Friday, February 06, 2015

It's a new month

Time is flying! I can't believe it's February already! I am rather disappointed in the lack of snow so far this winter and the cold temperatures are wearing on me. I have not gotten out much to walk due to the cold weather and/or high winds.

On the knitting front, I blocked the shawl collared cowl and it feels wonderful against the skin.


 I still need to select buttons and sew them on, though. I finished the Iron Bridge sock and wore the pair the other day. :-). Perfect fit and lovely yarn and pattern. I am now working on the mate to the Sole Train. I have 4 of 6 pattern repeats for the leg knitted. Both of my fellow passengers on the Canadian Crazy Train ride chose purple for my socks but such different shades of purple! I like them a lot and I am getting to knit with new to me yarns. I am very glad I signed up for this KAL/swap. :-)

I thought I would add a couple of photos of the Low Tide Cardigan that I knitted for my friend's little girl. I have no idea why one photo is upside down ...


I have resumed knitting on my Capall Dubh cardigan. Angela and I will be knitting this together. I love the yarn and really hope that my swatch didn't lie to me and that the sweater will fit properly. The sweater, Sole Train and the Alzheimer's blanket are my current WIPs.

Spinning news - I finished spinning some sunset rolags made for me in a swap last year. I spent some time spinning some black merino top to ply with the rolag singles and hope to start a stash of fingering weight yarns to use for a color work project. I plan to buy a commercial yarn to use for the main yarn and then various hand spun yarns for the contrasting colors. I intend to include stripes and an actual colorwork pattern but haven't chosen the specific pattern yet. This will be a hat or mitts.

I am accomplishing my goal of spinning nearly every day for at least 15 minutes per day. Karen is also spinning and we share spinning news/progress by email. Melanie has gotten in on the spinning again, too, so I have lots of company and encouragement. I am enjoying spinning again and I feel good that I am using some of my huge fiber stash.

Work is going well. I am transitioning to the local hospital which cuts down on driving time and expense. This month I will be working more days per week locally than in Baltimore. I have more hours per day to spend on my own plans rather than commuting and that alone is a huge benefit.

When we had some snow the other day I snapped some photos of the birds enjoying the buffet we put out for them.  :-)







Happy Friday all.

1 comment:

EGunn said...

I really like the cowl...seems like it would be a really nice extra layer. That female cardinal looks grateful for the food!