Projects

I have not had much time for crafts lately (as I thought I would). Here's an update on what I'm working on. I made this cool iPod cozy out of leftover sock yarn, it even has a pocket for headphones. Hubbers is worried that the wool might scratch the touch screen, but I tried rubbing a corner of the screen with the cozy and couldn't see any damage. I did buy some cotton yarn to make this, but then decided that I really wanted use up the last of that sock yarn.

A while ago, I started this sweater vest with yarn from Ireland. It's getting close to finished. It looks almost like a vest. I just need to sew the shoulder straps together, and then there is an edging that goes all the way around the neckline and arm holes. It will probably need to be blocked quite a bit to make it fit right. I'll be glad to have my wearable Ireland souvenir less than a year after the Ireland trip :)

Then there's a sorta-secret cross-stitch project that I'm working on. It will be a gift, so you won't see any photos of it until it has been received. However, the recipient knows about (and even requested) this gift, so it's not so secret that I can't talk about it. It's a birth announcement for my friend's third baby. I made baby samplers for her first two babies, so she rather expected that I'd produce a third cross-stitch. I have picked out the pattern, assembled all of the supplies and started it. I should have another couple of months to work on it.

Monarch Lake Hike

Coloradans certainly don't stay inside in the winter. Last weekend, instead of skiing, we decided to watch some sled dog and skijor races which were happening across the street from us. While talking with the woman running the bake sale (aka Pie Lady), I learned that we could also find moonlit cross-country ski dinners, good trails for walking dogs at Monarch Lake, and yoga classes at the community center. I haven't woken up early enough to make a 6am yoga class, but we did spend Sunday afternoon at Monarch Lake (just past Lake Granby) as did many other dog-walkers. On the way, we saw a couple dozen ice-fisherman, now that looks like a seriously cold sport. Here's a glimpse of the creek that feeds Monarch Lake.

Can you see the imprint in the snow on the bank in the photo below? There are no tracks to or from that "snow-angel". Any idea what sort of creature could have made it?
And then on Monday, it was back to skiing at the resort. Actually, we may have taken this photo on Saturday. However, you can get a lot more skiing done on Monday than Saturday. In fact, I don't think I'll ski on a weekend again in Colorado. We are quite spoiled in New Mexico with quick lift lines.

Lake Granby Hike

Vixen says, "More hiking, less photographing!"

We followed the snowmobile trails so we wouldn't sink so far in the snow.

Granby

We have settled, somewhat, into Granby, Colorado. Unfortunately, we discovered upon arrival that the promised high-speed internet is only available in the lobby, not in the condo itself. This was not what we were expecting, but the lobby is rather large and nice... and full of people with laptops :) I also discovered that I can get WiFi at any lodge at Winter Park, even the warming hut at 11,000 ft.

Going to the lobby for the internet gives us an excuse to sit in separate rooms anyway. Hubbers is in the condo writing about cannibilism, while I sit in the lobby crunching data and downloading articles (and doing social stuff).

I have not found where our camera was packed yet, so I have no photos to post. I hate blog posts without photos. Hopefully a lousy, photoless post is better than nothing.

So far, we've done some skiing at Winter Park and Mary Jane. Mostly greens, blues, a few blue-blacks (who knew they existed?), and one or two blacks. Today was an incredible day for powder. Tomorrow should be too.

The dogs know their way around the parking lot for their 4 walks a day. They aren't so sure about the condo life. In particular, the spiral staircase up to the loft is rather tricky. Vixen just made her way down it on her own for the first time today. She's still learning to go up the stairs without bailing out halfway. Wiley has previous experience with spiral staircases, knows he doesn't like them, and uses his handicap to beg for a carry up and down the stairs. He just got another steroid injection for his back-leg semi-paralysis from a vet in Granby, so his handicap should lessen. The condo has helped Vixen to silence her barking even more. She's practicing other ways to get our attention.

Between working, skiing and walking the dogs we've been pretty busy. There seems to be a lot of other stuff to do around here, but I don't know when we'll find the time.

Sabbatical

Hubbers is on sabbatical through August. This means he has a book to write, but otherwise is not required to do all the other things that professors usually do. And I no longer have to take classes (because I passed my comps, yay!) So, we're both taking advantage of the "not-attached-to-campus" status by spending some time in Winter Park, Colorado where we should have a view like:

(photo by drocpsu @ flickr)

Some people are calling this our re-enactment of The Shining. If one of the dogs starts muttering "red rum", I'll know what it means. Actually, our lodgings should not be a deserted hotel: the description makes it sound quite lively and not rustic.

Here's my favorite part about the description of the condo we'll be living in:

1br 1 bath sleeps 6 comfortably.

Hah! Clearly, someone has a different idea of comfort than I do :) Okay, so it wouldn't be too uncomfortable if you wanted to come visit... we have room for 4 more people. We'll be there Feb 15 - March 31. As for contacting us while we're there, just use the usual cell phones, email, FB, Skype, comments on this blog...

Oh, I should mention that I am now moderating comments on old blog posts due to a splattering of spam comments that appeared one day. So if you make a comment on an old post, it may take a while for it to show up.