Still no stitchin'

I have not knit a stitch in weeks.  The mojo has fled and I am bereft.  In reality, I've been using my time to work on my classes, and in the evenings I curl up on the couch with the Emperor and hold hands with him.  That's important to me, too, so knitting can wait.

This has not abated my case of startitis, which I indulge in odd moments by looking at Pinterest or Ravelry.  A couple of weeks ago a yarn catalog came in the mail, and in it was a kit for a pair of fingerless mitts.  I don't need the kit, and I wasn't enamored of the pattern, but I loved the color combination and the way the designer used it for a bit of fine colorwork.  I saved the picture and have been scooting around in Knitpicks looking for what I would consider equivalent colors, in case I need some color ideas for a future project.  Sometimes this kind of research is as satisfying to me as actually making something, and the inability to decide for sure which colors I want keeps me from adding to the stash.

My back is still feeling better.  I'm trying to get out of my office and walk laps around the top floor of my building a few times per day.  Eight rounds is a mile, but I'm not counting.  I just want to move for five or more minutes.

We had some snow earlier this week (and a snow day from school!) and when I went out to the garage I immediately saw how the Magic Snowblower had been overcome and had allowed snow to fall: it was no longer facing the front of the garage!  See, as long as it's full of gas and pointed in the correct direction to just be started up and moving, it won't snow here.

It did snow enough this time to fire the snowblower up, finally, and what a revelation!  What would have taken me two days to clear by hand with a shovel only took about half an hour, if that.  It was like pushing a lawn mower, but easier.  The trick is to do sections in such a way that you don't blow the snow over areas you've just cleaned.  Even the Emperor got into the act.

Oh my gosh, I missed it again, even though I was watching for it.  I missed my blogiversary, and this time it was my TEN YEAR blogiversary.  I have been chronicling my yarn adventures and other things here for a whole decade, starting on February 1, 2005.  Well, happy blogiversary, Orchard Ranch, and here's to many more posts ... provided the mojo comes back.