Now is the winter of our....

Temps in the teens and below; winds like the Roaring Forties; clear roads and sidewalks that are ice rinks made so by wintry mixes, snow, rain, sleet or small chunks of ice (last Sunday afternoon).  This winter has hit the gauge by which I measure bad winters: Your fingers don't feel cold without gloves when it's 32F.

I have a quilted coat that I save for the coldest days. Most winters I wear it maybe 20 days between December and March 1, because it is keeps me so warm that above 35F, it is uncomfortably warm. I have worn the coat almost every day from the end of January and I'm still wearing it. I've worn shoes to work once in the last 15-20 days. The rest of the time it's been my purple boots because they grip best on ice. Warmish days (those where the temps climb to the mid-30'sF), deepens the nightmare because what melts during the day, freezes again at night.

Today is another snow day. It's been snowing steadily since about 07:00 and it is 16:15 now. I sent emails and chatted at bit on FB (a rarity for me). Then I spent a few hours working on the financials for work making some good progress.

So until the sun of York decides to show his face and make glorious summer or 40F with no wind, here are some photos:

February Adventures

Happy Lunar New Year and Welcome to the Year of the Wood Sheep

 

Our weather of late has made and I suspect in the coming days, will continue to make the news. It is cold; or COLD as the word appeared on the weather page of one of the region’s most reliable sources of news for weather and traffic. We’re all little bundles of our own warmth walking about, standing on subway platforms, or waiting to cross the street. We doff our hoods from swaddled heads once in the safe warmth of an indoor space. The brave remove their gloves to raccoon away on a smart device or more often to reinvigorate circulation to cold hands. Yes, this week it has become increasingly unusual to see someone stop in mid stride arrested by something on a small screen. Our movements in the outdoors are purposeful and directed. Even that dreaded and much derided phrase of last winter Arctic Vortex has reemerged. No one now needs a definition and the temperatures have muted protests of exaggeration. 

My personal hero has been the Nomad Hat. The hat portion covers the entire head and wrapping the scarf around my neck—even though I didn’t knit it as long as the pattern dictated—protects my throat and neck from the cold. Next are my various pairs of fingerless gloves worn over gloves or convertible mitts providing an additional layer of warmth without inhibiting dexterity. Lastly, the Gansey Legwarmers worn with a ski liner and socks stuffed into boots. 

Besides the weather, I have finally picked a stitch pattern from Nihon Vogue Sha’s Knitting Patterns 300. I’ve worked out how to use the knitting symbol fonts downloaded from the Knitting Universe website to type the patter into an Excel workbook. I’ve learned the value of the traditional SSK—having previously always used Barbara Walker’s version—in knitting the vertical double decrease. I’ve managed to rearrange the stitches to avoid YO’s being the first or last stitch on the needle and the knitting is starting to percolate along nicely. 

 

 

Toupie is coping well. He has the ottoman, the dresser, the armchair in the dining room and the futon as refuges from the cold floor. I give him warm water daily and keep the heating at 72F. He has avoided his usual perch of the bathroom rug this week. I think the tiled floor is just too cold.

Gussets Again

My bedtime reading of late has been The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt. I’ve incorporated the left and right leaning raised increases in the thumb gusset. Very pleasing and very easy to do.

It’s been very cold here lately. My apartment is always cold because it sits atop the concrete roof of the garage. Yesterday, I picked up Toupie’s water bowl to fill it, only to find that it was frozen to the floor. But never fear, puss has lots of places to curl up and roll around, like the computer chair.

A wind gust catches his attention

Disorganized Organization and Gusset Adventures

While awaiting the start of my next temporary assignment, I mentally went through my list of to dos, which consists mainly of things whose disorganization I find annoying.

Long wishing to organize my downloaded knitting patterns, I started there. I kept the categories broad: tops, mittens (including gloves, arm warmers, in short, anything related to hands), e-books, skirts, socks, shawls, cowls, home (anything not wearable), etc. I also weeded. Anything I knew stood no possibility of being knitted went to the Recycle Bin.

