Wednesday, June 03, 2009

We had huge storms last night. I was awakened by what one of the Emergency Services people was referring to on the radio as a "microburst" - and the power went out a bit after that (shortly after 3 am). It didn't come back on until about 7.

Lots of downed branches. I had to pick up a bunch out of my yard and the stoplights closest to me weren't back working yet. (They are also saying some of the streets downtown were closed temporarily to removed downed limbs).

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It seems like when I'm less busy and stressed at work (I think it's related to having fewer people around "needing" me for things - I'm working, right now starting in again on the soil-invertebrate-treasure-hunt (which is how I have to think of it to keep myself sorting through all those bags of soil)), longer-term projects where you don't see a lot of progress seem to be more satisfying.

I'm getting a fair amount done on the quilt; I have mainly the "half" edge-pieces left to do, then the borders. It's really not readily photographable so no pictures. I do have to limit how long I work on it in a day, or at least I will until I get a bit of a callus built up again (hardcore hand quilters get a callus on the index finger of the hand that "guides" the needle under the quilt. Without the callus the fingertip can get tender - I know they sell little thimble-like things and even sticky dots you can put on to protect the finger, but I feel like I don't quilt as well with them so I don't use them.)

I've also pulled out the Bird's Nest Shawl and am working on that again. I'm almost 2/3 of the way done - I think I'm on row 44 of the second of three repeats of 46 rows. I was afraid I wasn't going to have enough yarn for this (I bought a different yarn than what was recommended, and the book isn't always that great about specifying the weight of the yarn - and with shawls, the gauge doesn't always reflect the "true" gauge because it's often stretched out far beyond what the normal sweater gauge would be). I'm using a camel-hair yarn rather than the recommended cashmere. (Price being just one reason for that).

The shawl is very plain but I kind of like it that way; it's one that would even work over jeans, I think.

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

Glad you came through the storms last night. I have been through two microbursts, one which put a tree through my roof. They are very strange - quick but leaving widespread damage.

Charlotte said...

We, too, had a strong storm come through yesterday ... about mid-afternoon. Here at my place, there was wind, rain, hail but it appears most of the damage was leaves and twigs torn from trees. I had a workman here this morning and he says there's lots of tree damage further down my street. Most of the damage was to the north and east of me with a hotel downtown losing part of its facade and the police building Clayton losing part of its roof. Lots of traffic lights out, etc. I lost power for about 2.5 hours.