Knit gifts

Although I am the world's slowest knitter, I have managed to finish a few gifts this summer. First, I wanted to make a little something for my lovely cousin Pam and settled on a scarf. I wanted something that was feminine and lacy, but still warm and functional. I found the Cat's Paw scarf, which according to the designer is an old Shetland pattern. I don't really see a cat's paw, just a very pretty patttern. It was interesting enough to keep my attention, but not so difficult that I couldn’t talk and knit at the same time.

The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Mernio, which looks and feels so luxuriant. It is 51% silk, 49% Merino wool, and 100% luscious. The color is so rich, it seems to shimmer.

Note: The light spots in the photo are from sunlight, not any flaw in the yarn.

In the past few weeks, I have knit not one but two minion hats. When we moved here, the very first friends I made were with a family that waited at the same school bus stop. Back in the fall of 2010, I gave little Julien a candy corn hat that I knit and I found out earlier in the summer that he is still wearing the hat, although it is stretched out and barely fits him anymore. That boy is certainly knitworthy! I told him I would knit him another hat that fits him now, and he asked for a minion hat. A one-eyed minion hat, if you please. When Julien’s older sister found out that I was knitting a minion hat for him, she asked if I could knit one for her, too - a two eyed minion.

Assemble the minions!

Quick kick in the knitting mojo

I have been in a knitting slump for quite a while now. It is not that I don't want to knit or don't enjoy it anymore, it just seems that I don't make time to knit or when I do make time to knit, it does not hold my interest. There is a pair of fingerless mitts that have been on the needles for months that I have no idea why I am ignoring, and I started a scarf back in January that is very pretty but is lace so my eyes get tired very quickly.

But the straw that broke this knitter's back was a hat that I had to frog two weeks ago. It is a beautiful slouchy hat with an outrageous single cable and I chose to knit it from a deep purple yarn that has been in my stash for years. Gorgeous pattern, gorgeous yarn. I was almost done with the hat - on the decrease rounds for the crown - when I noticed a glaringly obvious error that I had made about an inch prior. (Well, not glaringly obvious when I made it but certainly many rows later.) This was in addition to two other obvious errors that I had made in other places on the hat but had decided I could accept. I could not, however, accept three obvious errors; I knew that I would always see those mistakes and never wear the hat. And so I frogged it, and put the yarn and pattern into timeout.

I decided that I needed a quick and easy project to be a knitting success. I had a skein of Malabrigo Merino Worsted on hand and found a free pattern for a very easy hat. Cast on, start knitting round and round and round, increase a little, knit some more, decrease and done. Yay!

 
Neither the style of the hat nor the colorway of the yarn suit me, so I will give the hat to charity. Whether I like it or not is really irrelevant; the important point is that I completed a project and I did a good job of knitting it.

Envy II

It seems fitting that I am sharing a finished knitting project on this sixth anniversary of my learning to knit. Last week I completed The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief:

I used the yarn that I received from Susanna in the Top Chef Masters pool, which is Skein DK 100% superwash Merino. The colorway is Envy, a lovely turquoisy-aqua color that my photographic skills are inadequate to capture accurately:

With such gorgeous colors, I knew I wanted a project with clean lines that would highlight the colors, not the pattern. The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief had been in my "to knit" queue for quite some time and I thought it would be a good match. It is a triangular scarf/kerchief that is mainly plain knit with occasional rows of eyelets. It was a simple knit but not at all boring.

Ta-da! I am very pleased with the end result:

I photographed the kerchief, last Friday, which was January 17 - note that there was no snow on the patio. Here was the same location just twenty-four hours later:

November knit bits

I am pleased to say that I accomplished my November knitting goal of completing the two holiday gifts I making this year. The first item is a gift for Aidan's teacher, a simple buttoned neckwarmer:

My hope is that Mr. A will keep the scarf at school to quickly put on for recess and stay warm while keeping the students from killing each other. The pattern is Fourteen by John Brinegar and once I found an online video that showed me how to knit into the row below, it was a fun and easy knit. I used Baby Alpaca Grande Tweed by Plymouth Yarn and oh, baby, is it soft.

I also finished the other item on my list but I have no picture to share because a) it is still blocking, and b) there is always the off chance that the person for whom it is a gift will read this post and I don't want to spill the beans. Stay tuned for a post-holiday sharing of the photo and description.

