A snowman!
Wednesday December 31st 2008, 1:59 pm
Filed under: Family,Friends,Knit,Life

second piano hatYou can knit a whole lot faster when you already know the road ahead.

Hat #2: down a needle size.  Smaller keyboard (and thus faster to knit), more piano–I like this one.From Kathleen!

Michelle pointed out that it needs to be a thicker yarn to be really warm, and I chuckled at my child who was only eleven months old when we moved to California: college has taught her to appreciate warm clothes.

I regret that my children never got to make a snowman in the front yard. I have memories from when I was a kid of my Dad helping our giant balls of snow walk the plank: there was no way we could lift that midsection, so Dad set up a board and with his help we rolled it on up. The head would be smaller and lighter, so Dad simply lifted those up for us, although I remember one big snowman in the yard in front of my parents’ bedroom where it was a challenge even for him and he went looking for a longer board.  Good timesAnd he knits!.

My kids growing up in California never got to ice skate on the driveway. Or on the Canal.  Or on the Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument like we did, with the Park Service running a warming bonfire on the side.  The Reflecting Pool is something like a foot deep, so if you weren’t sure the water was frozen enough, you weren’t going to get anything but really cold if you fell through.

So. No snowmen.  Yesterday I got a surprise package in the mail, one that hadn’t made it in time for Christmas, but all the better for that.  Totally unexpected.  What… From KC?  And it’s a snowman! Who knits! And sings! And waves his knitterly arms, with his ball of yarn glued to his backside (I kid you not).  Who flies through the air in his red sleigh on New Year’s Eve, delivering yarn to all the procrastinating knitters who didn’t get their Christmas presents knitted in time this year!

Santa Snowman, flying in his sled!

And yeah, he waves that nail-needle perilously close to his carrot nose, and I love him all the more for it.  I played it over and over till Michelle put her hands over her ears and wailed, “Make it STOP!”

Ya gotta love a great snowman.


16 Comments so far
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Before you get too wistful, let me remind you of a few other things….shoveling until your back screams for mercy and you think your arms are going to fall off. That unforgettable mix of sweating too much for a heavy coat to be comfortable for shoveling, with a wind that cuts to the bone if you take it off. Throwing sand out the door before you dare set foot on the ice-covered deathtrap that’s usually your front steps. Two hours to drive twenty miles behind a plow- and too slippery to pass it. Air so dry your hands crack and bleed if you forget lotion. Ten minutes after you finish shoveling the driveway and are about to leave, a plow goes by and puts a four-foot-high bank right across the end.

I love New England and I even like snowy winters, but ‘no home delivery of snow’ definitely has some good points! 🙂

Comment by RobinH 12.31.08 @ 8:23 pm

And, the hats are awesome- Very cute design!

Comment by RobinH 12.31.08 @ 8:24 pm

I love it! What a great snowman, and good memories 🙂

Comment by Jocelyn 12.31.08 @ 8:44 pm

Building snowmen and forts were a favorite thing to do in the wintertime as a kid. Rarely do you see kids building them these days. They are inside playing video games.

Comment by Joansie 12.31.08 @ 8:48 pm

Happy New Year to the Snowman! Hope 2009 brings you many more moments of joy!

Comment by LynnM 01.01.09 @ 1:37 am

I’m glad my kids get to play in the snow most winters, but man, I hate shoveling that drive!

Wonderful snowman!

Comment by Alison 01.01.09 @ 7:15 am

What an adorable snowman, and the second hat does look so VERY much like a piano keyboard. Me? I’m still waiting for a “good” snow, a thick blanket that the dogs can run in and snort…

Comment by Channon 01.01.09 @ 7:29 am

Thankyou for sharing your stories are always lovely:) I bought a mouse that knitss and sings I was so tickled to see your snowman.Happy New Year Hugs Darcy

Comment by Darcy 01.01.09 @ 9:18 am

Love the new hat! Love the snowman! Good times.

Happy New Year!

Comment by karin 01.01.09 @ 10:21 am

Ingenious hats! And My Mom-in-law LOVES things that sing and dance and move. We try to get her one every year, for different holidays.

Comment by Diana Troldahl 01.01.09 @ 1:06 pm

Oh, I do love those piano hats! Very, very cool! Can’t let Youngest see..or I’ll have to rig a pattern of my own for her.

Comment by Toni Smoky-Mountains 01.02.09 @ 11:40 am

Love the second version of the hat.
Hahaha I have so many memories of playing in the snow all day, until my mom made me come in because it was dark.
I love the snowman 😉

Comment by Alicia 01.02.09 @ 3:13 pm

The hat’s a beauty, and so is the snowman. Happy New Year!

Comment by RobinM 01.02.09 @ 5:31 pm

The Snowman is terrific!!

Comment by Debbie 01.02.09 @ 5:46 pm

I really like all your knitting. After looking at everything on your site, I want a snowman too! It would go great with the knitting Mrs. Santa that Mom gave me a few years ago. Any idea where she got it?

Martha Cranford
North Carolina

Comment by Martha Cranford 01.02.09 @ 7:33 pm

I’m glad you got it and enjoyed it as much as I thought you would! Kathleen showed it to me before it was sent out…and I disolved into laughter because it is *so* perfect for you. Glad you were delighted!

Comment by Karen 01.05.09 @ 2:02 am



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