Longest two days ever!

We faired pretty well through the storm itself, lost power twice through the night. The first time was about 2:15am, and I know the exact time because I was playing around on the computer, checked the time and said to myself "I really ought to shut down and go to bed..." and then the decision was made for me. Just as I got situated in the dark, the power came back on. I had to go around and turn off the tvs, then reset the clocks. By the time all that was done and I was settled into bed watching tv...power went again. I was just settling off to sleep when my lamp came back on (whoops, forgot to flick the switch). I reset the digital TV box because it was flashing, then went to sleep.

Early morning, Phil comes off the night shift and sets Cam up with his breakfast and morning TV. By this time the storm was over. 8:30....a new big burst of wind knocked something off the transformer that connects to our building and the one next to it. We lose power.

It was nearly 5pm yesterday by the time they got it restored. The novelty of flashlight and candle light had long worn off (it wore off around bedtime Sunday actually). My mood swung wildly from "ah well, what are you gonna do?" to "I'll beat down every last employee of NSP if these lights don't come on NOW!" to the occasional weeping as for the Nth time I automatically flipped on the bathroom light. I suffered brutally from caffeine withdrawal, which made me unpleasant enough that Phil got out of bed and ventured out to Tim's.

When we finally heard the NSP truck outside the back window I gathered the children together and all thoughts of injury to the employees turned to "Come children, let's watch the very clever workers fix the electricity" As we watched I had the sudden urge to prepare them hot beverages and tell them how marvellous they were.

The kids were delighted, especially since when the guy went up in the cherry picker it brought him pretty much level with our window. They watched with great interest as he disconnected the broken piece and replaced it. As soon as the last bit was in place, Cam flicked on the light and we cheered and waved. The man gave us a big smile and waved back. I remember from Hurricain Juan that the NSP employees sometimes suffered abusive shouts and hostility, so it must have been nice to be greeted by cheering children (and one crazy-haired woman in her jammies).

Power restored, I ran about turning on things. First stop was the fishtank...the tank had been cooling pretty rapidly and my fish were not looking so good. Not sure if I lost any yet...they are not very co-operative about staying still so I can count them. Then I turned on the washer...when the power went I had just started a washload of diapers. So they had been soaking since Sunday morning...the stink was awful. Then I flicked on the computer and felt sane again :)

I would never do well on one those pioneer experiences, where you give up all your electronics. I'd lose my ever-lovin mind.

The bright spot was that my HSKS3 package was delivered yesterday. Thanks Angela T!


The bag she knit is just gorgeous, and I love the mini-scarf she included (now I don't have to knit one for myself, lol!). She also included yarn for my scarf in Gryffindor colours, my favourite brand of needle, two patterns to choose from and chocolate (which I've already been into). The stitch markers are lovely, this pic does not do them justice at all. The candles smell really good and the whole package smells like them now. Thanks very much! The timing was perfect, it totally brightened my day :)

I did get some knitting done though...

Last week I decided the nothing else shall be knit until the kids' sweaters are done. Gabriel's only needed to be seamed, and I accomplished that on the way to the valley to see my aunt. All it needs now is a zipper...which I'll be picking up this week:

These colours remind me of Henry. I keep thinking of this as "Gabriel's Reverse Henry Sweater."
(Yarn is Cascade 220, the blue, a tweed, was a discount bin find and I ran out which is why the sleeves are green)

One down...

I picked Grace's sweater back up. The yarn for this sweater is in many balls, since it's from the baby-cable rib sweater I knit a while back then decided I hated with my entire being and stopped at the seaming stage. It sat in a bag for a while before I ripped it. Because I'm not 100% sure I'll have enough to make a whole cardigan in the pink, I have the leftovers from Gabriel's sweater to make up the difference. Which works well, since the pink has flecks of the same blue and green in the tweedy part. I'm telling myself it will be lovely.

Since the plan is to have the new colours at the end, I am knitting the sleeves now

(yarn is Cascade 220 Tweed)

I was doing really well too, I made quite a bit of progress. But...well the reason that this sweater sat so long is because miles of stockingette is friggin BORING. I felt myself tumbling into black hole on this sleeve, my mind cried out for a challenge.
Then I realized that I had not yet started the first clue for the Mystic Waters Mystery Shawl KAL...and clue #2 was released Wednesday. Well...that won't do. I snatched up my laceweight (the blue laceweight merino I snagged off of ebay...so soft and yummy) and my needles and cast on. Over the last couple of days I got through the 2 charts that make up Clue #1


And I plan to start clue #2 today, but I don't know if I'll have time. It's only about 53 rows...but the chart goes over 3 pages. Eep. The next clue will be released tomorrow. I'm not worried about being behind on the clues, but it's hard not to peek at where others are on the photo files for the group and see how the next bit looks. I was not sure if I was going to like knitting something I did not know what it was going to look like, but I'm really enjoying it.

The yarn I'm using is the stuff I got off the 100purewool ebay store. It's so gorgeous. I got nearly 3000 yards at a price that sort of makes me feel like I stole it. I need about 1200 yards for this project, and I'm also using it for the Butterfly Wings shawl I'm making. While the varigation looks really great in the Mystic Waters shawl (which is supposed to reflect the way water looks, so the rippling effect works well) I'm not crazy about it in the Butterfly Wings shawl. I'm thinking I may over-dye the BW shawl to a solid blue when it's finished...so at some point in the future I'll be asking for help on that.

Since flashlight is not really great to knit lace by, and I did not want to work on Grace`s sweater, I cast on a Whale Tail hat for Gabriel.


The yarn is Malabrigo, bought ages ago in the co-op led by the Ninja Enabler..I mean Knitter. The hat is supposed to be a roll brim, but I'm not crazy about roll brim hats for small kids, so I did a 1x1 rib, and I'm going to add ear flaps so it'll stay on. I am also planning to knit him some whale mitts too, sort of hand-puppet style.

I feel better now.

ETA: Here is the link for Cabin Fever, specifically the Whale of a Tail hat