Oh that Delaney

This is what the field behind our house looks like on my morning walks.  We have had some rain so there's some melting but also freezing so YakTrax are absolutely necessary.  It's still better than going to a gym and walking on a treadmill.  Weather is uneven in Central Oregon.  The elevation is higher at the southern end and gets lower as it ends in the Columbia River.  Often we'll have snow but Matt and Julia in Redmond 30 minutes north of us will get none.

And indeed this is what it looked like in Redmond when I drove up last week to our guild meeting, and my first meeting as guild president. To say I found being president a bit daunting would be an understatement.  Yesterday was my first Board meeting which required me to collect agenda items and prepare an agenda.  It's a big board and several people congratulated me for reining in the meeting at two hours.  I was appalled that it went so long and they were thrilled that it didn't go longer.  I have a lot to learn.

I stopped into our LYS for some fiber therapy on my way home.  I had sold a shuttle for $50 which was burning a hole in my pocket.  This is Malabrigos Rios and it is $16 well spent.  It's already on needles to be another Honey Cowl.

This is my first Honey Cowl, also in Malabrigos Rios, and it's like wearing a hug around my neck.  I love it so much I knitted it in the Bergamo yarn I showed in my last post.

The instructions have a couple of different sizes.  My first one was knitted on 160 stitches and this one on 110 stitches.  The difference is this scrunches up like a turtleneck and the other one wraps twice.

I wore it all day yesterday.  My friend Herme just told me that she has converted a couple of scarves into cowls following Sarah Jackson's advice - simply sew the ends together but twist it once to make a mobius.  Hermi had a neck injury long before I did and she always wears something warm around her neck.  I've identified two scarves for starters so I can give my few cowls a needed break.

I know I'm doing a lot of knitting lately, but there's just not much natural light this time of year and knitting doesn't need it.  I have been meticulous about using my SAD light each morning, and after fits and starts in the beginning, I even get up early to allow that 30 minutes if I have to leave for a morning meeting.  I finished this hat for Delaney from leftover Cascade 220 that I've had for years.  I didn't realize how much damage the moths had done when we lived in Reno.  There are a lot of Russian joins in this hat - good practice!

 Delaney loves to watch the birds at the feeders.  I took this picture two weeks ago but she's starting to crawl now and I'm not sure she'll continue to be this content and quiet again.

She's napping now which is why I have a minute to write this post.  She played with this rug for 15-20 minutes this morning and I was thrilled because it's safe and I didn't have to worry about what she was getting into.  It's just beginning :-)

Knitterbugs

I belong to a group of people who have become friends over knitting.  They began knitting together at a yarn store that closed so moved to a restaurant called Jackson's Corner, JC for short, and were nicknamed Knitterbugs by the staff.  I had been invited to come by a mutual friend from Reno and kept dragging my feet.  How fun could that be, sitting around in a group knitting together?? 

I dragged my feet for a couple of years and finally went a couple of times about 18 months ago and I was hooked.  These people have become very dear to me.  They get together several times a week but I'm only free on Tuesday afternoons after Smart (Start making a reader today, volunteer reading to kinders). 

Yesterday was my second Holiday Yarn Exchange, and on top of the brown-bag pirate exchange, several members brought "deeply discounted" yarns to sell.  This is what I came home with, I who claim to have no stash now have the beginnings of one. 

This is my exchange booty, two fingering-weight skeins in a Fire colorway from Alexander's Crafts in Silverton, Oregon.  Debra suggested that I think about getting a Kid Haze mohair in a complimentary color and hold two strands together to tone down the "fire.".

These two skeins are hand-dyed here in Bend from Knitting Nomad.  I'll probably hold these together in a project.  My cost - $10.00.

This wildly dyed Little Knits Bergamo yarn is superwash Merino.  I've swatched it and already cast on for a Red Rasta Cowl, with adjustments for the difference in my yarn and the pattern's yarn - $5.00.

I don't know what I'll do with this skein but it was a gift from Debra.  It was the last of her skein's on the table and she said take it - I'm not taking it home.  I'll find a use for it.

Adele knows I knit prayer shawls so gave me these five skeins of superwash Merino. 

I've already cast on for the next one. I'm using the River Fog pattern again but it's really easy and good for mindless knitting or quiet morning knitting with prayers.  I'm still struggling with being tired so this was the perfect way to spend this day.  The rest of the week is really busy and sometimes I forget to act like the retired person that I am and sit a spell. I entered all the yarns in my Ravelry "stash" and now it's time to read.