More beautiful ickyness

The weather is really really awful. Parts of the state have been decreed disaster areas. There's no school tomorrow, and there wasn't today. Many stores and restaurants are even closed!

It's really dangerous out there, but it's also stunningly beautiful. Be sure to click on the pictures to make them bigger.

This first picture amazes me because those lines on the chain-link fence are ribbons of ice. And just remember, there is not one bit of snow in these pictures--it's all ice.

I have a lot of pictures like this. These are the branches of our pecan trees, covered in about 1/2" to 3/4" of ice on the top edge of each branch. The way the sun shines through it is spectacular. Of course it's not warm enough to actually melt any of it, but it's beautiful.




This is one of the fences that just amazes me--be sure to click on the picture so that you can really see the almost 1" of ice on the top of each fence board. It's been two days, and it still pretty much looks the same.


I'm not ready for summer by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm also tired of being cooped up inside with two children. Snow I can handle, but this ice is just dangerous. The cul-de-sac is an ideal skating rink and is actually smoother than some outdoor rinks I remember skating on in Idaho as a child.

Oh, you want some knitting content? I'm almost done with the sweater for DH. I expect to block it tomorrow if all goes as planned, which of course it won't. I'm also going to cast on for my Angel Pearls scarf, which I'd hoped to have completed by now. Oh well.

The other news is that I'm getting a spinning wheel! I just couldn't pass it up. It's an older Fricke (rhymes with Ricky) and hopefully it'll be here early next week. I'm so excited! This picture is from the ad.

It's a single treadle, which I prefer, and I especially love how wide the treadle is. My legs are hyperextended (knock-kneed) and so double treadles make my knees hurt. Bad. I also LOVE that the wheel is MDF and faced with a hardwood veneer. My Mom says that you learn to spin with the wheel you have, so it's going to be wonderful.