Minnesota Winter

 Last weekend our neighbors were out on the pond skating around and clearing an ice rink complete with goal nets.  I guess I had no idea it was that easy to skate and play on a pond.

We've seen them playing almost every day and now they have a bench, a fire grill and a little warming hut out there.  Yesterday there was a small boy who could barely walk but he was out there skating with a small hockey stick.

They even have lights for night play! 

Christmas Knitting

Once I finished that impulse scarf, I was able to get back on task with my Christmas knitting.  These are 2 pairs of beaded wrist warmers for my nieces I finished this week.  I had them pick out the yarn and beads when they were here visiting in October.  The yarn is Cascade fingering weight and the beads are Gutermann.  The way our family Christmas is looking, we might not get together until February to celebrate so I have much more time than I thought.  Somehow we can never find a weekend that works for everyone.  Oh well, more time to get gifts done!

These are a pair of gloves I knit for my mother in law.  The yarn is Patons Classic Wool and the pattern is from a Patons Next Steps booklet.  I knit a dark gray pair of these a few weeks ago for Dave because we don't know what happened to his gloves since we moved.  I'd never made gloves before and they really were quite simple and WARM.  This is a worsted weight yarn so there is a little bulk on your hands with these and the cuffs are nice and long and stick way down into your sleeves.  I'm going to quick knock out a brown pair for my father in law before Christmas next week and then I think I need to make myself a pair.  I've been knitting mittens forever and I like and appreciate mittens but I'm getting kind of spoiled by these gloves.  What a luxury being able to move your fingers individually while warm!  I love that they're worsted weight because I can use up all kinds of leftovers with a project like this.

Christmas is coming...

 Christmas is marching ever closer and I have legitimate gifts that need to be knitted in a timely manner and yet I have been dinking around wasting time knitting a scarf for no one in particular.  I keep seeing this Jared Scarf all over the interweb and have wanted to make one for some time.

It calls for 2 balls of Noro Silk Garden which is a variegated yarn.  I took my parents out to lunch a couple weeks ago when they were here visiting and then we stopped into the yarn shop next door and I hurriedly picked two different colorways of Noro Kureyon.  The Kureyon worked just fine as far as gauge goes and is warm and comfortable next to the skin but I wonder if the Silk Garden would feel even better.  I will remember that for the next one because I have a feeling I'll be making another one of these.  The colors are kind of deceiving when they're wound up in the store and when I wound them for knitting I wasn't sure I wanted to combine them for the scarf.  They look quite dissonant as colors go.

Once I started knitting, I couldn't stop because the colors were randomly pairing up so nicely.  I don't think you could pick a bad color combination with this yarn if you tried because it just works it's own magic. 

The temperature is currently butt cold here and we got our first few inches of snow this week and I wore this scarf today.  Lopi and I were watching from the front window as Dave made his maiden voyage on the driveway with our new snow blower and I snapped this picture of her.  She is just so cute and she almost matches our woodwork.  That electric candelabra was my birthday present from Dave this year and I just LOVE it!