At least it wasn’t this cold here!

Ottawa is in the grip of an intense cold spell; so intense that house have started making loud cracking noises. The noises have been so loud that worried Ottawans have been calling the police to report burglaries, gunfire and noisy neighbors.

Ottawa Police spokeswoman Monique Ackland said that one possible reason for the loud noises is exploding nails.

Now that’s cold!

With an optimistic leap of faith that this year will be better (or at least no worse) than last year, I decided that it makes more sense to hand down my 6-year-old Outback to #1 son and get something new for myself than it does to buy another used car for said son. Two used cars would mean twice the risk of high bills for icky broken things. And maybe its time that I actually give up a car before someone hits me and totals it (the fate of my last two prior vehicles, at 8 and 12 year of age respectfully).

So today I test-drove a Prius. And now I want one. And I want it now.

#1 son and I both like it because it’s a hybrid. And I like it because of the sheer number of quirkly buttons and controls and such. There are something like 11 separate controls mounted on the steering wheel. It’s not so much started as booted up. It’s truly a geek-mobile.

There’s a long, long waiting list. Up to 10 months, they’re telling me. I’m willing to be fairly flexible as to color, so I’m hoping it won’t be that long.

Today’s a day for thawing out. I’m happy to see that the camelia seems none the worse for wear, although I expect that some of the blossoms may drop.

#1 Son, now that he can come home instead decided to spend the afternoon at the zoo, followed by band practice, followed by work. He called very excited because tonight he gets to actually prepare food, rather than just wash dishes. A step up in the job department is always a good thing! So, congratulations, #1 Son!

And here’s hoping that it doesn’t refreeze tonight and I can pick him up after work!

In the mean time, I’ve been knitting like a mad woman trying to get the alpaca socks-from-hell completed so that I can start on my sock scarf.

“Socks From Hell” because I’m finding the Plymouth Baby Alpaca D.K. yarn difficult to work with. It has a yummy soft hand, but it’s very slick. I’ve tried birch and bamboo circular needles and sets of DP needles in bamboo, metal and plastic (Pony Pearl needles) — and different sizes of most of these. After many false starts, and one entire sock knitted and then rejected, I’ve finally settled on bamboo circular needles in size three, which seem to be giving me the correct gauge and keeping most of the stitches on the needles. I’m getting a lot of practice at picking up dropped stitches, though.

The rejected sock was too small, even though I thought I was checking well enough as I went along, and too irregular to give as a gift. It was my needle-experimenting-sock, and ended up with a lot of gauge changes and strange looking stitches.

The socks themselves are striped in an off-white shade and a dark purple. The stripes are fairly wide at 10 rounds per. I’m knitting these toe-up with a figure-8 cast-on and short-row heels. I’m not sure of the size of my friend’s feet, but I think they’re about the same length as mine and maybe a little wider. I’m making them long enough to provide some “room for growth” in the toes. I want them to fit snugly, but not too tight. They are intended as bed-socks, not to be worn in shoes, so I am working them all-over in k3 p1 ribbing, except the toe and heel which are stockinette stitch. I’m considering a fairly short ankle (not super short, but not as long as usual), with a rolled top instead of ribbing, since the whole sock is ribbed anyway. I’ll post a pic when I get them done.

In the cool-new-info department, I found out that, if you knit the entire row after a color change, the knit stitches don’t look weird in the rib pattern — in fact you can’t tell at all they aren’t perls without looking very closely — and the color changes are much more crisp. I first learned to knit something like 37 years ago, but this technique is new to me and I’m grateful to learn it!

Now I just need a better jogless jog.

In the miscellaneous department, being number 3 result in the MSN search phrase need different potatoes use warms the cockles of my Idaho-born-and-bred little heart. But leaves me wondering exactly what “different” uses would be?

#1 Son, who spent the night at a friend’s house, just called. The conversation went something like this:

#1 Son: Hi, Mom. Sorry I didn’t call sooner but I slept late.

Mom [who had called three times and sent two text messages to his cell phone, and was now confused by the background noise that sounded like a crowd of people]: Where are you?

#1 Son: I’m on the Max.

Mom: Where are you going?

#1 Son: I thought I’d better come home.

Mom: I can’t pick you up at the transit center.

#1 Son: Why?

Mom: Because there’s 1/2 inch of ice all over everything. I have no chains. Remember yesterday when I told you that you needed to land somewhere that you didn’t mind staying?

#1Son: But I talked to my friend in Oregon City and she looked out the window and said she thought it looked OK.

Mom: We don’t live anywhere near Oregon City. We live on the west side. We live on the north side of a hill. If you have to come home, you will have to walk.

#1 Son: Isn’t that kind of … dangerous?

Mom: Yes, but right now that’s the only way to get here. Do you have an extra pair of socks with you? Put them on over your boots and that will give you traction.

#1 Son: Really? Cool! But, no, I don’t have any extra socks. [pause] Guess I’d better go back where I was. I can still get there.

Mom: Good idea. Be careful. It’s icy.

#1 Son: Can you pick me up later?

Mom: Maybe tomorrow.

15 minutes later… the phone rings again…

#1 Son: I’m back at my friends. It’s really icy out there!

Oh… really?

This year, for the first time in recorded history, my Camelia actually started blooming at Christmas. This is a picture of a bloom today, rimed in ice. I thought I’d better get a snap while I could. I doubt the flowers will look this good after the ice melts. Click on the picture for the larger version.

When I moved into this house, I planted this camelia outside the kitchen window. The plan was that I would have flowers to gaze out at in the cold and gray depths of winter. Apparently I forgot to inform the camelia of the plan. It has bloomed in July, March, September, November… every time of year except Christmas. It was obviously confused.

Finally, after 8 years, the first bud popped open on Christmas eve. It would have kept going for another couple of weeks, if not for the ice.