It's Starting to Look Like Michigan

We haven't had much snow yet this winter. As of yesterday, our seasonal snowfall was 17.3 inches - just over half the normal amount by now. But we're under a lake effect snow warning through tomorrow, and the snow has been falling all day.

This is what the park looked like when Bonnie & I ventured out at lunch.

I'll add some more wintry pictures, but first - knitting!

Last Christmas (2009), Jim gave me some very nice yarn - 90% cashmere, 10% silk - and I used it to knit this scarf for him. It's nothing fancy. I cast on 26 stitches, started & ended with 5 rows of seed stitch, and in between used the "Squares 2" pattern from the stitch dictionary "400 Knitting Stitches."

And... I finished Echo the Elephant. I had such fun, knitting this pattern by Ysolda Teague. You start by knitting the head, then pick up stitches & knit the body, then pick up stitches & knit each leg, arm, & ear, stuffing as you go. When the last ear is finished, all that's left to do is embroider two eyes. That's the kind of knitting I love: minimal finishing work!

The yarn is 100% merino, and is pink at the request of a certain young lady who will, I am sure, give this elephant a loving home. The colorful scarf is knit out of sock yarn (45% bamboo, 40% wool, 15% nylon). (I got this sock yarn at our knitting guild's white elephant exchange, and thought it would be perfect for Echo.)

And now - more Pictures of Winter:

I think that something about snow causes it to trap smells; Bonnie is forever burying her nose in search of something - brrrr!

This scene is in the woods near Friendship Village. If you peer closely, you can see that Bonnie is licking snowflakes off her nose.

And here is a bench I would not want to sit on!

Christmas Baking III and A Bit of Knitting

 

These are your basic chocolate chip cookies, using the recipe you can find on any bag of chocolate chips. For some reason, I cannot successfully bake these - they just aren't very tasty. But Jim knows the secret, and this batch is yet another in a long line of his successful ventures. He mixes them by hand, just like his mom did. I think this is his secret ingredient: the love a boy has for his mother. Add that to any recipe, and it will be perfect.

This is your basic fudge, using the recipe you can find on any jar of marshmallow creme. It is not very sophisticated, and nothing like what you'll find up on Mackinac Island, but it is what my mom always made - and you know how we feel about our moms!

Don't try this at home: When I was in college, my roommate was making this fudge. When it was all mixed together, she picked up the saucepan to start pouring the fudge into the dish, where it would cool. At that moment, she wondered if she had forgotten to butter the dish. So, with her free hand, she picked up the dish to look more closely - while, with her other hand, she continued pouring the hot fudge onto the table!

I haven't found a lot of knitting time lately, but I've managed to make some progress on Echo since I last posted a photo. And tonight (after taking this photo), I finished her body. Next step: legs!

Elephants, Knitted and Otherwise

Yesterday, I had planned to put the lights on our Christmas tree, but it turned out that dealing with lights was the last thing I wanted to do. I puttered for a while, and finally decided to accept the order of things, and knit instead.

I had tried to start knitting the Elijah Elephant pattern Friday evening. Ysolda Teague uses an unusual cast on, and I struggled with it. The cast-on itself wasn't so bad, but as soon as I would try to knit the first row, the stitches would all fall apart. Sigh.

I turned to Ravelry for advice, which generally was, "yes, this cast-on is challenging, but keep trying, you'll get it." I tried a bit longer, then put it to rest and went to bed.

In the morning, I sat down to try again. I kept the needles on the table while I got started (one bit of advice), knit the first stitch through the back loop (another bit of advice), concentrated, and finally got it going.

Finally - a successful cast-on!

So, later in the day, when I couldn't face the Christmas tree lights, Elijah Elephant was ready for me. By evening, I had most of the head finished; in just a couple more rows, I'll be starting the trunk:

An elephant-in-the-making

But I think I'll call this work-in-progress "Echo," instead of Elijah. I've been told this will be a girl elephant (the pink color is a good clue, don't you think?), so "Elijah" really isn't an appropriate name, is it?

It happened that while I was knitting Echo's head, I watched an old episode of Nature that we had recorded - Echo: An Elephant to Remember.

This turned out to be a fascinating story about Echo, the matriarch of a great herd of elephants. She had died of natural causes, and now the program was fondly recounting stories of her life, and of how she led and cared for her family. One story focused on her calf Ely, who was born with crippled legs, and struggled to stand and walk. Echo waited patiently while he tried again and again to stand, and then stayed with him as he slowly walked after the herd. Amazingly, Ely lived and thrived in spite of this handicap.

Another segment showed Echo giving birth to another calf, this one healthy and adorable (there is something sweet about a baby that is so big!). That calf was later kidnapped by other elephants, but Echo led her herd in recovering the baby, who happily rejoined her family. One of Echo's daughters died, and Echo took her grandson under her paw. Although it is unusual for orphaned elephants to survive, she successfully raised him. During droughts, Echo knew where to lead her herd for survival.

When I knit, I like to think good thoughts, and channel them into the finished product. I think if this stuffed elephant can capture some of Echo's love, caring, and devotion, that will be a Fine Thing!

P.S. I finally tackled those lights. We now have candles in the windows; a Christmas candle on the table; and lights on the tree. Outside, there is frost on the ground, and crisp sunshine just starting to brighten things up.