The weather here has been dismal. Huge thunderstorms ripping through every day, or twice or three times a day, dreadfully depressing for those of us who walk or ride our bikes everywhere. I feel like I’ve been trapped in the house by the misery that’s been the weather, and I’m falling behind on errands and shopping. The weather has been so crappy, that Rachel H and I remain entirely gobsmacked that the only nice day there has been was the Saturday we did the 1000 knitters shoot. The Toronto summer is so short that being deprived of any one warm and glorious day makes the natives restless, and missing out on a whole week of patios, sundresses and walking in the sun makes us downright irate. Lene wrote about it, and Ken called me yesterday to lodge a formal complaint about the weather. (Why he felt that I would be able to help him, I cannot say. I hate rain so much that if there were anything I could do about it, I certainly would have.) There are few upsides…but I’m trying to notice them. For starters, the whole city is green. Green, lush, hugely overgrown and everyone I talk to comments on the roses. The city is covered in them. Everyone’s rosebushes are putting on a show like we haven’t seen for years, and it’s breathtakingly beautiful…in between the thunderstorms that try to smash all the petals of them. The thunderstorms we’ve been having are oddly beautiful too… (If you can overlook the flooding here and there) very extreme and loud and so much water comes so fast that you can see people standing in doorways and on porches, just awestruck at the intensity. They are the kind of storms where I keep hearing people say “I haven’t seen a storm like this since….” and then they trail off, because the answer is “yesterday” or “earlier today”. Storms like this happen here, for sure, but to have so many of them so quickly in a row is fearsome and bizarre. The sun will be shining, everything will be beautiful, and so you get on your bike and go somewhere, and then a huge storm blows up out of nowhere, really nowhere, and whammo, you’re scrambling for cover from the lightning and the rain or a couple of times, crazy huge hail.
Then it blows off…and the sun comes out again, until two hours later when the glorious blue sky has lulled you into leaving again, only to drench you three blocks from home. (Mother nature has a sense of humour with all the sophistication of a three year old who’s gotten hold a garden hose.)
All of this adds up to some of the most beautiful skies I’ve ever seen. Swirling grey and black on blue, huge and defined white cumulous mountains and crazy yellowey-purple- greenish skies that invoke thoughts of bruises. Last night I was so awestruck that I went out with my camera.
These skies remind me of the overly dramatic skies in oil paintings… entirely unrealistic.
This morning the sun is shining and it’s an entirely beautiful day, but I’ve been tricked by this weather again and I’m not falling for it. If the planet thinks it can make me walk to the village so it can pelt me with hail again…its got another thing coming. I’m staying right here, though I am taking advantage of the lack of rain to take sock pictures.
These are the finished Phlox socks, June offering from the Robyn’s nest sock club.
The pattern’s written by Jennifer. (If you look on the left sidebar of her blog there, you can see a “Phlox sock” link. The patterns not available until October, but she’d be happy to take your email addie and let you know when you can get it.)
I love the wee buttons, though I did move their location. Jennifer had the split and the button at the front, and I moved them (because I have a some sort of compulsion to alter patterns) to above the outside ankle.
The yarn was a pleasure, a hand-dyed artisanal one from Biscotte and Cie. It’s a thin yarn, a loosely plied two-ply and not one that I would have chosen myself. This, I think, is the great and grand thing about sock clubs. You get what you get, and the colour of the yarn, or in this case, both the colour and the sort of yarn can take you right out of your comfort zone. I would never, ever, in a million years have chosen either this colour or the yarn, and truth be told, I only started knitting it because I have a friend that will adore it. That purple-blue is so intense that I would have admired the skein and left it there, but because it landed on my lap I gave it a whirl, and got a surprise. I love them.
When I was done the socks (Ladies medium) I was really shocked at how much yarn I had left, enough that I think I could even squeak another little pair (maybe without the cuff and a smaller foot) out of it….and that made me really happy…which made me really surprised. There’s a lot to be said for stepping out of your box.
Our weather has been odd as well. I, however, love the thunderstorms! Such awesome energy. Love the socks, the wee button is absolutely charming.
Those socks are really pretty!
Yeah, but just remember your umbrella when you step out of the box.
In Vancouver we’re having essentially the same weather, minus the good parts like thunder and sun (what is this sun of which you speak?). Clearly we’ve broken the planet. I love those socks though – the colour is fantastic!
