Trudging On

We had a brief reprieve, but the Arctic air is back with a vengeance, and seems to be here to stay for a while. I'm still commuting on my bicycle, but I'm keeping the errands to a minimum and hurrying back to the bike rack before the handlebars and saddle cool off too much. No kidding -- I just compared the forecast for Fairbanks, Alaska and Chicago, and they were almost the same!

Of course it has to be this freakishly cold when my BIL from Texas gets stuck at O'Hare for 24 hours. His oldest has Northwestern University on her short list, so after a hearty breakfast on Friday morning, we headed up to Evanston (in the car!) so that he could take a look around. I'm really glad we did, because he liked the campus more than he expected. When my niece and her momma did the campus tour last Fall, he was on a business trip in South America. I told him Chicago was usually 30 degrees warmer in January, but it's probably tough for him to picture it that way.

Meanwhile, David has been making his own treks back and forth between Chicago and Texas, to take care of his brother Johnny. Johnny wants to be home as much as possible while he's battling cancer and the side effects of treatment, so David is doing all he can to make that possible. Johnny's struggle puts things in perspective for me. The toughest thing I have to do these days is ride my bike in the snow to yoga class...

Lots of cold and time home alone with Libby means I've been knitting. With wool. :) My first FO of 2008 is a hat for my mom. It's super soft and warm, and will coordinate with her dark green coat. Click to make bigger or see other shots on flickr.


Pattern: "Three Tams" on Knitty.

Materials: 1/2 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Couscous and Noro Silk Garden in #246.

Modifications: I combined Tam A's first 10 rows with the body of Tam C. Omitted 6 stitches from the ribbing, and broke the Noro to control the color changes. It fits well and didn't give me hat head.

Ha! A New P.R.!

Yesterday morning I decided to layer up for the trudge over the train station, beginning with the zipoff pants (so not sexy) I can wear over my regular clothes, and the next the thing you know I was dressed to ride my bike to work. So I rode.

I told myself that if it was too miserable getting to work I didn't have to ride home. According to the bank clock on the corner, it was 3 F /-16 C, so I rode fast and kept my hands in my windproof pogies the whole time, except for once when I signaled a left turn and once when I waved to the other crazy person I saw riding a bicycle. I think people are still off work this week because the traffic was really light and I made good time to the Loop. And it worked! My hands stayed warm and I never got that horrid pins and needles, stabbing, burning, ouch, ouch ouch, kill me now feeling when I got inside.


So I've got a new Personal Record of winter riding. Baaaaaahahahahaha!

Riding home at 17 F/ -8 C wasn't much of a challenge. :-)