Quick knit bit

Here is the cowl that I knit as a Christmas gift for my mother:

The pattern is Shawl Collared Cowl by Alana Dakos. You can see how the cowl is worn by looking at the cowl's pattern page on her website. I first saw the cowl in Soper Creek Yarn, the yarn store in Ontario that my friend Geri took me to visit and it really did not pique my interest; I don't think it was displayed to its best advantage. It wasn't until  Geri knit the pattern and modeled the cowl on her blog that I saw just how pretty it is, and decided it would be a lovely gift for my mother.

I chose a beautiful all purpose charcoal grey colorway of Mista Alpaca Chunky, which is 100% Alpaca and 100% divine. I had a devil of a time getting gauge and ended up achieving it with US 4 needles - five needle sizes smaller than the pattern suggested. The pattern was interesting to knit and is a good example of those times when just reading a pattern confuses me but when I get into the actual knitting, it all makes sense.

After I completed her cowl, I knit another buttoned neckwarmer just like the one I knit for Aidan's teacher. I discovered when I finished Mr. A's neckwarmer that I had used just under half of the skein of yarn, and decided that rather than put away the yarn and likely never use it, I would quickly knit up another and see if anyone wanted it:

Not long after I posted the "free to a good home" notice on Facebook, my lovely Mary asked for it. We ended up working out a trade - the cowl in exchange for a gorgeous set of votive candles and tray. I still think she received the short end of the stick on that trade. Speaking of Mary, she is a very talented artist and (shameless plug) you can see a small portion of her work in her Etsy shop.

As for knitting, I am selfishly knitting some items for me - stay tuned.

Snowshoe hike

Due to last winter's lack of snow, we did not get to snowshoe at all last year; we were, in a word, disappointed. After the foot or so that we received on Thursday night plus the few inches more since, we were excited to see that there is now enough snow on the ground to go for a snowshoe hike. Yay!

We drove out to Beaver Lake Nature Center this morning and chose the Southern Exposure trail, which is about 2.3 miles in length. It wasn't long before we got our snowshoe "legs" back and started moving quickly and easily down the trail:

The snow was falling and the temperature was cold but not biting - perfect conditions.

James and Aidan found a little shelter made by a tree. Here is the photo taken before they shook the snow-laden branches:

And here is the "while they were shaking the snow-laden branches" photo:

Avalanche!