Well look at that. I just realized I was the first for the very first time! Such a thrill. LOL
I like your mod. I’d probably have moved it to the side too. love the button!
Love the socks and the colorway–what a cute idea to have a cuff and a button! The sunset pics are lovely-there’s something wonderful about the smell after a storm and the colors at sunset. I hope you get some ‘normal’ weather soon though!
It’s been crazy in exactly the same way in Boston this week. Totally nuts, but gorgeous sunsets.
Lots of severe thunderstorms here, too. An hour or so ago we were getting the most ear-shattering thunder while the sun was shining brightly. Weird.
I adore that little cuff and button.
Those are both beautiful=- and HAPPY looking socks…
ps- I know you’re busy—- but look quick at what some amazing knitter has anonymously gifted with- it’s on my blog;) I am in shock.
Too much rain here in Kansas too and–all right, I’ll admit it–I’m the cause. I wash the car, I hang my sheets on the clothesline, and I plan picnics. All classic causes of rain. I’ll bet my neighbors wish I would stop it. Look around your neighborhood, Stephanie–who’s the culprit?
I guess that’s what’s nice about where I live, I know that every Summer afternoon, we’ll have a rain storm. It’s actually nice because it cools us off. Not so nice when it floods the streets and I get stranded somewhere.
Those buttons on the socks are cute! I need to get out of my comfort zone a lot more than I do. I hope ya’ll get some consistency to your weather.
I would love a thunderstorm or ten right now. Anything to break the monotony of sunny skies and blistering, insane heat.
We spent the weekend in Toronto, sightseeing and loving the wonderful city–our first time–but we’ll not mention the wee fall off the yarn diet at Lettuce Knit because of the dyed special for Pride Week Socks That Rock. We drove home through one of yesterday’s particularly dreadful downpours. Spectacular lightening, though. . . and we’ll go back as soon and as often as possible. Love that city!
Steph? Does the Canadian version of NOAA provide a weather alert via radio. I have bought both my mother and mother in law weather radios that go off automatically when there is a severe storm in the area. It will wake you up in the middle of the night so that you and your family can seek shelter.
The cloud photos are lovely, a gift following the aweful storms that go through.
We’ve had that weather, too. The day starts out beautifully and then BAM! It’s raining like the Matrix. My gerbera daisies got flattened the day after I planted them. 🙁 But, the trees are green so that’s good.
Love the socks!
Weird weather all over it seems – it must be due to global warming. I blame everything on global warming, actually. I bet it increases the moth population, too.
While sitting in the screened porch during one of our thunderstorms over the weekend, I ask my husband if he had ever been caught in a “underwear soaking rain”. I have a vivid memory as a child (maybe 10 yr old) leaving my friend’s house and riding down the (short) block back home. From a sprinkle to a bucket of water over my head in a matter of seconds. By the time I put my bike in the garage the sun was out again and I was soaked to the underwear. good times 🙂
We are having the same weather in Miami, being back into the wet season, so we have the daily deluge of rain. As a bicycle commuter, I feel your pain.
Oh!
The cunning wee button!
First, you’re welcome. Second, really sweet socks. I love that yarn color, and the pattern is perfect for it. Third, me thinks you should give dyeing a whirl… Bruised and Unrealistic could be the start of a whole new thing (like you need a new thing). Last, can we see pictures of the roses? I imagine there are many gardeners and admirers among us.
I totally love the color and the pattern.
A Californian-born friend of mine once told me he never understood why people like me said they missed “real weather” till he left this area for awhile: “You’re closer to nature” when there’s a strong storm or freezing or snow or whathaveyou.
Exactly. So. Being a native Easterner, can I borrow one of your storms? I promise not to give it back.
Love the purple! Plus, are your cherries ready yet?
I would absolutely kill for that color yarn. Luckily I don’t have to.
I’m not sure how to tell you this, but according to the weatherfolk the upper low that’s been camped over the Midwest is finally, finally pulling up stakes, so the weather is about to become less bipolar. This is a good thing, as I too love freak thunderstorms, but I also love hanging my laundry outside before I leave for work and taking it down when I get home.
You know, it wasn’t until you said it that I realized that I’ve been seeing a ton of roses this year. I’ve looked at them as I’ve walked/driven by, thought, “I didn’t even realize that WAS a rosebush,” and it never quite clicked that maybe the reason I’m noticing is because it’s an outstanding year for roses. Duh. Of course, I’m down in NJ, not in Toronto, but we’ve been pretty much getting the same weather this week–lots of thunderstorms which my dog is NOT happy about!
