Hi, Knitters,
Well, we were struck by a flash flood in Madison and surrounding areas last week. I've never experienced anything like it before and it is not fun. What happened is that an enormous amount of rain hit our area in a short period of time and the streets and drainage systems, ponds and lakes could not handle it. Streets have been and still are closed days later. People are drying out their basements and taking furniture, flooring and belongings out to the curbs.
We were lucky. We had some trouble in part of our basement but we didn't lose anything and we handled the water swiftly and efficiently. Our street is on a hill and my daughter and I watched from an upstairs window as it turned into a raging river in front of us. It was incredible. I really feel for those that have had difficulty, injury, damage and even loss. Water is a force to be reckoned with.
The photo above is of one of my favorite walking and running paths. The line of bushes in the water is where the path is supposed to go, it veers to the right when it is dry. The photo below shows the exposed path on a regular day.
You can see the difference of the exact same spot before the flooding, where the same path veers to the right. Almost all of the greenery and flowers are now under water. Things will take a while to go back to normal but I am just thankful that most are okay.
I hope you are all doing okay and well and that you haven't had any crazy weather issues in your areas. It seems that there are a lot of natural disasters out there right now. If you are going through one of these situations I hope that you are okay.
photo credit: Alana Dakos
On a much lighter note, I want to share with you a new hat design by the talented Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting fame. She is a lovely designer who I have admired and mentioned many times throughout the years.
The new hat is called Mountainside and it has a textured botanical pattern that looks like pine trees on the side of a mountain, thus the name. The hat uses Barrett Wool Co.'s Wisconsin Woolen Spun yarn in Fingering Weight. We have created beautiful little kits to go along with the Mountainside hat.
photo credit: Alana Dakos
I love the fit of the hat, the elegant design and the simplicity of it all. Alana has a real knack for this type of design detail. She has just the right touch.
The Mountainside Hat Kit comes with enough yarn, wound in a ready-to-use cake, to make one hat following Alana's pattern, a downloadable Ravelry pattern code (the printed pattern is not included), a stitch marker tin filled with 20 assorted color markers, a Snap-On Pom-Pom in your color of choice, and our newest offering (see below).
We have four lovely colors still available for the Mountainside Hat Kit.
I made an embroidery wall hanging of our logo to put up in our office. We loved it so much that we photographed it and got it made into a coaster. I love these coasters so much. They have a handmade touch and they are useful, unlike something like a postcard.
I hope if you get an order, that you'll enjoy using the coaster with my embroidery to rest your mug while you are knitting. I like that idea.
Anyway, I am knitting my own Mountainside hat in the Oats colorway with a faux-fox snap on pom that's included in the kit. I've already casted on and am getting ready to start the stitch pattern section now. I'd love it if you'd join me.
Have a great Sunday and week ahead and stay dry and safe!
xo ~ susan
