Monday morning

I woke up this morning to find this at the foot of the bed:



A nice beginning for a "long weekend" free day. This has been an extremely stressful weekend so it's nice to be reminded that life can be good and calm and simple.

I am so special

Blue Moon Fiber Arts has named a colorway after me! Check it out here. I think I need to buy a skein or two.

A breathtaking work of ultimate intricacy

In preparation for yet another snow storm, I stopped by the yarn store - a lovely, chaotic place where it's difficult to find something if you are looking for it, but you find the most amazing things if you just wander around. I think they do good business before storms, as I'm not the only one who was ready to curl up with a good knit. This time not only did I get some yarn, but I also wound it into a ball, cast on, knit and... cast off! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you:



My very first garter stitch scarf! Technically, it's a cowl. The yarn is one skein Malabrigo Aquarella in a colorway called Maldonado. The colors glow together, and through some miracle of nature the scarf came out just the right width. I am also thrilled with my decreases - I was running out of yarn and still had a bit of neck to go around, so I decreased from 21 stitches to 13 and voila! It fits around my face perfectly and definitely keeps out the snow.

It's already been put to good use as I took the dog on a romp through the fresh snow. It's so exhilarating to be the first one(s) to walk through a field of untouched snow! You gotta love wool at times like these. I played with the dog in the snow, shoveled the stairs, walked for almost an hour and my hands, head and neck were still warm and dry.



They are announcing a very cold week for the upcoming week - I'm glad I have a superthick scarf and I got some hiking in yesterday and today!

So... about that vest.

I have only one knitting resolution for 2009:



Enough said.