Randomness

1. It's cold. Really cold. Like single digits cold. This I have decided is exceedingly cold... and apparently it's only suppose to get worse

2. I have never lived somewhere where and expected precipitin was snow and only snow for months.

3. It snowed yesterday and it wasn't in the forecast. How can the weather people not see that coming? It's snow. SNOW!

4. I have decided that taxi drivers that drive between 11pm and 3am are especially patient in their dealings with both customers and crazy drunks walking on the street.

5. I got to ride on the Christmas Express. Here I am coming back from the library and this rolls up.

6. They gave out free candy canes when we got on board. It made my day.

7. The weather man just came on the news and said this weekend won't be "warm like last weekend". Last weekend it peaked at 32 degrees

8. My hubbs' coworker LOVED the winter roses shawl. She immediately put it on and wore it all day. She is officially knit worthy

9. Is the air always this dry in the winter? Ridiculous.

10. I joined a sock knit along where we will all knit 6 pairs of socks next year. I picked out my yarn and I have the patterns. I'm set to knit! And very excited to be knitting with my Amiras again

11. My hubbs surprised me today by taking me to my favorite store and letting me pick something out. He's my favorite.

12. I made bread and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.

13. I baked cherry tomatoes and garlic in the middle. It was so yummy.

14. Weather channel says it's suppose to snow tomorrow. Great.

FO: Winter Roses

My husband has a coworker who has commented on every hand knit he's worn. Always inquiering to see if I had knit it and then mentioning the yarn, or how pretty the colors are, or lovely the pattern is. My husband relays these messages to me and always add that when ever she comments on a hat or scarf he tells her "You should see my wife's other knits. This is nothing in comparison" (isn't he sweet!)

This same coworker has gone out of her way a few times to help my husband get acclimated to the new team here in Chicago so I thought as a holiday/thank-you-for-all-your-help gift I would knit her a shawl.

I gave my husband the assignment to find out what her favorite color is confident that whatever she she loves I could stash dive and find it in my very :cough: modest :cough: stash

When my husband got home from work I said "so.... what's her favorite color?"

"You'll never guess" he replied

And after going through every color of the rainbow I ended with "Brown?"

"No"

"Black?"

"Nope"

I thought for a second... "WHITE!"

"Yes!" and then sadly said "but you don't have white"

I chuckled as I headed to my stash (wait I meant to say "modest" stash) and came back out with two different options. "I have plenty of white"

He picked his favorite and I started what is usually a lengthy search for a pattern but this time things came together quickly as I found Rosa by Kristen Hanley Cardozo right away. This is one of her newer patterns and after looking at it I knew it would look just fabulous knit up in white. I love that it has some design in the middle but also some stockinet that I could sail through to make up time as I wanted to get this shawl done fairly quickly...

It took me just over a week of knitting and Winter Roses was done. And I found it very appropriate that during most of my knitting it was snowing peacefully outside. As a knitter there isn't a whole lot better than having a good project to work on, a hot cup of coffee, a nice blanket to cuddle up with while it's snowing outside.

Pattern Details:

Pattern: Rosa by Kristen Hanley Cardozo

Needles: Size US4 KnitPicks Zyphers

Yarn: KNitPicks Bare - Merino Wool/Silk Fingering Weight. I had 4 grams left over.

Mods: None needed. This pattern is beautifully written with both charts and written instructions. I would definitely knit this pattern again! LOVELOVELOVE