Unfortunately I must give you a bit of grief Stephanie. I suppose I can sympathise a bit with you big city folks who become unhappy at the thought of rain. However, I who live outside said same big city, and grow my own food, look always with hope to that darkening sky. The reason? The last few years have been so dry my 7 rain barrels and my cistern, my second well and then my primary well have run dry just trying to keep the gardens, the horses the chickens and us, watered and healthy.
I don’t like being on the bandwagon of anything, but it is important to remember that farmers do feed cities. Without rain, they don’t feed anyone. Of course, with too much rain, they likely don’t feed anyone either. However, in my neck of the woods, the water table is really still just recovering from the previous years dry spells.
Thankfully, I guess, we’re not in Ohio.
I love a day of rain now and then, even a monumental downpour has a special spot in my heart. But after several days of it, I just want to smack “mother nature” and say ‘enuff!
Lovely yarn, glad you can get another pair of socks out of it.
AS a fellow Torontoian I completely understand the feelings about the weather. Its been atleast two weeks, its all anyone is talking about anymore. But today its supposed to be nice! no Rain! well atleast until thursday and then its back again forever.
those socks are absolutely adorable! i love the flap with the button.
Shall I send some sunshine to you? We are having a few rare days of sun. It has been wonderful. I love the socks. They are great. Just my color. The pattern is charming. I shall have to look that up. Thanks for the good (albeit soggy) news from your corner of the world.
Dianna
Our first day at the beach got washed out by a huge thunderstorm yesterday as well yesterday. I pointed out that it made for good knitting weather. No one was amused. Not even one little bit.
Beautiful socks, really interesting color! Sort of a cornflower blue. Yay for stumbling upon something new.
Here in West Virginia, the weather has been much the same. Beautiful, strong, and unrelenting.
I happen to really enjoy summer thunderstorms. It makes me hope for a power outage at work, which would mean I would get paid to sit in the dark and watch the ice cream melt.
Also, I must knit those socks. My friend’s cat’s name is Phlox – that’s not a common name so I think the knitting gods are giving me a nudge.
We went on a beach vacation last spring. It had been YEARS since I’d been to the ocean, and I was so excited. But we arrived in a soaking downpour that lasted, on and off, for the first FIVE DAYS of our week-long vacation. I spent those days cuddled under a blanket, drinking hot cocoa and knitting. Exactly what I’d been doing back home. Only now the couch was wicker.
But oh, how I enjoyed those last two days …
~ Dar, whose grandmother loved rainy days for doing jigsaw puzzles
Unrelenting rain storms of ferocious bent? Yeah. The state of Iowa can tell you a few things about that this year — hope y’all stay high and dry!
We’ve had so much rain that the same thing is happening. I have a tree off my patio that I’ve lived with for 3 years and never knew it flowered – until now. The bush next to the door appeared to be dead – until now. Everywhere you look but without the spectacular skies.
“Mother nature has a sense of humour with all the sophistication of a three year old who’s gotten hold a garden hose.”
You’ve made me snort once again. “Mommy, want me to help you water the plants?” Lesson learned: get out of the way. Like go in the house out of the way.
Those sky pics though? Beautius. They should be framed. And hung above the bathtub.
Nice socks too. As always.
Perhaps a talented reader will gift you with hand dyed to match your cloud photos. Morning Sun…
I love the wee buttons, too. Very pretty socks. We have been having the same crazy storms in CT also. Beautiful pictures of the sky!
I’m trying to not let my mind wander toward thoughts of “portents and signs.” My husband blames our current prez for everything, including the weird weather.
Ok, this is what I’ve been talking about (to everyone I know and on my blog.) It’s been consistently over 100 degrees F for the past week or so.(37.77 degrees C) It’s unbearable and driving many of us inside.
And I tried to keep my mouth shut back in February when you were dreaming of spring, because I know it must be hard, but we feel the same way about our fleeting winters. Because before we know it, we’re hiding in our Air Condition from the cruel, cruel sun.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that it could be worse… 😉
I’m almost jealous of your weather – we’re so dry that there are over 800 wildfires burning throughout CA. Yikes. I wonder if there’s moderate weather anywhere this year?
Stepping out of the box – that’s what I love about socks (ooh! I rhyme!). I often try to go for a color that’s not ‘me’. It doesn’t matter if they’re a shade that doesn’t flatter my pasty-white complexion, and it’s just fun to see some different colors flow through my fingers. My clothing leans toward earth tones and olives. My socks lately have been pink, blue and purple. Yay change!
