Another scarf (knitting)

My winter frenzy of knitting has yielded, yes, another scarf!

This was knit with Brown Sheep brand Lamb’s Pride Bulky yarn (cranberry swirl color) on size US 8 needles. I found the pattern in Vogue Stitchionary – Cables, it’s called “double fantasy.”

Pattern:

CO 32 stitches

Stitches of note:

9-st RPC: Sl 5 sts to cable needle (cn) and hold to back, k4, then sl the p st from cn back to LH needle and p it, k4 from cn.

9-st LPC: Sl 5 st to cn and hold to front, k4, then sl the p st from cn back to LH needle and p it, k4 from cn.

1st 4 rows – knit all

R1, 5, 9, and 11: (RS) K8, [p1, k4] 4 times, k4

R2 and all WS rows: K4, [p4, k1] 4 times, p4, k4

R3: K8, [p1, 9-st LPC] twice

R7: K4, [9-st RPC, p1] twice, k8

R12: K4, p4, [k1, p4] 4 times, k4

repeat rows 1-12 until scarf has reached desired length

last 4 rows – knit all

Bind off and weave in ends

My First Ski Vacation

Yes, even though I have lived in Colorado for almost 15 years, I have never actually spent an entire weekend in the mountains on a ski vacation. Mainly that’s because I haven’t enjoyed skiing until last year. Not sure what changed but I tried skiing again last season and got out about four times with friends who were nurturing and instructive. Lo and behold, I enjoyed it!

So last weekend we packed up Dempsey in the car and drove to Steamboat Springs for a three-day weekend of skiing and a tiny bit of snowshoeing!

On the way into Steamboat Springs, we stopped on Rabbit Ears Pass and snowshoed a short 3.7-mile loop that has no snowmobilers and is reserved for skiers and snowshoers. It was a gorgeous day – sunny and warmish, well, it was still cold but while snowshoeing we were only in long sleeved base layers and vests (and pants…).

Dempsey loved the snow. He jumping into it flopping full-body into fluffy piles that came up to his chest. He buried his head and wriggled around. He ran up and back the trail. It was fun to watch.

Saturday and Sunday were the main ski days. However, Saturday it was actually snowing, which you’d think is a good thing. Unfortunately, it made the light kind of flat and in turn, made it hard to see the lay of the land. There were also clouds and fog throughout the mountain, so visibility wasn’t great in general. What’s more, I’m not exactly a seasoned skier and I’ve never skied in fresh snow in a significant quantity and I didn’t quite know how to navigate this kind of snow. It turns out that there aren’t that many green runs at Steamboat and the ones they have are kind of boring. The blues on the other hand are harder than I’m used to – full of bumps and a bit steep. I only lasted about half the day…we did do quite a few runs in that time though.

Here are some photos from Saturday that give some idea of the conditions:

We spent the afternoon napping and watching bad TV in the hotel room. Dempsey even got to have some quality bed time:

The evening was spent getting drinks and snacks at Laundry in downtown Steamboat and walking around in the snow checking out the snow sculptures. Laundry is a cool little place that is in a historic laundry building and they serve yummy cocktails. We even tried one of their house-infused whiskeys – maple syrup slim jim whiskey.

Since Denver hasn’t received much snow, being in a snowstorm in Steamboat was quite nice – it was like traveling to a winter planet.

Then there were the snow sculptures. I think they were done as part of the Winter Festival that was going on. I got this shot of a dolphin snow sculpture – that’s right a dolphin in the landlocked place of snow.

In contrast to Saturday, Sunday was fabulous. It was sunnier and from my brief experience with the snow the day before, I was able to work with the snow a bit more. Also, it snowed most of the night and there was a bunch of fresh powder! All in all, I had a much, much better ski day on Sunday even though I did fall a good number of times…

We were in the car and headed back for Denver by 2:30 pm but we didn’t arrive home until 7:30. Yep, I-70 traffic added two hours to the normally three hour trip. This was our view for a good chunk of the drive back:

Once again, Seth and Dempsey were wonderful travel partners and my first ski vacation was a success!

Neck warmer in one day

I spent the Super Bowl knitting, of course. At a the home of friends I tried to watch the game for a while but the knitting just called to me and I couldn’t resist. It led to accomplishment! I finished the neck warmer below, which was fantastic because I started it in the morning.

I used a pattern for a “light and lacy cowl” and the piece is supposed to be knit with a mohair-silk blend of yarn that is very delicate. Instead I had some Mano del Uruguay sitting around and decided to use it.

The cowl or neck warmer is really just a short, wide tube, which is easy and fast to knit. Here is what it looks like on:

Materials: Circular needles size US 8 (24”) and Manos del Uruguay Maxima (color M2152 – reddish color) and Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica (color 75 – brown color)

Pattern

S1P = slip 1 purlwise

CO 100 stitches

R1: Knit

R2: K1, *YO, S1P, K2, PSSO* repeat from * to end (note pass slipped stitch over both knit stitches)

Knit one more row

bind off very loosely

weave in ends

Big Lacy Scarf (knitting)

I found some really fun chunky yarn recently at Fancy Tiger Crafts: Malabrigo Gruesa. It changes size and varies in shades of color. Around the same time, I borrowed More Last Minute Knitted Gifts from the library. I found a pattern for a big lacy scarf that knits up in two hours! So I combined the yarn with the pattern and voila!

I selected the “Lettuce” color of this yarn and used size US 15 knitting needles.
Pattern
CO 20 st
R1: K1, *K3, yo, SK2P, yo,* repeat 3x, K1
R2: Purl
R3: K1, *yo, SK2P, yo, K3,* repeat 3x, K1
R4: Purl
Bind off
weave in ends.
That’s it!

Cabled Scarflette (knitting)

Yes, more knitting…I took a break from knitting coffee cozies (now that I have a small army of them) and decided to finish the neck warmer (“cabled scarflette”) that I started in the fall. I found the pattern here and did my best to replicate it. I’m not sure that I really nailed the button holes or putting the buttons on for that matter but nevertheless, here it is:

The finished piece is 25” long. I used one ball of Rowan Big Wool (Champion color) and size US 15 knitting needles.

Pattern:

CO 18

Starting Rows
Row 1: K all
Row 2-6: Slip 1st stitch purlwise, K all

General Rows
Row 7: Sl purlwise, K2, Sl, K10, Sl, K3
Row 8: Sl purlwise, K2, P, K, P8, K, P, K3
Row 9-16: Repeat Rows 7 & 8 four more times
Cable Rows
Row 17: Sl purlwise, K2, Sl, K, Sl 4 sts to CN and hold to front, K4, K4 from CN, K, Sl, K3
Row 18: Sl purlwise, K2, P, K, P8, K, P, K3
Row 19-30 : Repeat Rows 7 & 8 six times
Row 31-32: Repeat Rows 17 &18
Row 33-44: Repeat Rows 7 & 8 six times
Row 45-46: Repeat Rows 17 &18
Row 47-58: Repeat Rows 7 & 8 six times
Row 59-60: Repeat Rows 17 &18
Row 61-72: Repeat Rows 7 & 8 six times
Row 73-74: Repeat Rows 17 &18
Row 75-82: Repeat Rows 7 & 8 four times
Row 83: Sl purlwise, K all

Button Hole Rows
Row 84: Sl purlwise, K4, BO1, K1, BO1, K9, BO1, K1, BO1, K2
Row 85: Sl purlwise, K2, Turn and CO2, Turn normal, K8, Turn and CO2, Turn normal, K3

Ending Rows
Row 86-88: Sl purlwise, K all
Row 89: BO loosely.

Weave in ends. Sew on buttons.