It's Official...

Winter has arrived in Alaska! I awoke this morning with plans to ride my bike downtown for breakfast with friends. My plans were quickly brought to a halt when I opened our front door and was greeted with a fresh blanket of snow. Yup - as Holly Jo mentioned, winter would not wait until after Halloween. We'd better choose costumes very carefully this year.

So.. for fear the bike trails would be too icy, I opted to car pool with my friend & bike next spring. It turns out that our side of town was really the only area to receive some of the fluffy stuff. As I approached my friend's house, who lives only 10 minutes away, it was like driving from one season into another. No snow was in her yard. Weird how weather patterns can be so different within the same city.

New snow also means searching the crawl space for boots, mittens, snowsuits and praying they'll last another season. Fortunately - it looks as if last years' duds will work for now. I have a sneaking suspicion I'll have to restock mid-winter, but if we're set for now, that's all I'm concerned about.
Gotta love being able to make the first snow angels of the season on October 7th! You can see the snow isn't that deep & with the sun peeking out as I type, I doubt this first snow fall will last for very long. Wow - the temp has soared to 35.2°F! Break out the shorts!
The onset of winter provides great incentive to knit, knit, knit. I'm almost finished with my monkey socks for MSS3. I'm using Sockotta yarn - a cotton/wool/nylon blend. I'm not too crazy about it, but hope my pal likes the socks as she lives in warmer climes. The colors are fabulous, but the feel while knitting leaves me a bit luke warm. I'm also working on a pair of socks with the Penllyn pattern for Maggie. I'm a sucker for a good cause. Hopefully the socks will bring her much needed healing powers. I've also joined the Knitters' Coffee Swap 3 - another great combo for cool Alaskan winters. If you love the combination of coffee & knitting - pop on over, I think there are a few spots left in the swap. I love getting up in the morning, having a fresh cup of coffee while lounging around and knitting. I think I enjoy it so much since the rest of the mornings during the week is spent getting ready for and thinking about school. It's great to have the mental break.

Well - knitting (and laundry, and grading) are calling.

Ciao~