I also quickly knit up a cute little star ornament from leftover yarn in my stash:

It is for a knitting friend who recently experienced an unfortunate life-altering event and a group of people is sending her these little crafted hugs to put on her tree.

As for the other goal of maintaining my walking schedule of three times a week...well, not such a success there. Between wet weather, holiday guests and winter laziness, I did get out several times to walk but not as much as my goal. While I am going to try and remain active outdoors as much as weather permits, the only goal I am going to set for December is to make it to New Year's Eve with my sanity intact. And for those who know me well, you know just how much of a challenge that can be.

Selfish knits

Every knitter has at least one story about lovingly knitting an item for a person who then did not appreciate the item. When a person is revealed to be not knitworthy, it is all we can do to keep from shouting in our best Soup Nazi voice: "No knits for you!" While we all have many people in our lives who are knitworthy, the one person I know who will always appreciate what I knit is me, and knitting for ourselves is known as selfish knitting.

The last four projects I have completed have all selfishly been for me. The first was the scarflet I finished in September - see Wrapping Up. The second item was a quick little ballband dishcloth that I had seen in my friend Geri's copy of Mason-Dixon Knitting. I already had cotton yarn in my stash so when we got home from our visit, I knit up a Halloween-inspired dishcloth:

The third item to be completed was a Sunday Market Shawl, which I knit out of Malabrigo:

The colorway is Roanoke and it is a lovely, rich chestnut brown. I wanted a quick, mindless project to get me back into the knitting groove and this shawl kind of did the trick. Because the majority of the pattern is simple stockinette, it is perfect for watching college football games. The openwork of the shawl is achieved by intentionally dropping a stitch on the last row, and then "running" the dropped stitch. While an unintentionally dropped stitch always runs quickly, it was actually a time-consuming and laborious task to run all the rows in this shawl.

As for it being a shawl…it would have blocked wider had I used a stretchier bind off, but it would not have blocked longer. If I ever want to knit this pattern again and actually use it for a shawl, I would cast one more stitches, use more yarn and find the stretchiest possible bind off. In the meantime, it is a pretty scarf.

The last project was my first pair of fingerless mitts. For someone like me whose hands rarely get cold and just need some protection from the wind, fingerless mitts are perfect:

I used the Sirdar Escape yarn that I purchased at Soper Creek Yarn while visiting Geri over Thanksgiving weekend. It is a wool and acrylic blend, so it is easy care and will wear well. Although I was concerned with making the thumb and thumb gusset, they turned out fine. The yarn is variegated so the mitts do not "match" each other but that is okay with me, since I am not a matchy-matchy kind of person.

My streak of selfish knitting is now at an end as I turn my attention to holiday knits.

Taking the month off

There are people in Europe who take nearly the entire month of August off for their holiday/vacation. At times, it must seem that the only people working are those who provide service to those on holiday. While I can't spend the month of August on vacation or doing nothing, I am going to take a break from goals and resolutions.

While I am doing very well on my portion control and have almost completely stopped snacking between meals, I did not do well in July on the walking/exercising portion of my goals. With Aidan out of school, out of town trips, yada yada yada, I can't seem to stick to any kind of regular walking schedule. So rather than set a goal that I cannot achieve, I am just going to take the month off and get back to business in September (aka The Most Wonderful Time of the Year). It does not mean that I won't do any walking or exercising, it simply means that I won't worry about it; if it happens, it happens and if it doesn't, oh well.

I did have a knitting goal for July, which I did achieve: I finished knitting the lace scarf that had been in progress for many months:

The yarn, Lhasa Wilderness from Bijou Basin Ranch, is a blend of 75% Yak down and 25% Bamboo, and the color is a rich, chocolate brown. It is ever so soft and has a lovely drape to it.

The pattern came free with the skein of yarn, and the pattern states the scarf needs “just a single skein of the luxurious Lhasa Wilderness yarn.” The photo showed a short scarf but I didn’t realize just how short it would be…it wasn’t until I was about 75% complete that I realized the photo on the pattern did not match the instructions in the pattern! The photos show a scarf with two lace repeats and the pattern details three lace repeats. Grrr. I did not want to frog the entire scarf and start over using two repeats, so I used as much of the yarn as I could before knitting the border and binding off. I blocked the scarf until it screamed for mercy and managed to get it to 40” in length. It is very pretty, but just a bit on the short side for my preference. If it is also too short for my friend who will receive it as a birthday gift, I will knit her a different, longer scarf.

