Happy Groundhog Day - or not!

So the groundhog saw his shadow and says 6 more weeks of winter. What the heck does a groundhog know?! One of the pics I'm posting today is of my house as it looked 3 weeks ago. We have more snow than that now. Not a lot more but definitely more. The weather's been decent here for the past few days and is supposed to continue to be nice. I'll take it for as long as it lasts.

I also have a couple pictures of a Faroese style shawl I made for Sue's daughter, Allie. The pattern is in the Spring 2004 issue of Cast On magazine. The pattern called for Lion Brand Homespun but I really don't like working with that yarn. I substituted Lion Brand Jiffy in a denim blue. The Jiffy isn't quite as heavy as the Homespun so I used more yarn and it could have been a little bigger. I probably would have worked more repeats if it hadn't been August and if Allie hadn't been leaving for college. I liked the fact that it was an acrylic yarn since I was giving it to a college freshman. I'd like to make one of these for me but in a chunky wool yarn. It takes 370 yards of the LB Homespun. I have 310 yards of a thick/thin handspun in a nice green. That might not be quite enough but I also have 200 yards of the same handspun in a camel color. I could stripe it. I should wind up one of the hanks and do a swatch. That would make a really pretty shawl, I think. If I have time, I'll take pictures of the handspun yarn tomorrow to post.

I'm supposed to go to a consistory meeting at church tonight. Consistory is the governing board of the Herkimer Reformed Church and I'm a deacon. I think I'm going to play hooky, though. I've only missed one meeting since July and Scott and I are hosting a wine and cheese tasting party Saturday night. I'd like to get my folding chairs recovered before Saturday. We've invited 15 people and asked each couple/single person to bring a certain kind of wine. It'll be fun but I have some cooking and cleaning to do before then.

I'm making penne with vodka sauce for dinner tonight. Yum! This is the best vodka sauce recipe I've found. If you'd like a copy of it, go to www.allrecipes.com and search for penne in vodka cream. The only change I make to the recipe is to use 1/4 cup of vodka instead of the 3/4 cup it calls for. 3/4 cup makes the sauce bitter. Really good recipe, though.

Well, it's time to go have dinner. Later!