Ice Storm!

Yesterday, we all decided to go to Battle Creek to see my favorite aunt on my husband's side..she's just had a knee replacement, and she's doing very well, but we wanted to visit her and we usually do around this time of year. She dug into her costume jewelry box and pulled out a Christmas pin for my purse and two rhinestone buttons.

I saw an immediate use for those two rhinestone buttons, and my aunt didn't want them--and her husband is always looking for new things to do with jewelry--likes to make new things out of old--so I had her make a chatelaine pin out of them. Then she decided that she wanted them! LOL! But they came home with me.

They are going on my red sweater--a lovely (and Christmassy) addition to my wardrobe, perfect for the Holiday Season. Pictures when the light gets better.

It was a lovely drive back home from Battle Creek, but very snowy--the ice hadn't started yet, however, so it wasn't slick. I probably could have driven 70 on the freeway, but kept it about 60, just for safety's sake. About 7pm, the ice started, and we were safely home, listening to the sleet hit the windows, and watching Arnie in his Armeggdon Thriller "End of Days".

Last nights sleet has left everything with a coat of ice. We've been lucky--our electric didn't go out, but honestly, it seldom does. So we still have lights and heat, since we heat with a corn stove.

I have finished front and back of the first sweater vest for my son, but the circumstances that would have brought us together today aren't going to happen, due in most part to the ice storm (I had been wishing that I didn't have to drive to Grand Rapids today--look what I got!). So trying on the article isn't going to happen like I'd hoped it would. I need to put it on him to see if it will hang properly, because it just seems so long--I had my mother measure from just below his belt loops to his underarm, but it still seems SO LONG to me. It's 27" from top to bottom--aren't most men's vests only about 19"? I'll have to check my husband's sweater. I don't want this vest to ride up the middle of the back, but I also don't want it to hang to his knees, either.

Ice and snow on the roof has an insulating effect, thank goodness. Traffic on the roadway is nil--we got a phone call last night, but no idea who it was from--just clicking noises. It might have been an obscene caller, but I expect it was my in-laws letting us know that they made it home safely, and finding out if we did as well.

I had to free the dog's rope from the ice this morning--it was totally stuck to the ground. I don't think my dog appreciates it though.

Mandy is having a bit of trouble going potty--this is so funny There is ice over everything, so of course, she can't locate (by smell) any of her favorite haunts--and she's slipping about...giggle. She's having trouble getting a purchase on something!

Have you got a Border Collie? Nobody understands what I mean about my dog talking to me--except for people who own border collies. Mandy grumbled at me when I let her in. I'm sure there were a few curse words in there, but it was so handily "mumbled", I didn't quite catch them. I suppose I might have deserved that.

So I will start on the back of the next sweater, even though I would love to do something different. My hubby has decided that he wants a pair of gloves--I'll have to give that a "think". I've never made gloves before. I have made mittens, but never gloves. I have a good recipe for some in fingering weight yarn, but fingering weight yarn is not my husband--so I'm thinking some of my wool might be good. Good man has been wearing the sweater I made for him a few years ago for a couple of days now, showing it off to family and friends. He's a keeper.

I suspect that the roadways will be clear later today, and I might still get my car on the road and out into the world to get to my son's house to try on this vest. Time will tell. The worst road to travel down is not the one I live on, but the nearest county road--once slick, it stays that way until winter is completely over, no matter how much salt the county puts on it. I never drive faster than 35 down this road once it's icy. I consider that good policy.

Well, the sun is almost up. Time to get out the camera...