Scattered

I've been feeling a bit discombobulated the last few days. There was a wee bit of unpleasantness earlier in the week - not extremely serious, though alarming enough, and thankfully resolved with an appeal to ethics and the rule of law - that nevertheless caused us to reflect on the fact that money is power and in choosing to do with much less of the former, we may need to give careful thought to fall-back strategies for asserting our right to exist. (On the plus side, my chronic existential guilt for having achieved socioeconomic success has abated slightly. ) It was all very stressful, and today's post will therefore be a little... scattered.

Firstly, the plain knitting portion of the gray sweater zipped along faster than expected (funny how mindless knitting seems to accrue all at once) and I have now reached the day of reckoning: time to sew and cut the steeks. (Pictures of that process on Monday).

After the steeking comes the Day of Math. I plan to chart out a variety of approaches to short-rowed, top down, set-in sleeves in order to compare their shapes, and ultimately work out a formula to mimic the classic bell curve.

Secondly, the latest swatch:It's nice enough, and a successful experiment in filling in the yo holes with M1's (this is supposed to be outerwear, after all), but it just isn't as deeply ribbed / embossed as I would like. No matter, I've got several other motifs in mind that will be closer to the effect I'm looking for.

Third, and last - for all the poor snowless folk out there:

As of today, a record-breaking 28.4 feet has fallen since November 1st. The snowfall in the first 11 days of January already exceeds all previous records for the month. Sidewalks are reduced to corridors between 8 ft high snow-plowed walls, dump trucks are hauling away tons and tons of the stuff to make room for daily life, and the skiing:

Is incredible. (For real-time mountain top views, check out the web cams.)

While I couldn't help laughing at Seattle shutting down for an inch or two, I have to admit that snowclearing infrastructure makes all the difference in the world. Every time it snows here, armies of plows descend on the town around 5 am, scurrying about like manic insects, so that by the time most people leave the house, the roads, parking lots and sidewalks are clear and tidy. It's really quite amazing to watch, and intimidating if you are walking early in the morning because they are mostly operated by 20-something males working on commission, and therefore go like stink.