I doubt that a single appliance was made out of that bright blue in the entire decade of the 1970s. And probably not so much as a single fleck in an acrylic shag carpet, either.
Wonderful pattern, beautiful yarn.
I have small feet.
(thought I’d put it out there)
Two wonderful things about weather: 1. No matter what kind we are having, we can find something in it to complain about. 2. It changes, often, wether we like that or not.
Today, I’m not at work, it is bright and sunny, with showers predicted and I’m stuck doing housework. 🙁
The socks are beautiful and my favorite color.
Yesterday the rain gave us a short power outage..the only thing I could do was sit and knit. (darn eh?)
But husband trying to ‘make hay’ was not pleased.
lovely socks!
I can see that cuff and button detail on a sweet little spring sweater cuff … not a sock. Gorgeous color!
Georgia would gladly pay big money for your rain. We are so dry here we have to carry buckets of waste water from the house to the garden. Lake Lanier is down so far that it resembles a dirt pit more than a lake.
Those socks are a gorgeous colour! And that’s a really cute button.
I’m thankful that it has been raining. I’d rather see all that green than the dead dry grass while we all scramble for the cooler air of the a/c inside. I like bringing my almost 1 year old outside and not having to worry about the humidex, smog or if he’ll dehydrate.
Those socks are gorgeous! I may have to go put my address down for that pattern (although I think it’s really the color that’s calling me). Please feel free to send some of that rain this way, if you suddenly find weather manipulation within your powers — we could certainly use it out here in SoCal!
Steph, gorgeous skies, and gorgeous socks! The Phlox socks are incredible.
Here in the Sock-Shaped State we’d love to get a bit more rain, though perhaps not in the quantities you get.
Just happy to be poster number-in-the-forties rather than the 3digits….
Socknitter Marjorie
If it weren’t for bad weather, my posts would be only about two sentences long. Still, you at least have great pictures of beautiful skies. And, finished socks, too. I do sympathize with the rain, though. Here in St. Louis, we’re just a bit more than sick of it, too.
Very beautiful pictures of the storm. I love thunderstorms but I also love sunshine. We’ve been getting quite a bit of sun but here on the coast sun means wind and lots of wind. Forget about even combing your hair because the wind will just restyle it for you. 🙂 I love the sock as well, by the way.
I love love love weather like that, and would gladly trade you a week in my smallish apartment in Santa Monica (which has PERFECT weather, right now) for a week with tons of crazy rainstorms. Seriously.
rain, yes, we do know about rain followed by more rain in Iowa. And I think what it must’ve been like–still be like to clean up in New Orleans and the whole Gulf Coast, when I see what it’s like here. I’m glad your rain doesn’t drain into the Mississippi, glad the Mississippi doesn’t overflow backwards to the rivers in Iowa.
But the phlox socks are sunshine all by themselves. I think my stash needs some sunshine.
While the storms haven’t been as intense down here in southern New Hampshire, I think they’ve been happening with the same frequency, and I must admit that I love them. Especially after going to college in Minnesota, I feel deprived if I don’t get enough thunder in my summer. Your weather sounds a lot like a typical MN summer day — clear blue sky, and then 10 minutes later you’re running for shelter (and your life), with your clothing soaked through.
That yarn is amazing.
If you’re thinking of the red sky in the background of The Scream when you say “sky like oil paintings”–that sky is thought to be the result of all the ash thrown into the sky by the explosion of Krakatoa.
Diana
Good lord woman, I’m flinching in California at your insinuation that Mother Nature lacks sophistication in her sense of humor. Perhaps you should find some way to appease her.
I love what you wrote about getting out of the box. I’ll work on that.
Having lived in ND for 13 years, I can appreciate what a “short summer” is like. And I must be strange cuz the older I get, the more I love the rain. And a good thunderstorm. As long as I am not ou in it. The photos are gorgeous.
Judy
Weather is so bizarre. I’m in Minneapolis, and it has taken til almost the middle of June to experience anything resembling Summer. We totally skipped Spring. In our neighborhood these days we’re dealing with insurance claims and storm chasers because of the unbelievable hail storm of a few weeks ago. My hosta garden now looks like sad stalks of celery. Totally decimated. So I get a bit pissy, but then I realize that I have nothing to complain about. There are no levees failing around my city. We are not under water. We’re just simply looking for the sun.
