Friday Mishmash

While we haven't had the terrible weather that the eastern part of the U.S. has experienced this winter, yesterday (really, it started Wednesday night) was bitterly cold thanks to a strong north wind that blew in.  It was so bad (gusting over 25 mph) that we didn't even run on Thursday morning.  I'll run in almost any kind of weather, but this was just too much, even for me.  At least we didn't end up with ice or snow, like other parts of Texas.  I find it funny that Spring is right around the corner - it sure doesn't feel that way.

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Speaking of cold weather, I still can't get over having a dog who doesn't mind going outside in it.  We had a dachshund for about 15 years, and if it was cold, or raining, or even just wet, she would balk at going outside, and when I'd finally get her to go out, she'd pretend to pee and then run back to be let inside.  I miss that dog - she had so much personality, even if she was a pain to deal with when the weather was bad.  Paco, on the other hand, bounds outside no matter what (well, maybe not when there's thunder and lightening, but who can blame him for that?).  Yesterday morning, when it hurt to even open the back door and let the cold air in, he ran outside, did his business, ran the perimeter of the yard for inspection, and blasted back inside like it was no big deal.  Over eight years of this and I'm still amazed!

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My knitting guild does a group project every year - usually it's a mystery knit-along, where we get clues to a pattern each month and knit the item; it's interesting to see everyone's take on the same pattern, just done with different yarn (and skill sets).  This year, we are doing something different.  The theme is "What Do I Want To Be?" - we were to bring a special skein of yarn that we have been holding onto because we just couldn't figure out what to make with it, and let the guild membership decide.  In January, we had a show and tell, pictures were taken of the yarn, and we listed what we were and were not interested in making.  Then our guild president made a thread on Ravelry with our yarn, and we all made suggestions.  We looked at everything at our February meeting, and voted on a project for each member who was participating.  There was a little bit of deal making going on ("I'll vote for this for you if you vote for that for me") - obviously some of us (ahem) weren't quite willing to make some of the suggestions.  In the end, the (heavily-lobbied-for) Diamond Cowl pattern won out for my yarn, so I set to work.  We have until the end of the year to finish, but I've been in a cowl-making mood, so I went ahead with it:

Pattern is Diamond Cowl, yarn is Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in colorway #3122 Mermaid.

You can see how the colors did interesting things...first they did a spiral stripe, then they started to pool toward the bottom of the cowl.  It's weirdly interesting to me, but I'm glad this wasn't a sweater because I don't think I would like how it looks in that case.

Other things I'm working on are another GAP-tastic cowl (only for a short time each day so I don't further stress out my thumb joint with the bulky yarn and big needles), the second of two boot cuffs (using yarn that ended up being too scratchy to be put directly on skin), and I'm trying to get a top-down hat started, but I've had trouble getting the cast-on going. 

Purple boot cuff, gray cowl.

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Have a great weekend - we'll be running tomorrow, as usual.  It will be cold, but the wind should have died down, and that should make for a good run.