Monday, September 25, 2006

'tis the season

Dear Cynthia,

Temperatures are dropping, and I love the bit of chill in the air. It is the time of year in which we once again try to hold off as long as possible from turning on the heat. Our threshold seems to be about 63 degrees F. (This morning was 67F.) On the day when we wake up and everybody is complaining because "Mommy, it's soo-o-o- cold" and its 63 degrees in the house, I'll wimp out and we'll be into our "heating season". Before that happens, I still must change the air filter and the humidifier water "pad" -- one of my goals for today. The hardest part is remembering how the air cleaner thingy comes apart, but once I figure that out, things go quickly. Anyway, last winter we kept the thermostat set at about 66 degrees F, though I know there are people setting it much lower than that, so this year we're going to try for 65 degrees F. That should be manageable for a family having lots of hand knit sweaters, right? And, the kids are older now, so this is one *small* step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions (and saving a little money :-) Who knows, maybe next year 62.....

Speaking of temperatures dropping, I've been washing some of out knitted goods, because I didn't get it done at the beginning of the summer like everybody else did. These mittens were made using my utimate favorite mitten knitting pattern, from Felted Knits by Bev Galeskas. The body of the mittens are knitted first, and then some waste cotton yarn is knit along the cast-on edge to keep the mitten shape during felting. Once felted, stitches are picked up where the waste cotton is, and the cuffs are knit. I *love* having both textures (felted and un-felted) in the finished mittens. Anyway, not sure how we did it, but we made it through the winter last year only losing one of the yellow mittens, but fortunately I had plenty-o-extra yarn (Dale Heilo) and was able to quickly replace the missing mitten. Note that everybody now has mitten clips on the ends of their sleeves to reduce the chances of future mitten losses...but in the meantime, I should check my stash and start thinking about making more.....

Well, it's Monday, so that means putting my weekly menu together, then some stuff to take to the post office, then the grocery store, etc..... Mondays are always really busy, but then I'm set up for the week and don't have to work so hard on Tuesdays.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

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