That is some yummy shade of blue! Makes me feel a little better about the hail trying to flatten my flowers…
Those socks are stunning.
And I wish I could have the rain. It’s so dry in California from a years’ long drought, there are a billion fires going on and not enough firefighters to put all of them out.
Green/black/purple skies around here make people very nervous. The green especially is associated with tornadoes. Love the socks.
We have had some of the most vivid lightning I’ve ever seen this past week. Mighty powerful stuff. And last night the sky was violet.
I have just torn apart (ummm de-cluttered?) the living room looking for either a) my son’s birth certificate or b) his expired passport so he can get his driver’s license. I even looked under the secondary stash. Guess what I found? 1? 2? Nope! 3, count ’em 3 half finished pairs of socks. I just got a huge leg up on Christmas.
Also, 3 large trash bags of paper to recycle. I might enjoy being out of work this summer except for the starving part.
Beautiful day today here, cool and sunny but I can hear thunder in the distance, again. The animals are happy with the green pastures and the preggos aren’t suffering with the heat as they usually are at this time of year. Our hay hasn’t been cut, we need 4 dry days, and I’m starting to fret. The drive way is washed out again, and the thistles are multiplying faster than I can cut.
I think the last time I remember a summer like this was in 1985. It seemed like every night at rush hour we were hit with massive thunderstorms, the Don River came over its banks on a regular basis, flooding the Bayview extension and I frequently walked home from the subway barefoot carrying my leather soled sandals by the ankle straps so they wouldn’t get ruined in the floods.
Sorry to run on – it is rumoured to be hot and humid tomorrow. We will not like that either.
Did you get a camera for your birthday? Two weeks ago the blog was photo-less.
We used to have great storms :(. Sadly we don’t get anywhere near enough rain in southern Australia these days…
Lovely socks!
How we would love some rain in California to quell the wildfires and clear out the smoke. At last count there were 700-800 wildfires burning around the state, and in my area the smoke in the air is so thick I can’t see the sky, and I’m more than 20 miles from the nearest fire. Your blue socks are beautiful (that intense blue violet is my favourite colour) and the cuff with button is really charming. How fun to try something unusual for yourself!
One of the things I have learned to appreciate living here in Oklahoma are the skyscapes — at sunset, before a spectacular thunderstorm, after a spectacular thunderstorm, and my favourite: a beautiful sunny day with the bluest sky and the biggest fluffiest clouds you have ever seen. It’s completely different than my old stomping grounds (NS)….and I like it. 🙂
Love the colour of those socks! One of these days I will gird my loins with courage and try knitting socks. Right now the thought of trying them intimidates the bejeebies out of me.
Your sky photographs are beautiful! How about we trade weather for a week or so, okay? I’ll take your rain and clouds, you can have my dry 105F degree weather. 🙂
It’s 16 degrees celsius here today and I’m freezing. It hasn’t stopped raining for a week, thunderstorms too and I miss the garden.
Show us the roses please! It feels like a long time till Spring.
We are having some interesting weather here as well. I do love a good thunderstorm, but it is becoming a trial, having one every day (and resetting the clocks over and over again, due to power outages…) The socks are so pretty – every once in a while I’ll go to a yarn shop and see something in a great color or texture and – while I love it – will put it back because it’s just not ‘me’. But – I am trying to be braver, to get out of the box! Thanks for the inspiration!
I love the socks! And I love the thunderstorms! We’ve been having them too, and I Love them! (The summers in NYC are almost unbearable without the rain.)
The socks are beautiful!
I used to think that only Vancouverites had the right to complain about rain; however, watching CNN has led me to believe that we are clearly very lucky with our weather. It may rain, but its “normal” weather rain, not bipolar death rain….okay maybe sometimes.
my storms here in florida west central
coast has shut down this machine for days
tis 90 degrees at 6 pm and a good deal
of my country is flooded out of homes
lively hoods and farm land out west
and california wild fires we will not
cool off for months we are setting
heat records and get ready for
hurricane drills
yet this morning very early i sat
on the side of the bed the brightest
moon cast beautiful shadows on my
bare skin outside the box welcome
The socks turned out great! (Not that there was any doubt). I’m glad the cuff/button seems to be popular…I almost left them off because I didn’t think “too many knitters” would want a sock with cuffs like that. I’m thrilled to see I was mistaken!
