New Sweater Vest - Another Snow Storm - Late Winter Blossoms

I finally completed my Homespun Sweater Vest this morning. 

As you can see, I had enough yarn for pockets, which I really wanted, so that tickled me pink.  I couldn't decide what kind of buttons I wanted,  and then saw a picture of another hand knit vest using an I-cord tie.  I loved the look of that, so I made a nice long I-cord, and I have braided it up the front.  What I like about it is that I can braid as little or as much as I want.  So I can close it at the beginning of the neckline, or for a few inches down the front, or all the way down, depending on what looks best.  I really like having that option.

This vest is knit from 2 strands grey alpaca plied with 1 strand black wool that I spun myself.  I had 1,248 yds of 3 ply when I finished, and I still have about 100 yds left.  Most of it came out to be DK weight at 14 wpi, but I had 3 skeins that were worsted weight or 10 wpi.  I knit up 2 swatches.  One using US#7 needles  with the worsted yarn, and one using US#8 needles with the DK yarn.  The swatches came out identical as per stitch per inch and rows per inch.   I began knitting at the bottom edge, and from the bottom edge to the beginning decreases for the armholes, I alternated between the different size yarn and needles, working 2 rows of the worsted  and then 2 rows of the DK yarn.  The rest of the vest was knit using the larger needles and the DK weight yarn.  For the edges I used a reverse single crochet around the armholes, the fronts and around the neckline.  I also used the reverse single crochet to edge the top of each pocket.  And then, since I had a small assortment of beads laying around, I used them to trim the ends of the braided I-cord.  I take a terrible picture, and this time I had to use the self-timer and hope for the best.  So below is an idea of what it looks like on my fluffy sized body.  :)

Once again my Xmas cactus has begun blooming.  She is going into her 4th blooming since October.  If she behaves as she normally does, I will have one more bit of time enjoying her lovely blossoms again around Easter or early May.  But I am delighted that she is blooming today since her blossoms are simply breathtaking IMHO.  The second blossom is beginning to open as I write this, and there are 4 more getting ready to bloom soon.  But this is just the beginning.  She normally blooms for at least 2-3 weeks each time.

Last week we had day after day of a very fine snow falling.  It never accumulated into a lot of snow, but over the week's time it added up to about 3" deep.  Then Sunday the sun finally found us, and it was glorious.  We also managed to enjoy a bit of sunshine during the morning hours of Monday as well.  I took advantage of that to run out and grab a few little necessities.  By early afternoon the skies had clouded over, and Monday night we had another inch or so of new snow.  Again, it was very fine, and with a brisk wind, a lot of it was blown around.  Most of yesterday we had scattered light flurries off and on, and then during last night it dumped around 4-5" inches of new snow.  This time it is heavy and wet.

    

Now the weatherman is telling us this is just the beginning.  This storm is going to move off to the coast, then whip back around and hit us again, but tomorrow and Friday, it will be dumping far more than a mere 4-5"  Tomorrow we are going to get the "big one."  Actually, more often than not, this is the time of year when we do get our worst snow storms.  So it's not a total shock hearing the warnigs for tomorrow.  But on top of what is already here, that's going to be an awful lot of snow.  Thank goodness this is the END of Winter, and not the beginning.  It won't be much longer now, and this won't even be possible.  For now I'm just going to smile and enjoy it.  Nothing lasts forever. 

Have a great day.  :)