Aftermath and Other Stuff

Well, that was really pretty amazing.  Irene visited Philadelphia, and definitely left her mark.  Fortunately, we had no serious problems as a result.  We got more water in our basement than we usually do when it rains really hard for any length of time.  And our garden had all kinds of branches, leaves, etc. in it, as did the street.  But we are lucky, because tons of people very nearby have flooded streets, homes, and have lost power.  And of course, outside of our little corner of the world, lots of people elsewhere ended up with catastrophic results.

Everyone said that the media over-hyped Hurricane Irene here.  But I think that part of the reason it wasn't more awful for us was that the majority of people actually paid attention, stayed inside, and prepared the best they could.  Businesses closed, instead of telling people to make every effort to get in.  So I don't think it was over-hyped at all.  Hurricane Irene meant business, from what I saw and heard!

Jetsam spent the night sleeping under our bed.  Pip spent most of the night in the window, "talking" when the rain and/or wind would get especially severe.  Makes me think that he might have a future as a cat meteorologist on the Weather Channel ...

The good thing about a weekend like this is that because you are staying inside, you actually accomplish some things.  I had bought one of those cubbyhole-type things to store my some of my stash, and put it together last Sunday.  This also led to a rearrangement of the room where my stash, books, sewing machine, and the computer live.  So this weekend, I got a pretty decent amount of yarn put away, and at least made a path through the room.  I have made a promise to myself that I will finish the entire reorganization project (meaning books properly on shelves, etc., rather than just on the shelf to be off the floor) by December 1.  Ideally, I'd be finished long before that, but it just cannot be later!

Along with everything else, I have actually completed a knitting project!  It's not one of the ones I've blogged about - those are still in-process, though.

Around the middle of July, Fairmount Fibers announced a design contest, using one or two skeins of Manos Wool Clasica.   As you may or may not know, the only thing I have designed is the Zach Attack Hat (free pattern along the sidebar), and a cowl I knit for one of my nieces a couple of years ago, called Jules' Lacy Cowl (Ravelry link; no pattern written up yet).  I would like know basic design principles, but have no actual experience or understanding of how to really do it (plus it involves math.  Not one of my friends for the most part).  But I would like to learn just for myself, not because I think I will become a famous knitting designer!  Along with that, every Sunday when I am working at Rosie's, I spend 5 hours staring at a wall of Manos yarn.

My original idea was to knit a cowl that had oak leaves on it.  I even attempted to chart the leaf pattern, and got started.  However, after a bit, the "leaves" looked more like something you pick up when you are walking your dog.  So I decided to think of something else, and that worked much better.

Having said that, I cannot show you a picture of the FO because I'm still deciding what I want to do with it, as far as whether it will just be a freebie here, or if I'll see if Rosie's wants it for a Project of the Month, or ... well, currently I have about 42 ideas roaming around in my brain.  I'm not submitting it to the contest, because I sorta feel that it's a conflict of interest.  Plus the prizes are more skeins of Wool Clasica, which I love, but I am really trying hard to be careful about more yarn acquisition, other than what I have planned for specific things.

I can tell you one thing for sure - you WILL eventually get to see it!