(Also, I was torn about having the split on the front, back or sides. I drew a sketch of each and gave my husband the chance to make an executive decision.) I love your alteration with putting the split at the sides.
My parents live on top of a hill in Northern Lower Michigan. They have sunsets (and sunrises) like that pretty normally. When I was growing up, I never really thought the skies in oil paintings were unrealistic, just a bit over the top. =)
Also, I love the itty-bitty buttons. ^_^
stephanie, i miss you.
truth be told, i didn’t even read your most recent post, i just saw picks of you on the ariadne blog and i thought to come and tell you that.
i bet you still go to snb when you can. me, i have yoga now on wednesday nights. maybe some wedensday i’ll change my routine. maybe.
Maxfield Parrish skies…soemething about the way the light hits the clouds from underneath,or the side, or whatever.
oooo–those skies ARE pretty… I live in a valley surrounded by forest fires–our skies are apocalyptic with a chance of orange…
And the socks…okay, may I just say, that color and pattern are EXACTLY in my comfort zone… it’s too bad I have gunboat feet, or I’d think they were for me!!!
Beautiful socks! Beautiful skies. Clammy days and rain provoke knitting. It’s a traditional combination that I love. That pair of socks is a gorgeous color for such days.
Love the socks! Love love love that tiny button! The color is terrific. Very good for rainy day knitting.
Now about those sky pics. Wow! I love skies like that. I wish I were into dying wool. I’d love to do a colorway with all those great thunder clouds kissed with golden sunlight colors in them.
And it didn’t rain today but those clouds kept hiding the sun very tricky-like, just when I was going to start gathering the animals two by two…
I just love everything about those socks.
The teeny weeny button is just charming.
Our summer is just barely starting. We’re still in the 60s and low 70s. There’s still time yet.
Thank goodness for rain as I don’t have to water lawns on odd days of the week VERY early in the morning to get it all done and the temperature stays livable so we don’t have to use the AC and be cooped up as we were in the winter with the heat on. On top of that it’s good knitting weather!! What could be better ? Your pictures are lovely, almost as lovely as the socks. LOVE that colour. remember -too soon we will be lamenting the heat. Thanks for the post–chin up.
Now you know the secret to our roses on the west coast. We do love them. I suggest it’s easier to step outside of your box if you’re not risking a soaking and attempted murder by lightning.
Your photos of the sky are gorgeous! So surreal and amazing!
Those socks are very cute… I like the wee little button 🙂 Is that the yarn from the other post? The one in the top of the picture? It’s so very pretty!
Really gorgeous. I like your pattern mod.
I remember when I first visited the Hudson River, and first went to Santa Fe and realized that the HR school of painting and Georgia O’Keefe were PAINTING WHAT THEY SAW. Those wild wonderful sunsets aren’t just figments of imagination. They are real, but maybe not local. (You want sun? Come to Texas!)
Out of the box and wee buttons, too!
I LOVE the color and I was thinking, how cool, just two ply. Now that would be fun.
I’ll add these to my Harlot socks queue! (I like the Brooklyn Tree socks, too. Thank you for bringing them to my attention.)
We’ve been sending these storms to you, but they don’t let up in Michigan or cause such incredible colorific drama. Amazing sky. Summer will be back soon.
Cuuuuuute!
That is all.
Welcome to Colorado – at least as it used to be. We used to have huge, gorgeous clouds build up over the mountains every June afternoon. They would move majestically over Denver (or Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Ft Collins, all along the ‘front’ range). When they hit the plains – over the main part of the city – they would balloon upwards, upwards, until they burst! Rain wouldn’t drop; it would pelt, then rush – like a firehose – cleaning, clearing, pushing all that grows and a lot that doesn’t ahead of it. Small floods – thankfully not enough to put people out of houses but enough to make you think twice about crossing an intersection whether you were in a car or on foot – were common. We had tons of snow last winter and all the rivers are high with snowmelt, but we’ve had almost no thunder, no pelting rain, no skin-tingling thrilling heart-racing nature-wondering amazement at the power of Our Mother. Damn climate change. Or maybe the monsoons (our affectionate name copped from local Indian peoples) are just late. I hope you enjoy the bounty!
Wasn’t the day of 1000 knitters also your birthday? If that’s the last time you had nice weather, perhaps the sun shone just for you that day because you are extra special.
I live on the south side of your lake, and it is really getting depressing here. Dark and gloomy every day, the sun peeks out for a few minutes, then grey again. And yeah, summer is too short to deal with this for 3 months, then get snow.
