It seems winter finally arrived here in Minnesota. We ventured up to Fargo last month for a family get-together that included my 100 year old grandmother. The temperature was -19 up there which was a bit of a refresher course in winter weather for us.
I did a little custom knitting for Marek in preparation. It seems no matter what pants he wears, when he is sitting or in his car seat, his pant legs "ride up with wear" as they say at
Grace Brothers. No matter how much you tug them down, the bare skin of his lower legs is exposed. I wrap him with a flannel blanket from the waist down to help insulate him and I joke that he looks like
Queen Victoria all bundled up like that.
I designed a pair of oversized socks for him that are worn over his regular socks and pant legs. They are long enough that they come up almost to his knees and have enough ease that his pant legs can be tucked into them. These were knit out of a worsted wool/silk/angora yarn from
HoneyGold Acres that I bought at the State Fair with winter next-to-the-skin items in mind for Marek.
I know I took some formal posed pictures of him in his new knitwear, but I think one of my favorite pictures is this informal shot of him on the Koala Kare changing table in the gas station bathroom! We made a pit stop on the way up there and this was his first time in the Koala Kare so
of course I had to take a picture! The hat he is wearing is a
larger version of this hat knit from the same worsted yarn. The original fawn colored hat was on the small side but I gave it to my dear friend Nancy for her granddaughter. I'm always happy when hand knits go to a good home!
After our re-orientation to butt cold temperatures in Fargo, it got cold here. We had a week or so cold snap and Mother Nature didn't pull any punches. We kept our thermostat set at 65 and I swear the furnace ran non-stop for that week. This was the temperature in our windowsill when I got up to make a bottle one morning. It was a week of slippers, sweaters, fleece bathrobes and cups of tea. I tried to bake whenever I could to add a little byproduct bonus heat to the house. I've even put up with nonstop sports on the living room TV because Dave has been living upstairs instead of downstairs in the man-cave.
In the fall and during reasonable temperatures in winter, we use our garage as a glorified walk-in cooler. This is especially handy when we host holiday family get-togethers and have all kinds of food to be chilled. I remember my Grandma Helen used her porch the same way and my mother always talks of her childhood farmhouse "North Porch" for said purpose. It was too cold in our garage so we chilled things by setting it next to the downstairs walk out door!
We've discussed function for extreme cold weather, now let's cover FASHION! I knit Marek a Gopher hat by combining
this pattern's chart (I have knit the hell out of this pattern and am so thankful for it!) with
this pattern for the construction of the hat. I used a size 5 needle as the construction pattern calls for but growing boys can always use a little wiggle room. I think next time (and I'll be knitting a new one of these every few years or so, let's face it) I'll use the size 6 called for in the charted pattern.
And while we're on the subject of Minnesota Gophers,
I made a few new bibs for him. I picked up this yard of paisley Goldy fabric a while ago and made 4 new bibs with scraps to spare. I backed it with a maroon and gold flannel plaid that I'd intended as lounge wear pants for David but I didn't buy enough. This stinker is exploring all kinds of solid foods and has figured out how to pull off his Velcro bibs. I love grommets but have mixed results when it comes to installing snaps. I do have some ginormous sew on snaps which I'd sooner use to convert all the cute fabric bibs I've made.
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