the good news
The red Lobster Pot cashmere lace shawl is finished! I loved working on it and the finished product exceeds my highest expectations! soft, warm - and long. After blocking, it's 10.5" x 76"! I'm not tall so I usually stop short of recommended lengths, but I wanted this one to wrap around my shoulders comfortably enough to not require a shawl pin. Success! It was a satisfying project and I feel sort of lost now that it's finished. Not that I don't have ten more projects to finish, but this one was special. I'll be wrapping it around my neck next time I go out since Taos has been hit with snow and subzero temperatures. My car was encased in icicles this morning! I'm writing now because we're in a state of emergency and have been asked to not use extraneous electricity during the 5-8 pm peak times (which is when I usually do my posting).
now the bad news
Apparently much of New Mexico gets its natural gas from west Texas where they are experiencing "rolling blackouts" that have effectively shut off our state's supply. Space heaters are sold out everywhere, cell phone service is overloaded and we're being asked to use our phones for emergencies only. Shelters have been set up in schools and other buildings in town that have propane or electric heat. Volunteers are at the ready to help anyone who needs it. Firewood sellers are driving all over the place delivering enough wood to keep stoves and fireplaces going during the night when temps are expected to dip to -6 degrees! (it was -16 this morning!). People are helping each other out. We have supplemental heat that runs on electricity and a wood stove in Ron's studio. I've always chided him on his penchant for "layers" of home heating, but now I'm extremely grateful. The gas stove is useless so I drove around earlier and found that Walmart was the only food store open. It's not a super Walmart (we don't want one here) but I was able to get some canned goods and bread and other non-cooking staples to get us through. Since then a couple of supermarkets have reopened. We called an older friend who has no heat and she's planning to sleep here tonight. Our next door neighbors called us (we're older to them) and offered to shelter us in their propane-heated house. Hopefully, the electricity won't go off and we'll be fine. It may be cold but our hearts were warmed by that phone call. So I'm going to sign off for now - I'll tell you about the lovely green yarn tomorrow - because it's getting late and the sun is awfully low on the horizon.
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