So much for 1-3 inches of snow on Hood Canal with the advisory expiring at 1pm today. It is now after 2pm, we have 4+ inches of new snow, and there is no sign that it’s stopping soon. This morning before it started up again the roads were clear and even our driveway was in good shape.

A light dusting on Sunday, January 14.

The big storm arrived in the early morning hours of January 18. The horses are absolutely full of it now that they’ve gotten over being spooky about the change in their environment.

Unsure of the exact snow total at this time. I’d guess around 5 inches, but will update this post after I’ve measured it. Tiny, icy flakes continue to fall.

One of my goals a few years back was to learn how to do stranded knitting. Back then I probably would have referred to this as Fair Isle, but now I know that ‘stranded’ is the generic term while Fair Isle refers specifically to the traditional colorwork designs of the Shetland Isles.

This year, instead of setting the goal and thinking I’d get to it sometime during the year I figured I’d do it right away. As soon as I finished my secret test knitting project (to be revealed at the beginning of March) I cast on for the Norwegian Star Earflap Hat.

The method I’m practicing is the one where you hold one yarn in each hand. I normally throw and now I am learning how to pick. Ultimately I think this is a good skill to have. Really, it’s been a painless process to learn (at least with worsted weight) and I don’t know why I put it off for so long. I certainly wouldn’t want to start a Fair Isle sweater tomorrow, but I am excited to do knit some other stranded projects.

There is one lesson I learned on my first hat – it really is important to go up a needle size for the colorwork section. My floats were nice and loose, but the thickness of two yarns made that part of the hat tighter than the solid sections.

My last project of 2011 came off the needles on December 30th, was immediately blocked, and gifted on December 31st. I did manage to squeeze in a few minutes for photos before it was given away.

This is a great shawl pattern for using a single skein of sock yarn. I highly recommend it.

Pattern: Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante
Yarn: Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in colorway Juniper, 346 yards.
Needles: US 6 (4 mm) circulars
Notes: Just as I made my first Traveling Woman, “I followed the pattern until I finished Chart B, then I added 6 8 or 10 more rows. I love this style of edging and I wanted to use up a bit more of the yarn.”

Happy New Year! We had a glorious day here with sunshine and a high temp of 50 degrees. That doesn’t happen very often on January 1st. I took full advantage of it – working both horses, picking up manure, and picking up rocks. All of those tasks would happen rain or shine, but it sure was nice to have an unexpected warm and sunny day.

I wasn’t sure if I knit enough projects to even bother with a yearly recap. I was pleasantly surprised though, to see that I knit 16 items (even if a couple of them were exceedingly easy). Here they are:

16 total projects:
- 2 pairs of socks
- 1 pair of fingerless mitts/wristwarmers
- 4 scarves
- 4 shawlettes
- 1 shawl (a 2nd shawl is SO close to being done)
- 2 baby hats
- 1 adult hat
- 1 silly project (cat bed)

for a total of 5,679 yards.

I said last year, “I am well aware I won’t be knitting quite as much as in 2010.” Well, that would certainly be true – much time was given to going to school and bringing the horses home. The blog has been somewhat neglected as well.

All in all I’m quite happy with what I accomplished knitting wise. I’m also enjoying going to school and I’m thrilled to have my horses at home. I’d say it was a good year!

This was last week’s shawl (Ene’s Scarf):

and then today I wore Ulmus:

Besides wearing shawls, I am knitting away on another super secret shawl project, taking care of the horses, and not even thinking about Christmas (part of my no stress holiday plan).

Finally I can reveal the large shawl that I test knit over the summer and fall! The MacBeth Shawl is the December shipment of the Shakespeare in Lace Club. It is currently only available to club members, but will be available to anyone in March of next year.

Pattern: MacBeth Shawl by Anne Podlesak
Yarn: Wooly Wonka Fibers Euphrosyne Lace in colorway Scottish Heather, 1250 yards.
Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) circulars
Notes: This is only my second square shawl which is surprising since I like this construction method so much. The finished product is an enormous piece of the most gorgeous fabric! Folded in half into a triangle it is REALLY warm and cozy.

I don’t wear my shawls very often. But I am wearing this shawl today and not only is it staying in place nicely, but it is keeping me just as warm as if I had worn a vest or sweater.

Hopefully with this confession I can break out of my rut and WEAR MY SHAWLS more often! I’m just not good at accessorizing or wearing fussy things so it will take lots of practice before it becomes a regular habit.

(Maybe if I take more self portraits I’ll get better at that too.)

Hey look, I actually knit something!

Pattern: Laodice by Amy Duncan
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in colorway Peacock
Needles: US 6 (4.00 mm) circulars
Notes: Knit per pattern as large as I could make it with a single skein of yarn. Despite how simple this is, the pattern kept mentally tripping me up because the patterning is done on the wrong side rows.

Glad to have it finished – it’s good to have found some knitting time again.

We’ve been preparing for the darkness and rain of Winter. The tractor has been a huge help. Gravel got delivered for around the barn, Blondie’s stall floor got re-done and mats cut to fit, some slopes around the house and barn got re-cut to better direct the rain away from the buildings, and part of the pasture got re-seeded. There’s always more to do around a horse property though.

The horses are preparing for Winter too with thicker coats. Blondie’s is already pretty thick, but Zi’s lagging behind. She is losing more hair now though which is a sign that Winter hair is pushing the Summer hair out.