When Knitting Was a Manly Art

30 inches of snow on the ground. We haven’t been above freezing for more than a week. This is the most snow I’ve seen at one time since we moved up here in 1985 and it appears to have broken a 40 year old record. I’ve been stuck in the house since Friday night, but I expect to try to get to work tomorrow, if I can dig my truck out of it’s snowbank.

This is a satellite photo from NASA’s Earth Observatory

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Not so cold today, but more than 1 foot of fresh powder on the ground. Another no pay day, but the snow plow just passed and if I can get out the driveway, I should be able to get out tomorrow.

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The crappy weather continues.

I worked yesterday evening, though we closed an hour early. The ride home was slick and icy in the valley, but once I started to climb up to the ridge top the snow got deeper and the driving is much easier.

Today was a day off, but the snow returned full bore and I’m looking at about 6 inches of new powder snow. I’m scheduled to work tomorrow evening, but it look’s likely that I’ll call in early for the day off. The owners son is home from college for winter break and is available to cover the shift.

Some fun links from www.youtube.com

Nora, the piano playing cat

Nora – Part 1
Nora – Part 2

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High today 22.5F
Low last night 14.5F
Current temp 16.0F

I made a command decision last night and closed the restaurant at 8:30PM. The two of us working both had long and slippery drives ahead of us and I couldn’t see staying open for the extra hour. A trip that takes 20 minutes in fair weather became a 45 minute white knuckle drive last night.

I had already got my day shift today covered and spent the day in glorious sunshine but bitter cold getting things done around the farm.

The owner called late this afternoon and told me he had my shift covered tomorrow also. I *hate* losing the hours, but I decided to take another snow day off. Even with 4-wheel drive, it’s becoming one of the longest rides I have had to make.

Tomorrow is predicted to be clear and cold again, but Wednesday has another front coming in with an additional 2-6 inches of snow and it looks like we can expect below freezing weather through at least next Monday.

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The Pacific Northwest is enduring it’s first major winter storm and it’s cold and getting colder.

When I got up this morning at 8:00, the porch thermometer stood at about 32F. It’s currently a hair below 27F and is expected to continue to drop most of the afternoon. Light snow all morning, but barely 1 inch of accumulation.

I’m closing the restaurant this evening and am not looking forward to the drive down and especially the drive back up here tonight at around 10PM. There’s nobody to cover the shift and unless they decide to close before 3PM, I’m stuck.

I’m scheduled to work tomorrow from 10AM until about 6PM. It’s a 50/50 chance I won’t make it due to roads

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This is since Monday night

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For the 4th or 5th time since the first of December we woke to another dump of snow. About 7″ overnight and a bit still coming down. NOAA is predicting at least a couple more inches for us before this one is over.

And a quick picture of the little lace wash cloth I finished up. The pattern is called Dayflower. I knitted this lace pattern ages ago on my first circular lace shawl project from Shawls and Scarves (Best of Knitters)

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Stepped outside to grab some firewood and was greeted by blue sky, bright sunshine and a snow covered world. Took a few shots trying to capture the beauty. None really did that, but this one is pretty nice.

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Buttermilk Bread – 2lb loaf

1 1/2 – 1 5/8 cup Buttermilk
1/4 cup Honey
2 tsp salt
2 Tbs butter/margarine
4 cup unbleached bread flour (I substituted 1 cup whole wheat for 1 of the white)
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Start with smaller amount of liquid. If dough appears too dry add additional liquid, 1 Tbs at a time.
I mixed in my old Kitchenaid stand mixer with dough hook. Mix/knead until dough is silky and smooth.
Form into ball and place in an oiled bowl in a warm place for first rising. Rise until dough has doubled (45 minutes to 1 hour).
When doubled, dump out and punch down/knead a couple minutes to remove bubbles and then form into loaf and place in standard bread pan.
Second rise: I wait until loaf has domed above the edge of pan, another 45min-1hour. Preheat oven to 350F and when up to temperature, place loaf on shelf in the bottom 1/3 of oven. Bake 40-45 minutes until crust is nicely brown and you get a good hollow thump then you knock on bottom of loaf. I usually turn the pan front to back about the half way point to ensure even browning/baking.
Turn out on wire rack and cool *at least* 1 hour before slicing — I know it smells good, but you’ll just end making a mess of the loaf if you try to slice it too soon.

Crockpot recipes: Please… If anyone has favorite recipes they’d like to share, I’d love to have them. After *years* of cooking this is my crock pot and I’m learning from cookbooks and it’s trial and error. While I haven’t had any disasters yet, I have done a few that I won’t try again.

Cooking: I’ve discovered cooking blogs. Do you know there’s nearly as many cooking blogs as there are knitting blogs? Well, that’s not really likely, but there’s a lot and some interesting stuff too.

Knitting: Not much. In kind of a slump again, but I’ll dig myself out of it and be on my way again soon.

Weather: Another winter wonderland — at least if you don’t have to drive in it.

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The weather in Northwest Oregon has been horrible this past week+. Rain, rain, and more rain. Kind of disappointing after the previous weeks of warm, clear and sunny weather. There is a good side though. Not much need for watering the nursery plants outdoors.

Feather and Fan shawl is still progressing slowly, but I’m getting time each morning to work on it. Starting row 125 and 840 stitches around. I’m thinking about ways I can show something besides a scrunched up ball of knitted fabric. Maybe more later.

Work..Yesterday was my first day off after six straight days of work and five closes. We’re probably going to be shorthanded again the next couple of weeks as one of our counter ladies is about to be fired. She’s trying to cause troubles by spreading gossip about various people on the crew and in particular our main lead, Myssie. She told me in confidence that Myssie was doing a lot of complaining about my work behind my back and of course I asked Myssie about it the next day. The gossip was untrue, of course, and she went to the owner the next morning. Owner is not happy and I expect it came to a head Friday afternoon when gossiper showed up for work. I’ll probably find out the results this evening, as I’m scheduled to close tonight.

And I love this time of the year (when it’s not raining)… So many things growing and blooming and my camera and I are constantly searching out something new.

Primula auricula ‘Vulcan’

One of the showier of my small collection of Primulas. This was shot about a week ago and already the blossoms have faded and disappeared.

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