Shovel, knit, rinse, repeat

We got hit with about 18 inches of snow overnight, the upside of which is that since I work at a college, it was closed and I got a snow day. I'm not sure if I'm a masochist or just a true Northeasterner, because I love a good storm. In bad weather I take a perverse sort of pride in being prepared for the weather. On go the lined L.L. Bean boots, the Smartwool socks, maybe some long underwear, my boiled wool sweater, and best of all, my hand knits. There is no greater feeling than stepping out into whatever weather mother nature throws at you and actually being prepared.
Plus cold, blustery weather just reminds me of why it is so awesome to be a knitter. I can stay cozy and stylish in my hand knit cowl, hat, mittens, or fingerless mittens. Even with all the hard work I did on my snow day (aka watching No Reservations and drinking hot cocoa) I've been able to get some knitting done. I recently finished a bulky garter stitch cowl in a lush single ply and a winter white hue, it was knit side to side and then kitchner stitched together. Then I fulfilled my dreams of having a slouchy beret. The pattern I made was inspired by folk knitting motifs and was knit in Beroco Ultra Alpaca (stash from the MIL mittens I made for Christmas). After blocking it's a little too slouchy and I tried soaking it in boiling water to get it to shrink down a little. Might have to give that a second go since the brim has lost all elasticity, or I could try sewing some elastic thread into the brim. I'm even thinking of ripping out the brim section and working it again on smaller needles since I have had visions of this hat dancing in my head for so long that I want it to be perfect!
As for the fuzzy creature above... no, I did not knit her. But she is a good tool for measuring our snow accumulation. "Look, we got belly-height inches in the last 12 hours." If hoity-toity kings can make their own feet a standard form of measurement, why can't the distance between my dog's belly and the ground become the new standard? It can be called the Ruby system and I'm sure it will be all the rage within the next couple years!

Now to get back to swatching my next project. More on that next post.