The skies have been crazy lately up here too. We haven’t gotten most of the rain you have, just not much of the warm yet.
You know we are going to pay for not liking the weather we get, don’t you. Mother Nature’s tantrum will turn into a sulk and there won’t be a drop of rain for months.
It’s too bad we can’t reapportion the wetness to the areas that really need it to give others a break. Here in Denver, we have threats of rain, clouds, and sometimes even lightning, but for the last week, there has been no rain…only a tease at my house.
However, the cloud photos look like our regular summer sunsets….always beautiful.
I always assume big thunderstorms bring at least the threat of a tornado. It’s nice to know that there are places where that’s not true!
Send the rain here. Please. Pretty please? I’ll trade your thunderstorms for our 33°C any day. I really do think I should move to Canada.
Love the socks! That colour is awesome!
I love thunder/lightening storms. Well, sometimes. But there are those moments when the thunder feels like it’s literally rolling closer and closer as it comes. It’s awesome. Lightning I’m not a fan of, though. It’s pretty cool though.
The button on the sock is a cute addition. Perhaps the need to alter patterns comes from a need to have some control over things?
Dude, you have to get those socks up on ravelry so I can heart them!
I totally am in love with purple. I think I *need* these… I will be stalking…
Tracy who you like 😉
Can we have some of your rain?!?! For the past two days we’ve had nothing but unbelievable thick smoke in the air. We couldn’t see the sky. There are over 800 fires burning in California right now. The sunsets here seem other worldly. Not fun! But tonight I did see a few stars. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
I love the socks and the color. Good for you for stepping out of the box!
WHOM
I’m sorry, I just couldn’t let it go…
😉
Stepping out of your zone — good on ya’, girl!
We Californians would love to have some of your rain to stop a few of our 850 fires! Please feel free to send some down. 🙂
Arg, life is unfair. We’d love your rain and you’d love our summers. We’ve had ten years of drought in Melbourne and we’re desperate for every last drop of the wet stuff. The kids in kindy now sing : “rain, rain, come today, come back again another day…”
Love the socks.
By the way – how many pairs of hand knit socks do you own? I’m serious. I really want to know.
Global wierding.
The second sky photo looks like curdled fire. What kind of rennet does one use, to curdle fire?
The socks are totally adorable.
right now i’m in Iraq. it’s been in the 100’s (F) for about a month. we’ll be more than happy to take your thunderstorms if you can figure out how to send them here!
Spectacular skies in Ohio too. We had a rainbow Sunday evening and a double rainbow Monday morning! Awesome and beyond beautiful!
Enjoy the rain!!!!
In Melbourne we’re in the 11th year of a drought. Our dams are only 29% full. It’s nice not to get drenched all the time, but lugging bucketfuls of water from the shower out to the garden to try and save it is a real drag. And 4 minute showers lost their novelty appeal ages ago….
I actually love thunderstorms-esppecially watching them come in over Lake Michigan but all that rain has caused Michigan’s unoffical state bird-the mosquito-to multiply by droves! Even going out to water flowers results in me running for the porch followed by swarms of the beasts!!
It’s making all of us stay indoors. It’s always something,ism’t it???
Beautiful socks- it’s funny how we may really admire a color in the skein but pick up our “usual” colorway rather than trying a new color. Creatures of Habit.
Pretty socks! Sorry about the crummy weather. That’s one great thing about Colorado – we may not have any oxygen but we have sunshine 300+ days a year!
OMG, How cute are those socks?
Uber cute 😀
If i were an avid sock knitter, I’d try to cast on RIGHT NOW. But alas, I shall live vicariously.
Um, if the pattern were available I’d cast on now. 😀
Beautiful socks, I love the little split cuff with the tiny button to adorn it. So dear, and the color does look great. These are certainly summery socks, because they look like little flowers.
The sky photos are very pretty too.
Warmest wishes,
firefly
We’ve been pummeled with thunderstorms here in NY, as well. Of course, the most spectacular one happened *when*? The other morning at around 3:30. When I was mostly asleep. All I got to see before I conked back off after the thunder woke me up was about two minutes of almost continuous lightning. ::pouts::
And those buttons *are* adorable. ^_^
Lovely socks!
Yeah, global climate change is happening. I feel really sorry for the next couple generations, I think it is going to get much worse pretty quickly here…
Hopefully we can elect a leader here in the US this go around that will make some positive change!
Go Obama!
