Stuck (and Then Not)

I got stuck this weekend.

The first instance was in confusion I had over a new "combination" type heel in that sock pattern I am test knitting. Even though I have learned a few different types of methods for creating a heel on a sock, I have never done a combination type. So, a bit of a learning curve there. (But one which will be very satisfying to figure out and will most likely prove very helpful in solving my previous issues with wrap & turn short rows and their fit!)

That led to me getting literally stuck. In the snow. With my van.

In order to clear my head, get some fresh air and a bit of exercise, we decided to see if we could hunt up a few local caches on Saturday since it was such a nice day. We hopped in the van and my DH said, "Ok, the one thing I DON'T want to do is find our down any snow covered roads we shouldn't be on."

"No problem," said I, "I don't want to do that either."

We tried to find a couple caches near downtown and came up short.

We drove a few miles north of town and stopped at the county park where several caches are located. Nada.

Went to the other side of the park for one which was marked "easy" only to discover that entrance was closed and not plowed.

Frustrated, I said "let's go find the one my friends put out near the welcome to town sign. I know we'll have some luck there."

We drove the distance, got out, hunted around the sign and through the trees and voila! There it was! We got excited thinking that our luck was changing. We decided to go to the park/golf course along the river and hunt down the 3 or 4 caches there.

No luck. No luck. No luck. We drove to the final coordinates and started down the snowy road. About 50 yards down the way I said, "Does this road seem plowed?" DH responds, "I'm not sure....maybe...not..." FLUMP!!

The front wheels twisted funny and we were stuck. I mean good and stuck. Stuck like I can't remember ever being stuck in snow. And by this time we were a good 100 to 125 yards down the snowy trail from the paved (and plowed!) street.

After trying to rock it on our own and moving, at best 10 feet, we called our kids to come help us, "Bring two shovels and the bag of sand out of the garage. And whatever you do, don't pull down the lane behind us! Park up on the plowed street and put on your flashers."

Another half and hour later, they arrived. As we worked and worked at moving the vehicle a few feet at a time (while feeling fairly desperate about how far there was left to go), two men in a 4-wheel drive came to the rescue. The had a tow chain and pulled us out in fairly short order.

I thanked them profusely for rescuing a dumb blonde. To which the owner of the 4-wheel drive simply replied, "Lady, you gotta stay outta sh** like that!"

Needless to say, we were done caching for the weekend.

I decided that I really needed a project which would give me back my confidence/mojo. So I did a test knit of some mittens for a gal during the Big Game.

What do you think?


Close-up view:


The surprise is that these mittens make it easy to use your electronics such as texting or i-Pod!


They were quick to knit and I like the slits for access which make them uber-user friendly. DD took them to wear today. (Good thing I grabbed photos first!)

So, I think now that I'm no longer stuck. In fact, I think I got my mojo back.

Happy Knitting!