White Pre-Christmas

A winter storm has covered the Puget Sound region with snow. It may not look like much compared to what others typically experience in winter, but we are not very good at dealing with snow. We don't get it often enough or heavy enough to invest in millions of dollars of snow-removal equipment, and the hills that make up our communities make driving — and even walking — treacherous. Road travel, air travel, ferry travel and bus travel are heavily curtailed by common sense as well as blocked roads.

My backyard. Yes, I should have pruned the rose bushes a little more.

The boxes are new raised garden beds.

The good news is that being trapped at home for several days offers more knitting time and more time with our new cat, Mooch. Mooch started hanging around about two years ago. The neighbors named him Mooch because he regularly cadged meals from their house. Long story short: A neighbor three blocks away is involved with cat rescue. She rescued Mooch, recognizing that he is well adapted to living with people. We learned his story when she called after we gave him a collar with a name tag and phone number.

So Mooch is now part of the household. And he does not especially care for snow.

Holiday Shawlette

I like bright colors most of the time, but especially during the winter. This small shawl, which is Rene' Wells' Bison Shawlette from Luxury One-Skein Wonders fits the bill for the holidays. Rene' cleverly uses three triangles to good effect so the shawl fits nicely over the shoulders.

The yarn is not bison or buffalo. It's Takhi Twiggy Tweed, a discontinued wool yarn. I think I knit six repeats of the main pattern. I put small beads on the bottom points to add a little weight to the bottom. You can't see the beads because they match exactly the color of the yarn, but they do their intended job.

Bhutan Treasure

My friends know that I enjoy all sorts of textiles and fiber-y things. Friends who have traveled extensively in Bhutan gave me this lovely cotton weaving they bought in 1988. It's huge, 8 feet long by 4.5 feet wide. It makes a great sofa throw. The people who gave it to me have used their Bhutanese textiles as tablecloths!

It's a lovely piece and its bright colors warm up dreary Northwest winter days.