My husband is attending a conference in Toronto even as I type and has promised to go to Lettuce Knit and ask for something I couldn’t readily get here in the states. He hasn’t said anything about roses or the weather.
Seems like those storms are our lot here east of the Might Mississip – did you happen to catch the dramatic footage some weeks back of a couple retirement homes (probably saved for all their working lives) breaking in half and riding off with Lake Delton, which was leaving its bed and heading for Louisiana? The lake’s gone (turns out it’s manmade, who knew?) but they’re planning to get it back. Well, a new one – the old one is part of the Mississippi cresting somewhere near St Louie. And those socks? I’m speechless.
So THAT’S why Biscotte’s stock has gone down! I’ve been stalking her site for the past week, debating on whether to pick up a skein (or two, or three), confident that “No one knows about this yarn”, and them boom, my beloved skein is GONE!
Luckily, I’ve got Robyn’s sock kit safe and sound on my nightstand.
We are also covered with roses and knee deep in what the National Weather Service calls ‘poor drainage urban flooding.’ I sympathize. My mother’s plane had to fly around the Northeastern US for an hour yesterday, because of a thunderstorm located directly above Logan Airport at exactly the time she was scheduled to land. They had to wait for it to go away.
I ushered for the high school graduation last week, and they got about halfway thru the outdoor ceremony when the thunderclouds galloped up from the south and they herded everyone into the gym and onto the bleachers. Only a few parents got wet, but at least all the first part was in the sun!
Then I biked home – I had my slicker with me and only got wet from the knees down. I don’t mind getting damp as long as there’s yarn and hot tea awaiting me at the other end of the trip.
Could you send us some of your rain, pretty please? We could really use it. It’s way smoky here, also no good for bike riding.
I lived through the same storm here in T-Dot, it was pretty viscous. My patio was covered in white from the hail. I carry an umbrella everywhere these days. Absolutely gorgeous socks, love the color…ciao
ps. just finished reading your latest book, wonderful.
With what seems like perpetual drought and over 800 wildfires currently going, could you send some of those rainstorms our way? We have our backs to the wall and could use some wet.
As much as I’d like to empathize, I’m gonna have to say that I would KILL for a good thunderstorm every now and then. Seriously!
I grew up in Louisiana and Texas where it rains practically every day during the summer. We had those dramatic 15 second showers that appear and then everyone is dying from the heat AND the humidity. Plus, no one really likes hurricanes or tornadoes or the concomitant damage, but there’s something to be said for the lovely sound of rain, or the way the world looks so clean afterwards or the cool breezes that accompany a fresh downpour.
Gosh, I wish it would rain in Berkeley….
I’m not really one for purple, but those socks got to me too. They’re kind of fantastic. Go figure.
The split with the button just make these socks. I could see them in that soft spring green (as opposed to the bright electric spring green) with the tiny flower button in a heart beat.
Is it surprising (or just a sign that I don’t understand the science behind such things) that we had exactlty that sunset here in Boston Massachusetts the same day that you did? I was watching it with a church steeple in the foreground thingking, “if I saw this in a movie I’d be sure it was a painted backdrop”.
Love that Cornflower Blue in the socks! Ah yes, the weather. We’ve been getting that kind of weather as well but before it comes to you.
We’re finally getting some dry weather to dry up all the flooded parts here in southern Wisco & now for the Hot & Humid spell that will come your way shortly.
I love a good thunderstorm & have been known to stand outside watching them roll in. We get what we get.
As Kate’s first grade teacher always said:
“You get what you get and you don’t get upset.”
I had a counter-argument regardless.
Beautiful color.
It just looks like Toronto has stolen Nova Scotian weather – including the age-old Nova Scotian weather forecast of “wait five minutes and the weather will change”. As well as “red sky at night, sailors’ delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning.”
Your sky pictures – although beautiful – show common sights to be seen over the Bay of Fundy (separating Nova Scotia and New Brunswick). The beauty of a lightening storm is multiplied over water – where the far shore is only barely visible through the mist and fog. Or when looking down on the lightening as it strikes in the Annapolis Valley, which is made greener by the rain.
Happy kitting,
Janey
Hey! That’s our weather. Did you come down here without telling me?
Those socks are stunning. That is my favoritist blue in the whole entire world.
You make me want to visit Canada so much! The Canadians I’ve met in this part of the world (Ireland) have all been fabulous ambassadors, but it might be this blog that makes me get off my arse and go.