Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Snowblock


We got a lot of snow this past weekend- 20 inches. I got bored. Have no idea what possessed me. Part of the problem might have been that we we moving things around for the holidays. We also had a full house. My eldest son was home for winter break. That meant we suddenly had two teenaged boys lumbering around the house. Normally they'd be off in their respective corners, lairs, what-have-you, minding their own business. Add a day of enforced togetherness and snow to shovel and the system breaks down. Meanwhile, I've got this huge (20" X 72") red wrap that I knit which desperately needed blocking. The last thing I wanted to do was to get this thing dripping wet and then have to find a place to block it. We don't have the space available right now. What to do?
After about 24 hours of enforced togetherness, husband and older son just HAVE to go out to shop or do something. In the interval, the younger son begins to fret about needing photos for a class project. The subject was "texture". I suggest that we put my knitting out in the snow. My hope was that the fresh snow would dampen the knitting just enough to get it evenly wet without getting it completely sodden. I tossed the shawl out the front door and younger son spread it out for the first photo. After that, he took astick and churned it in the fresh powder until it was evenly coated. We popped the shawl into a gigantic plastic bag and let the snow melt inside for a few hours. When I took the knitting out, it was damp, but could probably have used a litttle more snow. At the moment, it's hanging in the bathroom to dry. It's stretched out a bit, but nothing dramatic has happened. It's a large enough project that i won't block it again until it needs a wash.

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