On Nieces, Christmas Knitting, and Snow

Well, it's been a busy few days around here. The snow has continued to pile up. Justin and Amy and their girls arrived safely yesterday morning at about 3:00. I spent most of the day at my parents' house visiting with them and Michael came over after work. I'm still finishing up a few Christmas presents and was working on a hat yesterday. "What're you doing?" was a frequent question from both girls. Mom gave Allyson some short wooden needles and some scrap yarn so she could "knit" too. For her this consisted of wrapping the yarn around the needles again and again until it was an unrecognizable mess. When I asked her what she was making she said it was a sweater for my daddy, but it was kind of small. When Lauren asked what I was doing and I told her I was making a hat her response was "Ooooooh." She then proceeded to tell me something, but I'm not really sure what it was. They're funny little girls. Allyson warmed up to me pretty quickly this time. I think it helps that she was old enough to really interact with us when they came to visit last October. Lauren's in a mommy phase and doesn't really like anyone except mommy or daddy. Yesterday my mom was playing with Allyson in the bedroom they're sleeping in and Mom said, "Hi, Lauren!" Lauren looked at her and started wailing. She likes to look at Michael and I. At one point when she was wandering around the house I held out my hand to her and she gave me five, so I took that as a good sign.

They're fun little girls and it's good to spend time with Justin and Amy. This will be a busy, fun week. The Christmas knitting is nearly done. I finished the bulk of the knitting for the vest on Saturday, blocked it out that night and left it to dry all day Sunday. I started the hat Sunday and finished it yesterday. The picture I took of Allyson wearing it with my phone didn't save for some reason. I've started putting the vest together. I have one more side and shoulder seam to sew, then the edging around the collar and armholes to knit, which shouldn't take too long. I should be able to wrap it tomorrow (hopefully).

Here are the promised pictures of the snow from the other day.




This is early Thursday morning. It continued to snow until around 4:00 that afternoon. The snow did settle some on Friday, so it was more dense and less deep. It snowed more Sunday and yesterday. When I was getting ready to go to my parents' house yesterday morning, it took a good half hour for me to get my car out. Michael had cleaned it off Thursday morning around 9:00, but there was still about a foot of snow on my car yesterday. Plus, I tried to shovel our walk, since it snowed Sunday afternoon and yesterday morning, but only got about halfway before I decided it was too much work and was taking way too long. I did have to shovel some around the car. The snow had drifted up almost over the wheels. Plus, all the snow that was on my car ended up in front of and next to my car. I had to dig a bit from in front (I was backed into the parking space) so I could pull out without high centering the car. I did all this with jeans on, which was not the most brilliant idea. By the time I was done, my jeans were covered in snow from the knees down. I had to come back inside and change before I left. Yay for snowpants.