Warm enough?

Smile?  No, just a self-portrait.  The cowl is finished, and it's toasty-thick and perfect to wear with my sweater.

This is the pattern that goes with the cuffs that I finished a week ago.  The cuffs have come in handy...like on Sunday when the furnace/heating expired at church.  The 55ºF sanctuary wasn't very kind to my cold fingers, nor was it to the organ pipes and piano.  Our first hymn was sung in two keys:  The piano in one, and the organ a half step lower.  It was painful for some of us...  I put on my cuffs.  And no one complained about wearing choir robes!

Pattern:  Carex Cowl by Stephannie Tallent from Sunset Cat Designs

Yarn:  Pastaza by Cascade Yarns
Aran/10 ply, 50% Llama, 50% Wool, 132 yds/100 grams

pickingthelasttomatoes

To Do Tuesday

What's on the needles?
Lives on the sofa in the living room and waits for TV time:

Lovely 10% possum fur

 Lives in a little bag that I carry out of the house for down time away from home:

Moebius Cowl

Slippers for me, and a right boring project.  Lives at my desk to knit while listening to NPR or "Days...":

MY slippers

The recently FO Baby Bonnet.  I plan to make one "preemie size" cap for the local hospital every month.

More knitting from the cruise (2)

Another project I worked on:
2.  Gift Cowl:  The mindless knitting that I brought along was an easy cowl.  It "was" to be a gift to my friend in Auckland, so the deadline was... October 15. No problem... it was finished well before that, and I carried it around in my bag that day.  When I got back to the ship, I still had it in my bag... grrr.  Now that I have it home and plan to send it to her, I'm not so happy with the size.  Of course, a cowl can be pinned or folded to any size, but I think I'd like it to be a little tighter.  So, here's my FO before being re-knitted.  Ravelry Link

Pattern: Easy Lace Cowl by Kim Guzman from Creative Knitting, January 2010

 First stop in French Polynesia:  Moorea.  Very dramatic island...

Can't resist showing it off, complete with white foamy reef on the right.

How does it count as knitting, if I'm going to frog it?

Summer Knitting

Remember last week when I listed all of my "Startitis" projects?  I showed such restraint on Sunday... I bought yarn 3 years ago from a vendor at a summer festival.  I think it's the most beautiful colorway of blues with a hint of green, and it's one of those things that I couldn't bear to knit up for fear that I would waste it on something.

 view Celinas-Mor's handmade in the hills, Laurenceville, PA

Sorry about the over-exposed picture...

It's this summer's yarn crawl that inspired me to think beyond the 90-100º temps and lust after a yummy cowl to go with my favorite jacket...  and I thought of all the yarn I passed by recently and knew that I already had the perfect yarn.

I pulled it out last week, wound a ball, and then...  I put a few parameters on it.  

I've been knitting on a pair of socks since the beginning of July.  It's a 12 States pair of socks.  I began in NY.  Took it to MA, NH, ME, VT, IL, NM, CO, UT, ID, MT, and WY and finally it was sitting on my sofa in NM again, with little more than a toe to knit.

Here's one of the tours, with fudge in the background.

I snatched it up, 
watched Speed of Life:

And I was ready to cast on in the morning.  
I decided on Cat Bordhi's Moebius Cowl, and I was finished by evening!

It was late... and I couldn't resist getting my wool jacket out for a shot!