So so

Honestly, June was a mixed bag in regards to meeting my goals. I did much better about not having snacking between meals and also did a better job of limiting my portions at meals...well, except for any meals that involved gravy. But with the flurry of end of school activities, school getting out and James being gone for five days, I did not do so well on the walking: I only walked ten times this month, far short of the three times per week goal.

On to July. Same three health related goals, and I have to work harder on getting the walking done in the mornings even with Aidan home from school. At least with the weather being warmer, I eat less, so the snacking and portion control should be fairly easy to achieve.

Unfortunately, I have lost my knitting mojo in the last few weeks. Once the flurry of getting gifts completed was over, I fell out of like with knitting. Usually I kick start my knitting passion with a new project but this time I am balancing it against my desire to finish a project that has been in progress for months.I bought a skein of Lhasa Wilderness yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch just to try out knitting with Yak down (the yarn is 75% Yak down and 25% bamboo). It is hard to imagine that such a soft fiber comes from such a large, fierce looking animal! I do like knitting with it and I like the pattern, so I can't really explain why the project has languished; it might be due to the fact that there was no deadline for completing it.

So I am now setting a deadline for completion: July 31. I am quite sure that I will give the scarf to a friend as a birthday gift and having it complete before the event would be wonderful. And until the scarf is complete, I am not casting on another project - that is my line in the sand to get this project done.

Gifts

For the first time in quite a while, I completed two knitting projects just a few days apart. Both projects are gifts, so I was under a bit of a deadline.

The first item is a baby hat:

Our neighbors across the street, Dave and Lauren, had their first baby last week. Although we don't know them well, when we found out they were having a baby, we wanted to give them a little gift. They knew they were having a girl but I absolutely refused to make a pink hat, both because I am tired of knitting pink items (see below) and because pink should not be the only color a girl wears.

Riley's hat is knit from Knit Picks Swish Worsted, which is a 100% Merino superwash wool, meaning that it is machine washable. I did not want anything that had to be handled delicately; new parents have enough on their hands! The color turned out to be a bit more autumnal than I anticipated, but since the hat has great stretch and turned out a bit bigger than I thought a newborn size would be, she should be able to wear it in the fall. We will pair the hat with our favorite children's music CD, Catch the Moon.

The second item is an end of year present for Aidan's teacher, Ms. Sheridan, who is an amazing teacher. Although she hardly looks old enough to drive, she is a pro - she firmly but gently commands the attention of her students and leads them to do their best work. She is, by far, the best teacher I have seen in Aidan’s school career. When I gave Aidan the choice of knitting her a present or buying one, he asked me to please knit something for her. How could I refuse?

I chose an infinity scarf, which can be worn in one long loop:

Or doubled around the neck:

OF COURSE her favorite color is pink; it seems that every other project I knit as a gift is pink and just about every teacher Aidan has ever had has preferred pink. Since it had to be pink, I went with a vibrant pink, and the yarn is decadently luscious: Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk, a blend of 50% alpaca and 50% silk. Ooh-la-la, it feels soft and luxurious, and hopefully will help Ms. Sheridan keep warm during our rather brisk winters.

A hit and two misses

I will be blunt (there's a surprise, since I am normally so enigmatic and hard to read) - I did not do particularly well with my April goals. Those goals were to exercise three times per week, not indulge in snacks and cut back on food portions. The good news is that I did walk three times a week, sometimes more; the bad news is that I fell off the "no snacking" band wagon and that I ate just as much as ever. I can blame my failure on spring break, a birthday, out of town guests, yada yada yada but the fact remains that I did not meet two of my three goals.

Enough self-loathing and on to May. I will keep the same three goals as those in April, although I will state "walk three times a week" because walking really is my preferred form of exercise. And I will do my utmost to meet the other two goals, so that the combination of good cardio and fewer calories will do my body, my health and my mental well being a whole lotta good.

I do have one knitting goal to add to the mix. Although school is not out for seven more weeks (or as I usually say "only seven more weeks of school?"), I want to be ahead of the game and have the end of year gift for Aidan's teacher complete by the end of May. I am knitting her an infinity scarf in a simple knit four rows, purl four rows pattern so it should not be difficult to finish it soon.

