merry winter solstice

My heart broke when I had to leave my grandma in Mississippi with my grandpa and coming back to real post-Christmas life is traumatizing so I am knitting The Most Comforting Garter Lace Scarf for my g-ma.

Here pattern is:

Cast on 22.
First row and every odd row: Knit.
Even Rows: K2Tog, K2Tog, y/o, k, y/o, k, y/o, k, y/o, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, y/o, k, y/o, k, y/o, k, y/o, K2tog, K2tog.

So basically feather and fan. Great for knitting when you're hungover on bourbonized eggnog: fluffy, lacy, and just barely engaging enough to keep you going until lunch. However, this pattern won't keep you from joining your new yarn to the tail.



Time for colada.

Southern Cooking 101

If it is sweet, it gets cool whip. If not, it gets mayo.

To Florida, my home, my love and my people on responsible fiber choices

Cotton is not an acceptable fiber to wear when it is 32f in the mornings. Please replace your seven cotton sweatshirts (you look ridiculous) with animal fiber. Wool is the gift from the sheep. Down is the birds' gift. Dressing for winter weather doesn't mean wearing every long sleeve cotton thing you own at one time, it means switching fibers and layering to lessen bulk. It means pampering your extremities with cashmere and mohair. I know its new, I know its cold, I know you're going to have to wear clothes and all and we aren't used to having to do that around here but I promise. You don't have to be cold, baby.

Wool.

Socks.

Hats.

PLEASE put a good warm hat on, Florida. The season has just begun.

Cold weather can do funny things to a knitter

It is still regularly 85f in the afternoons here in Central Florida although today may be the turning point. I spent Thanksgiving break at Horse Pens 40 in northern Alabama with three cold people that I love, a skein of supersaver we got at Walmart, around 100 grams of unknit wool of different ilks and colors, and a small camping knit-kit (US7&9 DPNS, yarn scissors and needle). What happened that weekend was a massive amount of knitting and a knew knitter. Let me try to show you.




First I needed a hat and some fingerless mitts I could possibly climb in. HP40 is full of sticky slopers so I ended up needing my entire hand and rarely climbed in them. That hat got felted down a bit when I got home.



We got freezing rain Thanksgiving night and the requests poured in. I recruited help and taught a loom-knitter how to knit with needles. Here she is posing with a Hiya Hiya bamboo DPN on Lookout Point. I love this picture.



Her first project! A garter square sewn up the sides so she can have fingerless mitts, too, without having to fuss with a thumb gusset. Since she had her hands covered I could worry about her toes. The poor thing only brought cotton socks. So I doubled up all my wool scraps:



Then a headband:



And something fun on the long ride home with a matching locksock (not pictured)



The new knitter also got a ruffly drop stitch hat from the rest of the super saver. After that I put down my needles and slept because we were all wearing something I knit on our heads and my hands needed rest after climbing and knitting for 5 days straight.


Boulders are suitable runways. More on that dress later.