Now, for the most part snow really makes me smile. :)

Just look how comfy a little frosty upholstery makes our garden furniture look!

It transforms things in a way that makes them magical, or at least whimsical.

Then again

it plays tricksies on us all in a way that probably cannot be forgiven. This taxi was abandoned on my street (picture from my front window) and left all night long by what could only be a most unhappy (but I hope, well) cabbie. Dang – a three-car fender bender!

Hugz and warm wishes to the East Coasters that are totally strapped by this weather front – here’s hoping that everyone is digging out and managing to get back to normal…

In the meantime, I’m looking through all of my wardrobe for the warmest stuff ever! I have a lot of hats but in the wearin’ thereof, with my super parka on ye olde day job, not all of them work WITH A HOOD over them. They slide and slip and eventually make me cry like a little girl when it covers my eyes…

So it’s been a chosen few who make the grade and go along for the chilly ride lately, but some others have been undergoing a Resurrection!

And the good thing about being a pack rat, is that, just maybe, I’ll find some leftovers from the originals and make a transformation of my own.
 

HOW TO Prepare to Lengthen a Finished Piece:

      
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1 – Turn garment upside down and determine where & how much you want to remove and mark a stitch in that row.

2 – Use the tip of some small sharp scissors to snip that stitch and start un-raveling the row from left to right.

I do it this way because usually I haven’t had enough coffee to be fully awake and it’s safer BUT you can snip the stitches all the way around on that marked row if you like, and pick out the yarn scraps. If you have a garment made with “sticky” wool, the sts should just stand at attention until the next step; if not, be careful that they do not un-knit themselves below the row you are creating.

3 – Replace the stitches on a needle and carry on!

Monday Morning Mirth

          
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Solved! the Mystery of what nightside clubbing Party Princesses are wearing about town to look glam in chill weather this New Year’s Eve…

Tell me now if the Midwest Rocks! Here we see: sensible socks, cowls, a little sexhay skin peeking through a sweater with some interesting texture, opera gloves, and, beloved by club grrls everywhere: bunny fur, but with Pom Poms!

Hiding from the shortest day of the year (it’s 6:56 am and it is still not light out) would be oh-so-wonderful — making like a little turtle, with the covers up around one’s neck, using one’s nose like a thermometer: when it gets a certain chilly poke, back down under the blankies. You know you wanna…

But I, must, go, Mobile!

There’s places to go,

Things to see, and things to do,
Stories, songs, toys;
All sorts of things of interest,
And fun for girls and boys!

I digress…

And since I have to go outside, it’s only natural that I bring the Indoors with me as much as possible!

I’ve been a very busy girl the last week! In addition to being about as busy as a Santa’s Elf in the workshop can be, I got in a little personal enchancement for the Holidays as well!

First stop: haircut at Mario Tricocci with my uber-talented stylist Yasmine! Now, Yasmine and I go waaaay back and even through long periods where I ignored my hair or cheated on her with another stylist (that’s a topic for a whole nother blog post!), she’s ALWAYS given me the most fabulous haircuts. I’m letting my hair grow out a bit this winter (it’s actually pretty long now) and she has gotten it into a really sassy kind of shag, reminiscent of the most perfect haircut I’d ever seen on a dark-haired siren standing in line for a flight at La Guardia one afternoon: perfect boots, skinny dark jeans and this layered do. I got it now – ha!

But what also nabbed me on the way to the cutter was this coat! I had to pass Club Monaco and there it was in the window: a lovely wool tweed with the most amazing collar and body shape. It’s slightly oversized (perfect for layering) and the price was slashed, slashed, slashed.

All it needed now was a little touch of magic to finish the effect: a cowl!

Can you picture it? Even though I have to go outside, I can bring the whole aesthetic of living large from under the covers with me!

This little number is a mod of my Maximus Cowl design and is made from the same yarn I used for the original sample, Brown Sheep Burly Spun.

MOD: To get this look, which uses the 2.5 sts per inch gauge instructions, subtract 8 sts from your cast on and 8″ from the length worked. It took 88 yds of Super Bulky yarn. (Triple stranded worsted works really nice — try different colors for a tweedy effect!)

I’ve gotten lots of feedback about this – lots of BOYZ love this smaller version – this would be a really fast last minute boy gift without the ubiquitous Curse. Hee.