i say this with the full understanding that with the way my life works, we will be back into the 70’s with no snow for christmas this year.
however, with temps about 10 degrees under where they should be and wind chills driving even lower, and an estimated 16 inches of lake effect forecast by tomorrow morning, we’re probably going to be seeing a white christmas this year.
one of the strangest things about the city of buffalo is how…weird the general attitude towards snow is. when i was growing up, everyone would say, it’s not so bad here. it could be buffalo. buffalo’s the place that gets all the snow.
for some backstory that may or may not be relevant, i was actually born in newfoundland and my mom says that snow is in my blood. my parents were both stationed on a lend-lease base and i was born in a blizzard at the end of march (a snow bound fire sign. i think it explains a lot). i was raised at the halfway point between utica and cooperstown (think baseball hall of fame), which is something like the third worst area of the state for snow. i then did my bachelor’s at oswego- as in, the colbert report’s prime example in 2007 as to why global warming DOESN’T exist. (that’s a joke, by the way. apparently i’m no good at humor.)
what i’m driving at is that i’m fairly familar with snow. buffalo in fact has let me done for the past two winters for what people around here seem to consider ‘bad weather’. the past two winters have been fairly mild, with the notable exception of the day that the University at Buffalo decided it was unnecessary to plow and left me snowed in my apartment all day. now that we’re getting what is starting to reach snowfall levels that i would consider ‘bad’ the entire city is in a panic. it leaves me bewildered, because this is the type of stuff that oswego deals with all winter…but buffalo is the snow capital of the state?
anyway.
the major issue facing me on a day to day basis right now is the fact that the bus stop that i use to get to work every day is roughly a mile, uphill, in a suburb that seems to think of sidewalks as being a luxury item and shoveling is a gift to society, not something that is mandated by the town. i actually do fairly well temperature-wise when mid lets me walk instead of dropping me off. i do actually wear layers now, including my boot socks (these poor socks get washed on an almost daily basis now) and tights.
my boot socks do have a flaw though, in that they’re not nearly tall enough. i have really heavy, thick calves which means that ‘normal’ knee high/mid calf patterns aren’t going to cut it (see: the whole issue with the boot socks and my self esteem).
which all boils down to me using all the orphaned skeins of sock yarn and drafting out a proto-pattern for tall socks for my winter commute.
Horrific Knits 