Snowpocalypse II - Electric Boogaloo

It's very rare for the DC area to get huge amounts of snow. Every 5 years or so we get dumped on. We had some big snows in 2003, then in 1996 before that, and so on. So when we got the pre-Christmas storm it was kind of fun. The storm happened on a weekend right before Winter Break. It just felt like vacation started early.

But this? This is overkill. We have over 2 feet of snow here. (The "official" totals taken at National airport are always significantly lower than the rest of the region.) The snow is so deep that poor Jr. Jr. can't really walk in it. The snow is up over my knees to my thighs. And it's heavy snow. The December snow was nice and light, easy to shovel. This is the backbreaking stuff. Since the bulk of it fell in the overnight hours, we couldn't keep up with the shoveling. Shoveling two feet of heavy snow? Not fun. I'm glad the boys are old enough to help out.

No plow has been anywhere near my neighborhood yet.

Here are some pics from the Blizzard of '10, the redundant blizzard. (Pics of knitting after the snow pics...)













I haven't been able to keep working on my Pas de Valse, which is at a point that requires time and concentration to continue. I have time, but too many distractions, so it's been put aside until who knows when. In between shoveling, making hot chocolate, taking pictures, and supervising the proper removal and storage of wet snow clothes, I did manage to finish my Dark Isle socks:


I love these socks! The pattern is, as I've mentioned before, Dark Isle socks by Laris Designs. I used Wollmeise 100% sock yarn in Schwarz (black) and Dornroschen. I made some mods to the pattern to account for the different gauge in the yarn I used, which basically meant that I cast on 72 stitches instead of 64 and added a row to each of the smaller patterns to get the right length. The original pattern called for three rows of black, three rows of contrast color, three rows of pattern, etc., and I simply did four instead. The mods worked perfectly. I added length to the motif at the top of the leg, too. I can't wait to wash these and wear them.

I then cast on for Virve's Stockings, a pattern from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting In Estonia. Here is the color combination I'm going to use:


The bulk of the sock will be in the dark blue. The white will be the background for the colorwork band, with the green and the gold making up the colorwork motifs.

Stay warm, stay dry. I have no idea when we'll be able to get out of the neighborhood!