Some snow and some knitting

We received a beautiful snowstorm on Thursday, December 29. The timing couldn't have been better, because that was also the day Violet arrived to spend two nights with us.

We woke up to 18-22" of the light, fluffy stuff on Friday morning.

Violet and I were eager to get out into the snow, she to go sledding, I to go snowshoeing.

We found the snow was too light for good sledding and snowshoeing, though. Violet's flying saucer simply sank down into the deep snow, and my snowshoes did the same.

Undaunted, we got up Saturday morning for another attempt. By this time the snow had sunk down a little and was easier to pack.

Here's Violet's favorite sledding hill. As you can see, she made several runs down the hill in her flying saucer.

Snowshoeing was much easier for me on Saturday, largely because of the more-packed snow, but also because I decided to use my cross-country ski poles as walking sticks. What a difference!

It wasn't long before Sage decided to join the fun. She's usually on a leash when outside, but this time I unhooked her leash and let her run free.

I managed to capture this photo as Violet and Sage came up the hill after a wild ride down.

Sage sometimes stopped during a wild run and began digging furiously in the snow. That's what she's doing here. I wondered if maybe she could sniff out mice living beneath the snow for the winter.

It's safe to say Violet, Sage, and I got our money's worth out of that snowstorm. Now I'm ready for another one. So is Sage. Violet, of course, is back at school.

On the knitting front, this is a sweater (Sirdar 1401) that I knit for my friend's grand daughter, Phoebe, for Christmas.

Except it's too small.

I valiantly offered to knit the sweater again, this time in a larger size.

I'd forgotten, apparently, how much I'd hated knitting this pattern the first time.

I've been knitting attempt #2 for several days now. Yesterday I grew so tired of it and its crazy design that I came this close to raveling out the darned thing and selecting an easier pattern.

Then I got myself under control, pointed out to myself that I was more than half done with the project, and told myself to forge ahead.

So that's what I'm doing now.

What causes me to get discouraged with Sirdar #1401 is, first of all, the stupid line just above the top garter stitch edge on the back. With both the pale aqua version, and now with the pink version, I do a really, really, really awful job of picking up stitches along that edge to begin the garter rows. I thought I might do a better job of it the second time around, but I was definitely mistaken. I've been pondering this problem and wondering if perhaps I can add a little hand-embroidered bit along that top garter edge to hide my messiness.

Then there's that ugly seam halfway down the middle of the back. On Ravelry, others who've knit this cardigan and who've hated that ugly seam as much as I do have said, casually, that they avoided the seam altogether by "knitting the entire sweater body as one piece." I wish I were that accomplished as a knitter!

Oh, well. The sweater will get done, and Phoebe probably won't notice my amateur knitting. The pattern will be going into the paper recycling bin as soon as the project is DONE.