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? 🙂
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.
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.
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!
Last week I spent a couple of days figuring out how to knit tiny hearts. I’ll share those with you next time.
Until then, enjoy! Thanks for stopping by, my friends! ❤ ❤ ❤
Cindy Rice Designs 
I really like how your white cowl is coming along. Very pretty. All of your projects look great. Now that tomorrow will be February, I believe that our spring is coming early. At least here in CA. Perhaps the ground hog will also agree on the 2nd.
Hello, Joy. I couldn’t seem to put that cowl down. I worked on it til finished, around noon today. It’s currently blocking, and I’m hoping I like it. The stitch seems quite frilly, and that’s not really my style. We’ll see… It was fun regardless.
That is so, so nice your spring will be coming along soon. I don’t think ours ever does—even when the winter has been mild, February will throw surprises at us. This year, I am ready for snow in April; I can feel it. Today, it is too cold for a walk, negative wind chill, too cold for me I’m afraid! 😦
Thanks, Joy. I hope you’re having a great day. ❤
That’s such pretty yarn! I’ve returned to knitting after a very long absence and so much has changed. I have several skeins of self-striping yarn to turn into scarves, I’d better get a move on, Spring will be here before I have a chance to wear them!
Hello, Jane. That’s great you’re getting back into knitting. I’ve become pretty obsessed with it lately. I also stopped knitting for at least a couple of decades from when I learned. These days it is so easy to learn all of the techniques on the internet. I originally learned from a printed leaflet! That’s probably why I stopped, too confusing.
I have a feeling winter temps will be here for awhile, unfortunately. If we’re lucky though, you’ll have a brand new scarf wardrobe for next year. Happy knitting!
❤
Thanks, Jane.