Greetings from the frozen south

The frozen south (that is sorta like frozen hot chocolate isn't it? i'll have to talk about that another day) - yup its a frozen valentine's day here in northern virginia. The county i live in has already called off school for tomorrow - and it wasn't even noon when that email was received. Sorta gives you an idea of what the weather is like - we had a lot o'sleet yesterday - all day and night. My darling valentine went out this morning to survey the situation - he thought he'd be heading out to a meeting he had in Baltimore (which is approximately 1-1/2 hours from where we live) - and said he was going out to clear off things and be ready to leave when the time came. Well he returned about 5 minutes later - with a chuckle he said there is 5 inches of sleet with a nice layer of ice on top of that - i'm not going anywhere. He's been working from home all day which i find quite nice on this Valentine's Day.

Normally we get up at 5:30 and get the daughter on the bus at 6:25. Her school lies in the next county over and, as they refused to make a declaration last night, her dad (previously called my darling valentine :-) - we'll refer to him as mdv for the rest of the day) woke up early to check the closings and found EVERYTHING was closed. So mdv let me sleep in - i woke up at 8:00 am! Ok - thats enough on the weather folks...

I have been keeping busy. That closed door opened a new one that's for sure. My time seems to be taken up by chauffeuring these days. Not my favorite activity however it is what it is. I took up a new little hobby - Knitting. Actually i have knitted before - i believe i was perhaps 5 or 6 and my grandmother taught me. I know that seems young but i'm sure that must be correct given my memories of that grandmother and where we lived at the time. (i was always a precocious little crafter LOL) Anyway, i'd be thinking about trying my hand at it again and the opportunity jumped up at me in the form of a butt ugly hat. .... Of course i'll explain ;-)

My mom is undergoing radiation treatments at the moment (benign tumor reappears - no film at 11). She went to the center beginning this month. It has been particularly cold here lately and the kind ladies at the center asked my mom if she had a hat - to keep her warm and also because she might, in time, lose her lovely red hair (yes, it's still red. she does enhance the red a bit but redheads don't grey young. she's got only the tiniest bit of grey around her ears... ) My mom said no, she didn't have a hat. She says she's always had trouble with getting hats to fit -big head. My daughter also has this problem. She says big head - big brains - touche lizziebelle. So the lovely center ladies presented my mom with a knitted hat, made by some good kids who make them as community service projects for the center. Enter butt ugly hat. "how ugly is it?" Well, its a concoction of colors - black, green, yellow, orange, red. It is a primary colored collection of hideous yarns. However, it fits and it is warm - so says the wearer - although she agrees it is one U-G-LEE hat.

So there was my opportunity - in the form of that hat. I looked online and found what promised to be a delightfully easy pattern. I went to a few local craft stores and found needles and yarn (a lovely deep wedgewood blue that would enhance my mom's pretty hair and match her beautiful blue eyes). I watched a few online knitting videos and off i went. In the meantime i found i also needed some double pointed needles. These were not so easy to locate locally - the size eluded me wherever i went. So i ordered those online (Joanns.com is having 40% off everything - check it out people) and they arrived yesterday - just in time for me as i'd gotten to that point in the knitting. If i had a yarn needle I would be done with this today but i'm gonna post my hat now - with the double pointed needles still on it. I have to say this knitting was most relaxing and fun. I love doing projects that make me feel capable LOL. If you have any inclination toward knitting - give it a try - its not hard at all and look at the cute hat you can make!