Although I am the only one really keeping score in regards to my monthly resolutions, stating them out loud on my blog and then reporting my results is the best way for me to monitor my progress and make real changes in my life.

Quick knits

One of my knitting friends describes herself as a "dreadfully slow" knitter, which also describes me. My tortoise-like knitting speed is one of the reasons that I have thus far avoided large projects, such as garments, and I always appreciate a quick, almost instant gratification project.

I recently completed two such projects. The first is a very pink, very frothy scarf:




I made it out of Katia Triana Lux, which is mesh ruffle yarn. It is not knit like standard yarn but is knit only through an opening at one edge, thereby creating the ruffles. Although a simple garter stitch scarf, the yarn can be quite a pain to knit and woe to you if you drop a stitch - it is almost impossible to find!

I bought the yarn while on vacation in the Adirondacks at a store called Close Knit. There were several of the scarves on display and the friendly ladies in the shop were me how to work with the yarn. I intend to give it to my young friend Kennedy who, like many girls, adores the color pink. It is a cute scarf, but it will be a while before I work with that yarn again.

Yesterday (yes, yesterday - start to finish in one day) I made this fun little ornament:


It was knit with Patons Kroy Socks yarn and some #6 beads. The hardest part of the whole project was getting the beads onto the yarn (great fun when wearing bifocals) and getting the first few rows started. After that, it was a fun, quick project that I completed while watching the Temple-Penn State football game. Better that game than last night's Ohio State-Miami disaster; I would have thrown the entire project at the television in exasperation.

I do not knit socks but I adore the great colors and textures of sock yarn, so I seek out non-sock projects that use it. As soon as my eyes feel up to the challenge, I am going to string more beads (100 to be exact) on a different yarn and knit another ornament.

A celebration of life

Despite grey skies, yesterday morning was beautiful. The Central New York Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure took place at the New York State Fairgrounds and it was, as usual, a time of joy tinged with sadness. I was a volunteer this year, and had the great privilege of working in the survivors tent.

According to The Post-Standard, there were 8,000 registrants and 2,000 supporters, sponsors and volunteers, and $800,000 was raised. It is difficult to explain to someone who has never attended a Race for the Cure just how amazing the event is. Yes, it is a fundraiser but it is more: it's a time for education, a time for remembrance, and, most importantly for me, a time to celebrate life.

Here are images that remain in my memory from yesterday:

- The young woman whose bald head was wrapped in a Ford Warriors in Pink scarf, walking hand-in-hand with her husband, whose head was shaved, perhaps in solidarity;

- The woman wearing a custom sweatshirt with "In Memory" photos on the front, and "In Honor Of" photos on the back;

- The man with two small children, one in a stroller, who told me that his wife is a recent survivor but was too weak to attend;

- The teenage boys wearing pink t-shirts, totally unconcerned and unembarrassed that they were wearing a color that many people deem as a "girl" color;

- The man wearing a grey survivor t-shirt, a good reminder that breast cancer is not just a women's disease; and,

- The Girl Scouts who had made 600 "I am the Cure" pins for survivors. They stood at the entrance to the tent for the entire morning, tirelessly handing out the pins.

It was my first time to volunteer but it will not be my last. Thank you to friends Betty and Kelli, and to my dear cousin Pam for donating to the event.

Merry weather

February is a brutal month and our weather the first eight days of the month has been particularly lousy. If you have not already heard, Syracuse is on track to set a new winter snowfall record. Yippee ki-yay.

Today has been sunny, bright and beautiful - cold, yes, but seeing the sun lifts the spirits. My spirits also received a lift from a surprise gift of knitting goodies from my dear friend Kelli. What a box! It arrived from Knit Picks with the words "Happy February! Love from Kelli" on the label, and the box was packed with awesomeness (sorry, but my glee makes me channel my inner fifteen year old):


Kelli gave me a ball winder, a Namaste buddy case in a rich eggplant color, some flexible stitch markers, tapestry needles and three skeins of Andean Silk yarn in a pretty dusty blue green color. Andean Silk yarn is a luxurious blend of 55% Super Fine Alpaca, 23% Silk and 22% Merino Wool; I knit a scarf for my Uncle Vernon out of Andean Silk and it was gorgeous.

What riches! And what a lovely surprise from a wonderful friend. And whether she deliberately chose the colorway because of the name, I don't know, but look closely:


Merryweather!

