get to talk to a whole whack of other knitters/bloggers/spinners/etc, and it was just so much fun. Right next to the Brooks Farm booth! Julia and Christine did a fantastic job coordinating it, and of course we attracted a lot of attention from the non-bloggy types. Nobody on the outside could quite figure out what all these people were gathered for.

I took a bunch of pictures, but most of them turned out awful, mostly catching eyes closed and mouths full of food. And I'm mean, but not THAT mean, so I'll only share the couple that came out good.

Here's NanC blogging me blogging her blogging.

And Kristin and Jana. Jana guest-blogs the series "Packin' Pocky" on Kristin's site; if you haven't read it, go right now and take a look -- it's HILARIOUS!

You can see just a bit of the Brooks Farm Loveliness in the background.

Also, Stalker Angie seems to have gotten lost on the way to the fairgrounds or something -- she was nowhere to be found! Unless she was in full stalker mode and was taking pics of us for her blog from behind hanging skeins of yarn and stuff. Angie, where were you?? We missed you!

OH! And there were prizes! (it was funny, when Christine went to some of the vendors to get them to pick random numbers for the prize drawing, some of them donated more prizes on the spot!)

I won some sock yarn! And y'all know how I love me some sock yarn . . .

And since I soooo need to get back on the blogging train, I'm going to save the rest of the trip (including all the yummy stuff I bought) for tomorrow. 'Cause that way I can drag this all out into multiple entries and feel like I'm a good blogger again! Whee!

woot WOOT!

I'm just about to leave for Kid n Ewe in Boerne (see the cute alpaca on my sidebar?)!!

And when I get back, there will be stories and pictures!

WOOT!