Hugs an' Kisses

This, my friends, is justification to learn how to cable without a cable needle. I came, I cabled, I conquered.

For those of you who stop by just to see what the sky looked like in my neck of the woods on Saturday, here it is. The moon was lovely.

Saturday Sky - 20 January

Saturday's sky from the parking lot, courtesy of my early evening grocery run.

Saturday Sky - a few days late

Yes, I know it's Monday. Day late and a dollar short, this week. This lovely sky courtesy of a local park on Sunday. We went out for a picnic and some roller blading/scootering/walking. I was doing the walking, though it was more of a two steps, stop and encourage the boys on their new scooters, two more steps sort of walk.



We're all down with the creeping crud this week. I'm ready for it to be gone now, please.

Through the haze of my cold, I decided that it would be a good idea to take advantage of the warm weather and our lack of appointments (due to said colds) by doing my first dyeing on some cotton/lycra yarn I've had lying about for a while. Said yarn is now a tangled mess in my kitchen; half in a ball and half on the back of a chair. Maybe I should have waited for my head to clear first. I'll let you know how it goes.

Saturday Sky - 6 January

The weather felt like spring today.

Did the first bit of my 100 miles by April 1. 1.5 miles down, 98.5 miles to go.

Happy Saturday, all.

Branching Out

Remember the lowly scarf that tripped me up in December? I belted it out in record time, and had it blocked and wrapped in time for Christmas (whew!) Of course, it was at the expense of finishing another gift. C'est la vie.

This gift made me smile while I knit - so much the better for knitting it twice, I guess. Mom taught me to knit when I was quite young. She knits, increases and decreases with the best of them, and can cable to her heart's content. She shies away from lace and colorwork, though, so I made her something she'd never make for herself.

Here's the end of the beastie before and after blocking:


Here's a truer representation of the color, though it's more of a royal purple than this:


The lovely lady in the photo below is my Mom. I haven't taken the time to explain a blog, let alone a knitting blog, to her yet. I should do that. In the meantime, isn't she gorgeous in her new scarf?



Details for my "what did I do last year" self:

Started:	12 December
Finished:	23 December
Pattern:	Branching Out by Susan Lawrence
Yarn:	Debbie Bliss Cathay (50% cotton, 35% viscose, 15% silk). Color 12012, 2 skeins (100m / 50g per skein). Lovely, soft yarn.
Needles:	Clover bamboo, size 8
Notes:	This was a great beginning lace pattern; I'd knit it again. Dimensions pre-blocking: 47" x 5.25". After blocking: 51" x 6". I might have gotten more out of it with blocking wires - the yarn could take more stretch, but my cotton thread and sewing pins weren't up to it.