Knitting bits

In the spring, I made a gorgeous Sweet Eleanor cabled hat and donated it to the auction for The Thacher School, which my friend Kelli's daughter attends. Kelli attended the auction and bid on the hat, but did not win it. I decided that I would knit a hat from the same pattern for Kelli's birthday in October.

I chose Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend and my oh my, the 70% Merino and 30% silk blend feels fabulous. Kelli likes earth tones and I think the colorway integrated beautifully many different earthy colors:


Here is a close-up of the crown, which has an interesting pattern that almost resembles a flower, or a star:


Kelli received the hat the day before her birthday and sent me a happy thank you text message. She lives in South Carolina, so it may be a while before she has the need for a hat.

This week I finished a quick little knit for me. I bought the yarn and pattern at the Old Forge Hardware and it was my first time to knit with Noro Silk Garden. Honestly, I was not impressed. It seemed very rough for yarn that is 45% silk (along with 45% Mohair and 10% wool) but it did soften a bit after it was soaked in Eucalan. It is more a decorative scarf, as in I will wear it indoors as an accessory rather than to keep warm outside:

I like the scarf just fine, but I definitely have the need to knit Noro out of my system.

Note: I used my neighbor Cindy's fence to photograph it - thank you, Cindy!

Autumn knits

When Aidan and I visited Mom in Knoxville, we had the pleasure of visiting The Yarn Haven. Not only is it a beautiful store with lots of yummy yarn, there are friendly and knowledgeable people to help and answer questions. I bought a hank of Malabrigo Twist, which is bulky weight 100% baby merino, in the Caribeno colorway. It is beautiful both to see and touch, and the store used the Malabrigo Twist for a store sample of the very pattern I had in mind, The Amanda Hat. The yarn and the pattern go together very nicely, and it was fun to knit.

I don't like to wear hats but recognize that with our winter weather, I need to wear them from time to time. My version of The Amanda Hat is gorgeous and I don't think I will mind wearing it one bit:


While at The Yarn Haven, Mom picked out some yarn for me to knit her a scarf. She bought a cute leopard print fleece jacket for fall and wanted a scarf to wear with it. Despite her usual objection to wearing orange, the colors of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, she picked out Jil Eaton Minnow Merino in a burnt orange colorway called Orangini. Before she came to visit us last month, I knit several inches of two different patterns and let her decide if she liked one of them. She chose The Morning Snack Scarf, which is an easy but pretty pattern. It knit up quickly and, if it ever stops raining, I will block it and send to her:


While looking through one of my yarn bins, I came across the yarn I used to knit candy corn hats last year. I decided that I needed to make another one for my young friend Julien, who lives around the corner from us. As always, the hat is cute but the recipient is even cuter:

Quick knit update

My mother is visiting for a few days, so this will be a very quick knit update. I finished this scarf last evening:


A woman in the Handmade RAK group asked for help in making scarves for a friend of hers, who works with terminally ill patients in California. The pattern is called Montego Bay and I made it with South West Trading Company Bamboo - yes, bamboo. It is very dense but yet light and silky. The pattern was a bit monotonous, but I like the drape of the scarf. And I like that it may bring some comfort to someone who is ill.

I also finished my second calorimetry; this one for my friend Heidi, who lives in Pittsburgh:


It is knit from the ever-luscious Malabrigo Merino yarn, in a gorgeous kettle-dyed purple colorway. I found the button at Jo-Ann when Mom and I were wandering around there today, and I think it looks quite cute. I will soon send it to Heidi, and she will have it in more than enough time before the cold winds start to blow.

A scarf for a friend's birthday is in progress, and I just cast on for a hat for Aidan, which looks like a piece of candy corn!

Windy Indy calorimetry

Look what I finished yesterday! It is called a calorimetry and it is essentially a combination of a head scarf and a hat, which allows people with long hair to keep their heads warm while still wearing their hair in a ponytail or just falling naturally without crushing their 'do. It fastens under the hair in the back with a button.

Even though I do not have long hair, I have been wanting to make one of these for quite a while (and even though I do not have long hair, I wear the calorimetry made for me by my friend Jennifer, because it does an awesome job of keeping my ears warm). I used the Malabrigo worsted yarn I had leftover from making the hat for my friend Laurel, and the color looks great with the pattern.

And look at this great button!


