Day 30, Winter in NY

Well you know winter has arrived in New York when my husband decides it's time to start the wood stove. Now most of you haven't gone through a winter with me yet, but you will soon come to see the wood stove and I are not actually friends. occasionally I enjoy the warmth but most of the time we are practically enemies. I was born and raised in CA, don't think we even had a heater, lol... my husband however grew up in the wooded area of Upstate NY. I prefer to have the breeze of a fan 24/7 and he likes to get the house to a sweltering 95 degrees in winter. My house is small and the wood stove is in the living room, about 10 feet from my bed. Anyway... I am sure you'll hear more about this metal monster until Spring is finally sprung... So last night he comes home COLD, it was cold but not that cold... he decides to start the wood stove to take off the chill. Now all Spring, Summer, and Fall I kind of use this as a storage shelf. I have finally cleared it off anticipating this day, but somehow a sock fell behind the stove and rested onto the chimney pipe that goes through the wall. No one noticed it. He starts the stove and it's COOKING and CRACKLING. I am on the phone with my son Jim (another story, maybe for tomorrow) and the smoke alarm starts going off... great probably burning a bird (another story) I thought... I walk to the stove and open the door and the flames are blaring through the chimney like a Forrest fire, it's burning HOT. I am calling out to Gary to come in and fix it and stop the smoke alarm, the house is full of smoke and I am on oxygen, not a good situation. Then I look up and the outside of the chimney between the stove and the wall is on fire. I can now see the house burning down, I am screaming his name... finally he comes in from outside... and after a minute or two sees the sock on fire. The chimney got so hot it started the stray sock on fire. Can we just say from that moment on my night went down hill. If I had my wits about me I'd have taken a picture of the flames, instead you can see the stove as it looks this morning. LOL... Friends, meet my enemy the WOOD STOVE



Just another comment on Ravelry... No you don't have to have a blog to get into Ravelry. You just need a computer. It definitely is a place to store your work, stash and patterns but is also a wealth of patterns both free and for sale, and a community of knitters and crocheters to help with questions etc. There are forums and groups and so much more I haven't even found yet. It takes about a month to get invited in, and even if you don't use all of it's benefits at first, it's free and it's a pretty cool place.

That said if you are in Ravelry already, please add me to your friends list or tell me your Ravelry name and I will find you, OK? I am gimpykatk on Ravelry and you can see all my patterns on there if you search for Aunt Kathy.

Oh did I mention I should be getting a new vacuum today. It's a sad life when you are getting excited about being able to vacuum again. UPS said it is on the truck to come here today. I was thinking about learning a new stitch today, I saw this pretty pattern with cable needles, but I can't decide if I want to do that or if I want to vacuum all the rugs instead, LOL.

Now onto the contest... Are you still with me?

WELL I AM NOT ALWAYS EASY BUT WHEN I'M DONE I LOOK GOOD
IF YOU HAVEN'T TRIED ME OUT YET THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD
I CAN CHANGE UP A PATTERN AND RAISE IT TO A NEW HEIGHT
AND I AM QUITE BEAUTIFUL WHEN I AM DONE JUST RIGHT
YOU NEED THREE NEEDLES INSTEAD OF JUST THE NORMAL TWO
BUT TWO HANDS ARE ALL YOU NEED TO PULL THIS STITCH THROUGH
ONE STEP AT A TIME AND YOU'LL SOON SEE YOU ARE ABLE
CAN YOU FIGURE ME OUT YET? IT'S CLEAR I AM A ????

POST YOUR ANSWER TO THIS RIDDLE IN THE COMMENT SECTION FOR YOUR CONTEST ENTRY. REMEMBER YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE CORRECT, YOU JUST NEED TO COMMENT.

Well we are about 400+ away from the 2000 hit goal... do you think I can get 200 hits a day for the next 2 days??? Wouldn't that be awesome?

That said I think I will get some breakfast and do a little knitting before UPS gets here. LOL Or maybe I'll be lost in Ravelry land...

Aunt Kathy