The rewards were immediate. New downloads are immediately saved in a folder. During one of my stash dives, I came across one of a pair of gloves I was knitting in Cascade 220. But what was the pattern? Scrolling through my mitten folder, I discovered the pattern complete with the last row knit highlighted in pink.

Gusset Adventures

One of the reasons I so desired to knit the 1861 Cottage Mitts was the different gusset for the thumb. While the lifted increase produces two nice rows of left and right slanting stiches outlining the V of the thumb gusset, I found overtime these stitches are under strain. I wanted to keep the nice gusset outline but eliminate the strain. I found solutions in Beth Brown-Reinsel’s book Knitting Ganseys. 

Using Lion Bran Fisherman’s Wool in the Birch Tweed colorway is 78% wool and 13% Acrylic and 9% Rayon I cast on 40 stitches on size 3.5mm dpns and knit 27 rows in k1p1 rib. On row 28 I knit one stitch, placed a marker, purled the next stitch and lifted one stitch from the row below for the increase. Knitting one row between increases, I plan to continue this until I have 12 stitches for the gusset before casting on stitches for the fourchette and joining in the round.

What I learned from knitting a pair of convertible mittens with this yarn on size 4.5mm needles is that it pays to knit mittens and gloves a tighter gauge than recommended. The firmer fabric is warmer and keeps pilling to a minimum. 

Start As You Mean to Go On

It’s January 9 and I’ve finished my Gansey Leg Warmers and one of my 1861 Cottage Wristers.

Besides the snow on Tuesday, it has been very cold this week. Temps managed to get into the 30’s today but won’t get past the mid 20’s tomorrow. The wristers gave me an idea. I wore a pair of fingerless mitts under my Rowan Creative Focus wool gloves this week. Toasty!

Our new controllable heating system works well. I can lower the temp during the day and at bedtime and only keep the thermostat at 80 in the evenings and on weekends. I am thinking about putting the cotton rug to use. Because I’m on the first floor and sitting on top of the concrete roof of the garage, my floors are really cold. The water is positively icy from the cold-water tap; and I’ve been downing 20 ounce glasses of fresh lemonade in the evenings. I attribute the pneumonia shot and the fresh vitamin C combined with plenty of hand washing as the reason I’ve so far avoided catching the flu. Several people at work have had it and a few have developed pneumonia.

Koala's and the Australian Bushfires

Koala's can use our help to recover from burn injuries to their paws received during the recent bushfires. 

Please read: Click

Link to sewing pattern for cotton mitts. These are easy enough to stitch by hand if you don't have a machine.

First Pawing

The New Year’s Day tradition here is that as the man of the house, aka Toupie, First Paws the apartment. He had a bit of a wander before returning this year. I gave him treats as a reward.

 I have finished the first 1861 Cottage Wrister. Once I figured out the issue with the stitch count during the increases, it was smooth sailing. The thumb is very natural looking, no gaps or pulled gusset stitches.

 

 I have four skeins of the Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool. Words cannot express my disappointment in the quality. It is splitty because it is so poorly spun. I had no knots but did have two clumps. It is full of guard hairs, which didn’t bother me but have bothered others. My gauge was 8 stitches to the inch. I don’t think I would want to create a fabric less dense for an item that will get a lot of wear, because it might not hold up.

Unlike my mittens knit with the Sirritogv, there is no bounce or energy in the final fabric. But they will serve their intended purpose as an under glove for the Sirritogv mittens.

 

EU VAT Mess

What were they thinking? It’s a little obvious that not much thinking went into it. As more people access EU digital services and content discovering price rises or content and services no longer available, politicians will start to hear the complaints and feel the heat. If the intention of this law was to hit the big multinationals, then why wasn’t a revenue threshold set? Instead of growing micro and small businesses, this legislation not only puts their existence in danger, but makes starting up more onerous.  

Here are more links and some possible solutions for traders.
http://www.gamerlaw.co.uk/2014/a-practical-guide-to-the-eus-new-vat-rules-video-games-and-digital-content-sales/
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/retail-and-services/vat-on-digital-goods-to-be-levied-locally-under-new-eu-rules-1.2049880
http://www.taxamo.com/