Sickness, sopping wet, and snow, though not necessarily in that order

I got a call from school on Wednesday afternoon that Helen wasn't feeling well. I left work early to pick her up, and she had a 103 degree fever. Poor thing. She's always the one who catches things. And the "things" always hit her harder. So I stayed home with her yesterday - I went in to work from 7-9 am to grab some things I could do at home, while Marc let her sleep in. When I got home, he left for work and she pretty much hung out on the couch with the two cats all morning. There was a lot of PBS TV watching - which is a treat considering my kids watch about ZERO minutes of TV a day. They would love to watch more, and I'm okay with certain shows, but really, there's no time! So they watch none. She watched a few hours while I finished the edges on the rug hooking sign I made for the shop. It's cute!

She had a burst on energy during the day and asked if I would teach her how to rug hook. We just got the Oxford Punch needles for the shop and I had brought some burlap and a sharpie home, as well as a lap frame for her to use. I drew up a little sign for her room with her name and a flower, and taught her how to use the punch needle.

Good thing I remembered that for punch needle, the pattern actually needs to be drawn in reverse. With punch needle, you are facing the wrong side of the work while you are doing it, so for text, it must be done in reverse in order to look correct. With rug hooking, you are facing the right side of your work. Big difference!

It was a little frustrating for her at first (she likes to do everything FAST) but I forced her to slow down and take her time. She needed help on some sections, but she really can do most of it herself. The best thing about the punch needle, is that - unlike sewing - I do not have to re-thread the needle every minute. The skein of yarn just feeds through the punch needle until you want to switch colors. Easy. We picked some of her favorite colors of Lamb's Pride Bulky, and she'll be finished this weekend.

Today she was fever free but coughing up a storm, so we were home again. I worked on my latest project (Fish in a Line) which is really fun, and she worked on her name picture again.

We picked Sophie up right after school and then I drew up a pattern for her and taught her how to do it. It's a great activity for kids!

I stopped into the shop quickly today because we got a new yarn - it is called Soft Chunky by Twinkle Handknits. This stuff is amazing. Soft, soft colors. Soft, soft yarn. Super, super quick knitting. And really fun and different patterns in the book Twinkle's Big City Knits, by Wenlan Chia. Modern shapes, creative designs, and beautiful colors.

So I grabbed 6 skeins of Lavendar and I will be making the Rockefeller Sweater which is a cute, kind of shawl collared, cabled cardigan.

We had to cancel our classes tomorrow because we are expecting 10-15 inches of snow by morning. Another big dump, although after the Valentine's blizzard, what's a foot of snow? But we did call everyone and cancel and we are in the process of trying to reschedule. In five years, we've only had to do this a few times, and two of the times have been in 2007. So, not too bad, considering where we live, and how it COULD be. And this new snow is coming after we just lost about 12+ inches in a matter of 2-3 days. It was close to 60 degrees here for two days straight, which caused major meltage of all of our snow, which - in turn - caused 2 days of sopping wet floorage in our small basement room. Yeah, well... it happens with every major meltdown each year, sometimes several times. That's what a shop vac is for, and this week, we know it well.

And by bedtime, back up to 101 degrees. Will it end?