We awoke to about 2 1/2 – 3 in of fresh snow this morning.  Not a big deal for most locations in Canada, but something of a pain here.  We don’t get a lot of snow and the city and drivers don’t handle it well.  The bonuses are – it is absolutely gorgeous and at the same time a great excuse to stay indoors and do whatever you like!  Like knitting!  For my husband football playoffs have started and he will be glued to the couch and the games!

We did start the day with a walk to and through the park down the hill.  Woodstream Park, it is a small ravine that comes up from Departure Bay Beach and a lovely little park.  So now the day is ours.

Last night I finished the last sample for the spring classes – Twined Hearts Baby Cap.  I was working with Boreal, by St.Denis yarns.  It is a lovely wool, the finer version of Nordique, with the same colour palette.  The Boreal has a nice hand and is very springy.  The twining technique creats a waffle like texture inside the cap, which captures air and makes it both lightweight and warm.  I’ll be playing around more with twining.  I found the results rewarding, and once you learn how to control the twisting of the yarns (which is necessary to create the texture) the knitting is easy.

Now that I have finished knitting the samples for the classes it is time to start power knitting on the full sized shawl samples for the retreat.  I hope to have the “easy” sample done before I leave for NY – it is more than 50% done.  With the other two shawls, “intermediate” and “experienced”, I only have about 1/2 of each center section done.  I have a challenging amount of knitting in front of me. 

The samplers for the retreat are done.  They are the more important than the full sized samples as they are what most will actually be knitting at the Retreat.  The handout for the retreat is barely started, but that won’t be too bad as it will mostly be charts and picture tutorials to accompany the skills being taught!

I am slowly catching up on all the things I postponed to create my submission to the Magic of Mohair competition.  After Jan 23, when the competion is over and I am back home life will mostly return to normal.  As the retreat is only 3 weeks after I get home, I really won’t get any down time until after it is over. 

A busy and creative time to start the new year – lets hope that the rest of the year will be just as rewarding.

Happy Knitting

Lynette