Surprise!

I'm sure the snow isn't nearly as funny to those who sat on the runway at General Mitchell International for hours yesterday while the airport was closed down - or to those who aren't flying out for Arizona tomorrow. We only got 4 or 5 inches, and it's melting already. Isaac got up early today and went outside to "decide whether it was too cold to work on his car." He shoveled the entire driveway, a path out to and around his project car, a path down to the woodshop, and a path to the chicken coop - then came in and proclaimed it was "too cold" to spend time outside. (Let the record show that it is already 26°F, we're expecting a high of 36°F, and the snow is already dripping off roofs and roads and other dark surfaces. It will be mostly gone in a day or so.)

Also on the subject of surprises, look what I got in the mail from Brother Dan yesterday! Dan is a big fan of this local chain of liquidation stores called Mardens, and he regularly has to boast about the odd but useful things he finds there at enormously reduced prices. I'd had a conversation with him a year or more ago about needing very large gauge needles, and how he was going to make me some. He apparently did everything but the final sand on the needles, but then put them down and lost sight of them for a few months. Then about two weeks ago he was in Mardens and came across a bin of big plastic needles for less than a buck a pair. He figured he owed me a pair, and these would be lighter to mail, so he called and asked what sizes I preferred. I told him at that price he should pick me up a pair in every size, and then mail them packed in maple sugar (one of my absolute favorite things in the world). And damned if he didn't do it! And to top it all off, he threw in a packet of Sun Gold Tomato seeds, which I have been wishing for ever since I had some Sun Golds at his farm 3 or 4 years ago. The variety is hard to find, and I keep missing the order cut-off date from Fedco Seeds. This time, he's got my back. Dan may be an eccentric coot sometimes, but he really knows how to brighten my day!
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Finally, here's my first attempt at the clip-on drink cozy. The first 12 rows or so are right off someone else's pattern, and so I don't feel comfortable repeating them until and unless I get her permission. (I asked, but she hasn't responded yet.) Just the same, once you get about 6 rounds from the top of a felted can cozy, start carrying a strand of cotton worsted along with your wool. I used Ironstone Harmony bulky and Peaches 'n Creme here. After you complete those last 6 rounds with the two yarns held together, drop the wool and do 10 rounds of Turkish stitch (row 1: k2tog, yo, repeat; row 2: knit) in the cotton alone. Bind off, and work a caribiner clip through 3 or 4 of the wool & cotton stitches as shown. Put it in a garment bag (so the finish on the clip doesn't get banged up in the wash) and run through the washing machine on "warm wash, cold rinse" to felt. Thread a drawstring - a crochet chain here - through the top set of holes in the netting, add your favorite bottle, then sit back and admire. (This is shown with a 1.5 pint drink, but I think it will also work just fine on the smaller .5 l water bottles I'm always carrying around.)