When I was at Sugarfoot Yarns a few weeks ago to buy some SWTC Bamboo for a scarf, I saw this button and knew that I needed this button for the calorimetry. It looks fabulous against that color.

So for whom is this lovely item? My friend Jane, who lives in Indianapolis where it can get quite cold and very windy. She does not know that I made this for her and I probably won't send it to her until fall (just who needs a wool head scarf in July?), so on the off chance that she reads this post, she will find out about it. That is okay by me; a surprise is surprise no matter when it occurs.

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern and would happily make it again. I just need to find a recipient - any volunteers?

So not knitworthy

On my favorite knitting website, Ravelry (called "MyKnittingSpace" by a friend's teen daughter), there are often very animated discussions of people who are not "knitworthy" - people who do not appreciate a handcrafted gift. I have now encountered the first person in my life who is not knitworthy: my hair stylist, to whom I gave the Party Lace scarf that I knit as part of the Ravelympics back in August.

I gave her that scarf for Christmas, at the last appointment before the holidays. Jennifer was in a hideously bad mood that morning and barely even noticed that I handed her a gift, much less open it. Friday was my first appointment since Christmas, so I expected some mention and received...a grand total of nada. She did not say one word about it. So I learned that not only is she not knitworthy, she is also not giftworthy at all. After all, if she does not have the good manners to say "thank you" for a gift, espeically a handcrafted gift, then she does not merit anything more than payment for her services.

In other, happier, knitting news, I recently finished a few more projects. Here is a silk blend cowl that I knit for a friend who shall remain nameless, since I have not yet sent it to her and she may just read this post:


I finished a third felted knitting basket, this one for me:


Another item for me - because I am knitworthy - is this wool/cashmere blend neck warmer:


Here is a close-up of the very cool ceramic buttons that I purchased from Summers Studio Etc. on Etsy:


And, lucky me, it actually got cold enough this week for me to wear my lovely new neck warmer!

Holiday knitting

I (almost) finished three holiday knitting projects this week. Aidan asked me early last week to please make fuzzy scarves for his teacher and the parapro. I panicked just a bit but how could I say no? He did, after all, say "please"... besides, they are a simple knit stitch on size 11 needles, so I thought I had time to finish before the last day of school on 18 December.

I got the yarn the next day and set to work. Mrs. D'Andrea's scarf knit it very quickly, in less than four days:


Then I started Mrs. Malcolm's scarf. I was already a bit tired of fun fur by then and the simplicity, but I kept at it and finished last night:


Today I also worked on assembling the felted bird house that will be a Christmas gift for my mother. I still have not added the perch - James will help me - so that is why I said that I am "almost" finished. The bird house turned out cute enough, but I am not especially happy with it overall:


I like that I can make gifts for people and I finished in plenty of time!

Hugs in the mail

Last week I gave the United States Postal Service some deliveries. I finished one of my "practice" scarves, this one for my Uncle Vernon and sent it off along with the scarf that I finished some time ago for his daughter, my cousin Jill. I made Vernon's scarf out of a lovely alpaca/silk blend in a yummy cinnamon color. I think it is manly without being boring:


It felt good to send my creations off to the recipients in time for cold weather. Jill sent a thank you email message to me today, saying that both scarves are beautiful. Yippee!

I also sent the three Special Olympics scarves I made off to Boise, Idaho. Although I did not like the yarn (and it was the reason I did make more than three), it was still an honor and a thrill to make something that a Special Olympics athlete will wear in February. I will check to see if the opening ceremonies will be televised, because I want to see that sea of blue and white, and know that three of those scarves are mine!

The Tournament of Roses Parade scarf

My mother will be going out to Pasadena the end of the year with her friend/neighbor, Barbara, to see the Tournament of Roses parade. How fun! Mom and I are huge fans of the Tournament of Roses parade and watch every minute of the parade every year. In fact, Aidan knows it as one of the only two times during the year that we eat in the living room while watching television, the only other time being the Super Bowl.

I wanted to make Mom a fun little scarf to wear and since it won't be bitterly cold (hopefully) out there, I chose a short lacy scarf knit in a laceweight alpaca/silk blend. James suggested the color since it reminded him of a red rose, which is, of course, one of the symbols of the parade.

It was both a fast and easy knit, but it certainly does not photograph well!



There is more than enough yarn leftover as well as time, so I plan to knit another scarf for her traveling companion.