Back to our knitting
Since I finished up my last Christmas presents, I felt like I was able to start the new year with a clean slate. I'm still working on my mitered square afghan, but I was able to start two new projects last weekend while I was resting up. The first is a scarf for the Red Scarf Project:
It's the His/Hers Reversible Scarf from Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman. I took a class with Melissa Leapman at Yarnover last year and she told us about this book then, so I've been waiting for it to come out for a while. I really like it. I adore that cable sampler afghan on the cover. There's a great explanation of how to knit and design with cables at the beginning. The middle section is patterns - objects for the home, women's sweaters and gifts. The last half of the book is a cable stitch pattern dictionary. Lots and lots of cables you can use to substitute in the patterns or design your own patterns.
This scarf would be a perfect project for someone to knit as their first try at cabling. It's very easy. It was also perfect for the Red Scarf Project because it is unisex - says so right in the name! It is also reversible, which is cool for a scarf. See:
Looks the same on the front and the back! I really like it and I'm going to have to keep on knitting to get it finished in time to send in. The Yarnery is also collecting red scarves for the project if you are local to the Twin Cities.
I am knitting this scarf with RYC Cashsoft DK and can I say I LOVE this yarn. It is such a pleasure to knit with! It is soft and cushy and a lovely color with just a little sheen. I want to knit everything with this yarn. It will be very hard for me to part with this lovely scarf when I finish it. If I finish by the end of the month....
Speaking of yarn, I used my Christmas money from dad to buy the Posh Yarns Sock of the Month club. I got my first skein this week:
I'm sort of "eh" on this one. The colors are just a little more pastel than my tastes. I like bright and dark colors. The colors aren't true in that photo. They're more pastel - because it's once again so gray out, the flash went off and brightened everything up. If those were the true colors, I'd like the skein a little more. We'll see what next month brings.
I have resumed my social life again this week as well. Tuesday night is always my night to see Red and the rest of his family. Usually I bring along my nephew Michael, but I had to do a home visit Tuesday night, so I didn't have time to pick up Michael. Or change clothes. So I was wearing a suit (and pumps) and I ended up playing basketball with Red and Ben. And I wasn't even wearing my Easy Spirit shoes! (I'm not the only one old enough to remember that commercial, right?) I was wearing a pair of pumps with kitten heels, though, so I managed to do all right. I also pushed them around the gym on little scooters for a while. Eventually I tired out, though, and decided it was Bill's turn to push. The funniest thing was that Red said I was really good at playing basketball. I did play ball in junior high, but I was terrible. And I haven't improved in the 20-some years since then. The baskets were just low enough that I could have dunked the ball, so I did have mad skills in those conditions!
Wednesday night I had dinner with some friends at a new to me restaurant - Spoonriver. This is a lovely restaurant in downtown Minneapolis - across from the new Guthrie Theater. They serve a lot of vegetarian options and I think everything is organic. They have a nice cocktail menu and I had an incredibly delicious (though very expensive) Cosmopolitan martini. For dinner, I had a cup of a chicken and rice soup, a green salad with a fabulous wasabi goat-cheese stuff apricot in it and a chicken and Kaseri cheese quesadilla. It was all really delicious. My friends had a mock duck dinner and really loved it as well. I would recommend this as an elegant spot to bring out of town guests - it really shows off the local food and the beauty of the city. It would also be a nice spot for a special night out of dinner and a play at the Guthrie.
It's the His/Hers Reversible Scarf from Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman. I took a class with Melissa Leapman at Yarnover last year and she told us about this book then, so I've been waiting for it to come out for a while. I really like it. I adore that cable sampler afghan on the cover. There's a great explanation of how to knit and design with cables at the beginning. The middle section is patterns - objects for the home, women's sweaters and gifts. The last half of the book is a cable stitch pattern dictionary. Lots and lots of cables you can use to substitute in the patterns or design your own patterns.
This scarf would be a perfect project for someone to knit as their first try at cabling. It's very easy. It was also perfect for the Red Scarf Project because it is unisex - says so right in the name! It is also reversible, which is cool for a scarf. See:
Looks the same on the front and the back! I really like it and I'm going to have to keep on knitting to get it finished in time to send in. The Yarnery is also collecting red scarves for the project if you are local to the Twin Cities.
I am knitting this scarf with RYC Cashsoft DK and can I say I LOVE this yarn. It is such a pleasure to knit with! It is soft and cushy and a lovely color with just a little sheen. I want to knit everything with this yarn. It will be very hard for me to part with this lovely scarf when I finish it. If I finish by the end of the month....
Speaking of yarn, I used my Christmas money from dad to buy the Posh Yarns Sock of the Month club. I got my first skein this week:
I'm sort of "eh" on this one. The colors are just a little more pastel than my tastes. I like bright and dark colors. The colors aren't true in that photo. They're more pastel - because it's once again so gray out, the flash went off and brightened everything up. If those were the true colors, I'd like the skein a little more. We'll see what next month brings.
I have resumed my social life again this week as well. Tuesday night is always my night to see Red and the rest of his family. Usually I bring along my nephew Michael, but I had to do a home visit Tuesday night, so I didn't have time to pick up Michael. Or change clothes. So I was wearing a suit (and pumps) and I ended up playing basketball with Red and Ben. And I wasn't even wearing my Easy Spirit shoes! (I'm not the only one old enough to remember that commercial, right?) I was wearing a pair of pumps with kitten heels, though, so I managed to do all right. I also pushed them around the gym on little scooters for a while. Eventually I tired out, though, and decided it was Bill's turn to push. The funniest thing was that Red said I was really good at playing basketball. I did play ball in junior high, but I was terrible. And I haven't improved in the 20-some years since then. The baskets were just low enough that I could have dunked the ball, so I did have mad skills in those conditions!
Wednesday night I had dinner with some friends at a new to me restaurant - Spoonriver. This is a lovely restaurant in downtown Minneapolis - across from the new Guthrie Theater. They serve a lot of vegetarian options and I think everything is organic. They have a nice cocktail menu and I had an incredibly delicious (though very expensive) Cosmopolitan martini. For dinner, I had a cup of a chicken and rice soup, a green salad with a fabulous wasabi goat-cheese stuff apricot in it and a chicken and Kaseri cheese quesadilla. It was all really delicious. My friends had a mock duck dinner and really loved it as well. I would recommend this as an elegant spot to bring out of town guests - it really shows off the local food and the beauty of the city. It would also be a nice spot for a special night out of dinner and a play at the Guthrie.
rdladd@arnan.com
