31 | January | 2018 | Cindy Rice Designs

Wow and yay!

I don’t know about you, but January is typically a hard month for me. The lack of daylight, after holiday blues, cold temps that keep from my daily walks—it all adds up to make January my least favorite month.

However, this year was easier for me—I had a weekend reprieve from the cold in Florida, and my daughter was home for the first half of the month. So, for me, it’s just been these last two weeks… and I got through them. I’ll take any and all the help for January to roll along on the positive side.

By the way, how many weeks until spring? 🙂

spikelets cowl 563

I think I showed you the skein of merino yarn I dyed. You can see that post here. Well, that skein is all knit up in a cowl. I used the Spikelets Cowl pattern by Victoria Groger. It’s a free pattern on Ravelry. I thought those cables looked daunting, but wanted to give it a try. There were a couple of rows that caused me to pause and make sure I was doing things correctly, but with the included chart as a backup, I figured it out. I love it and have worn this warm and cozy cowl numerous times already!

I can’t remember her specified cast on or bind off in the pattern. I used the lace cast on and the sewn bind off for maximum stretchiness. I wanted to make sure it would slip on okay because no, I didn’t swatch. And, I only went down one needle size for the ribbing, instead of the specified two.

spikelets cowl 558

The second sock for my second pair of socks is coming along nicely. I find knitting socks to be very relaxing, and the perfect thing to do when I am tired and don’t want to think about anything too taxing.

socks 639

I’ve started another cowl. This one is basic “will go with anything” white. I’m using Galileo sport weight from Knit Picks. This cowl is simply a 3 by 1 rib that melts into the Eyelet Mock Cable Rib stitch. My new Hiya Hiya Sharps make this stitch easy to execute. I LOVE these needles!

eyelet mock cable cowl 638