Tag Archives: Mohair

A New Year Has Begun!

How I love the shades of Winter.  Greens of all notes sound bright against the greys of the tree trunks.  There is the odd leaf adding other notes to the Winter Harmony.
How I love the shades of Winter. Greens of all notes sound bright against the greys of the tree trunks. There is the odd leaf adding other notes to the Winter Harmony.
Lichens and moss drape from the grey branches of the bare trees surrounding the Beaver Pond in Morrell Sanctuary.
Lichens and moss drape from the grey branches of the bare trees surrounding the Beaver Pond in Morrell Sanctuary.

….And it is off to a great start!

Golden Rushes and grey blue skies reflect off of Divers Lake.
Golden Rushes and grey blue skies reflect off of Divers Lake.

The skies have been a uniform grey with drizzle off and on for the last few days. It feels like winter on the wet coast! And it is in the colours I love – shades of grey and green – with the green so intense against the greys surrounding that it sings out!  Demanding that we pay notice and acknowledge the beauty of the Winter Harmonies.

Mallards in the marsh around Divers Lake.
Mallards in the marsh around Divers Lake.
A "Ghost" path through Morrell's Rocky Knoll.  The encroaching moss made the path beautiful and treacherous.  The footing was very slippery over the rock.
A “Ghost” path through Morrell’s Rocky Knoll. The encroaching moss made the path beautiful and treacherous. The footing was very slippery over the rock.

Sunday’s walk was at Divers Lake.  The shades of grey and green are brightened with the golden rushes and grasses reflecting against the lake.  Mallards add their brilliant colour amongst the rushes and the darting birds contribute a subtle harmony.

We celebrated New Years with good friends last evening.  It was a wonderful evening – great food shared in wonderful company.  There was a lot of laughter and shared memories – the best kind of celebration.

Delicate frills of fungus decorate the sides of trees and fallen logs.
Delicate frills of fungus decorate the sides of trees and fallen logs.

Because of New Year’s I got an extra walk. We went to Morrell Sanctuary and it was gorgeous. The clouds were low – right on top of the trees and the undergrowth was shiny with moisture.  The path’s were slippery in spots, but beautiful.

Greens and Greys compete for attention all around us at Morrell.
Greens and Greys compete for attention all around us at Morrell.

Today we went down a new path.  It is part of the Rocky Knoll path system.  A park regular told us it is called the Ghost Trail as it gets quite faint in spots as the moss love to grow over it!

This year I have been baking a lot more than I have in the past.  Christmas really inspired me and over the last couple of weeks I have done even more baking.  I made more tarts, shortbread and other Christmas goodies than I have had in many years.

Turkey Pot Pies - I will have to make these again!
Turkey Pot Pies – I will have to make these again!

In particular this year I have been making a lot of pastry.  I had gotten out of the habit of baking pies and tarts over the last 15 years – that was my mother-in-law’s particular skill.  With all of that Christmas baking I am now quite sure that my “hand” is back.  This last weekend I made Turkey Pot Pies for supper with Puff pastry tops!  I was so thrilled with the results – it has been a very, very, very, long time since I made puff pastry.  My husband feels that I should be making it more often – now that I have the “hang of it” back!

Enigma mohair, with a silk/wool accent yarn.
Enigma mohair, with a silk/wool accent yarn.

My sweater is coming along nicely.  I am giving it a week to see how much I can get done!  I am hoping that most of it will be completed by the end of next weekend.

The mohair yarn I am using for my sweater  is an old English mohair.  It has the long fibre twisted into the core of the yarn.  It is very traditional.  Since it is traditional I am going to finish off the mohair by brushing up the fibre – also very traditional.

Unbrushed and Brushed.
Unbrushed and Brushed.

The brushing blends and softens the colours and merges them beautifully.  A brushed mohair sweater is light and very warm and Oh so very soft to the touch!

Happy New Year – Happy Knitting as well!

Lynette