Snow Day

To paraphrase the Yarn Harlot who was quoting a weather forecaster. 'We are expecting Snowmageddon.'   We were told we would get approximately 14 inches in about 14 hours. Yeow! That’s a lot of white stuff for one day. On top of that it was a broad band of northern weather extending from the Midwest all the way to the Atlantic. Whew! No way was it going to miss us. The time of the start was predicted for 10 am but actually began here about 9:20 and got serious fast. By 10 there was almost an inch on the ground. I normally take the weather headlines as so much hype but this one seemed to be on target.

A few last minute orders were packaged up and taken out to the mail box in hopes that intrepid Adam would be stopping by to pick them up, (he did about 1:30pm) then I packed up my portable office and brought it inside for the duration. By 11:30 we had 2 inches with plenty more coming down thick and fast.  And when Jim got home around 1 he said the visibility and main roads were not nice.

Snow Days are gifts. School Snow Days, when I taught, meant the world stopped. Well the school world anyway and, as a teacher, one could do whatever one wanted for the day without needing to make up for it tomorrow. I decided this was going to be one of those days even though Ithaca did not close.  However since I no longer teach there, I metaphorically did. Holiday Knitting, which is on schedule even with some mishaps, was suspended for the day in favor of the Knitted Rabbit, p8 from Simple Organic Knits by Emiko Kamata.

We can credit Fleegle for this minor diversion. Ever since she debuted her Ninjin Killer Rabbit on her blog I have wanted to knit this little personality. I even started spinning a special hand dyed orchid angora/merino Pixie Batt in this one’s honor.

clockwise from left: Fuzzarelly, abalone merino, hand dyed angora batt, SmokeyBlue

Yup, the whole pattern is in Japanese.  And no, I have not become a linguist overnight, but I have been using a Japanese stitch book for some time now along with a Japanese picture knitting stitch book, and Fleegle’s help (Arigatou). The Japanese use Arabic numbers and metrics so measurements are relatively easy to decipher plus their diagrams are incredibly well done.

The body, knit with two of the singles (abalone merino and hand dyed angora/merino batt) went along quite fast although Jim said it looked like a bowling pin. Then the thumper feet were crafted with 3 singles (the Fuzzarelly and the two from the body) and the pom pom tail with all 4 singles. That was a bunch of fun with a new fangled plastic pompom maker that does make the whole business very easy to manage once I read the instructions.  The bunny is stuffed with very neppy angora acquired somewhere along the way. Stuffing is the best use of it I can come up with.


Somehow the day got away from me leaving one front paw (done in the same two singles as the body) and the ears before other things like eating and laundry took precedence. Not wanting to stress myself over this cutie pie I left the rest for this morning. The storm seemed to have abated by the time I went to bed which was considerably before midnight.

Today dawned winter grey with flakes still/again falling and temps in the low teens. The total count seemed to be more like 10-11 inches than the predicted 14. Before shoveling, the second fore foot was knit, stuffed and both were attached to the body. 

After a shoveling workout (Who needs a gym in the winter around here?) and some warm tea, the ears were knit up from SmokeyBlue, Fuzzarelly and the angora/merino/batt singles. Those fuzzy appendages were shaped but not stuffed and then sewn on.

Orchid was born Saturday, December 20, 2008.

Here she is enjoying 13-degree temps while holding a Phalenopsis orchid blossom.