Happy New Year! We survived another New Year's Eve and it is a beautiful, clear, sunny day. It was so windy last night that it felt like invisible monster was hitting the house with great big invisible pillows. I thought we'd wake up and find trees down but found only run away trash cans. I think it might be a problem for the Mummers today. Some of their costumes have large, feathered backpieces that catch the wind and would make it really hard to march.

You know, I've always said I was married to a good man. Well, I want to show you how good. 30 years ago (or thereabouts), he was in the Navy. Being the good girlfriend I was, I made him cookies and crocheted him a scarf. Now, we were young and he had given me a poem that said, "You are yellow, I am blue. Together we make green. Green is my favorite color" (Sappy, I know but we were teen agers). So, I made him a yellow, blue and green scarf. Bright, primary colors with fringe. Made of indestructible acrylic yarn. How indestructible? Here it is in the early morning sunshine today. It's in perfect shape. He's worn it for 30 years and still wears it. It is the Scarf That Will Not Die. I'd like to replace it with something a little nicer. So I am using this yarn that I spun myself to make him this. This is about 7 inches of the yarn harlot's one row scarf. The yarn is a two ply that I spun this past week. It's the best yarn I've done so far and I'm really proud of it. There is a subtle random striping going on. I have a large cake (138 g) and it's about 17 wpi which makes it a fingering weight. The scarf is soft but not limp and not scratchy. I love the natural colors of the wool and the idea that I spun it. I also have another skein drying that I think I'll turn into a hat or maybe some gloves. I'm not sure about the gloves. The whole idea of ten little finger tubes turns me right off.

I am more of a mitten person and here is my first thrummed mitten. I've made mittens before but the thrumming was new. The insides look like this. It feels like your hand is surrounded by a warm cloud. It's unprocessed alpaca that Emily gave me. The yarn is Patons Shetland Bulky in a Charcoal tweed. I learned that if you want neat, perfect thrumms you should probably not use alpaca. It's so soft and slippery that little fibers escape and get onto the surface of your knitting. If you are at all OCD, you should probably use something less wispy and more dense. I am not terribly OCD and I love the way the alpaca feels. I've cast on for number two and hope to finish it soon.

It's really cold here today. Yesterday we had an intense snow shower. I was in the store and couldn't see my car which was only about 20 feet away because of all the blowing snow. It lasted only a few minutes but lightly covered the ground with frosted-sugar looking snow. It's gone today and not a cloud mars the beautiful blue sky. I have a nice long weekend and I'm looking forward to more spinning and knitting and napping and maybe a little visiting. I like dragging out the holiday feeling as long as possible. Come January it's a long, cold slog until Spring.

Stay warm, stay safe and have a happy day!