-8 F is ridiculous!

Where did this cold snap come from? Work is going to be insane with all the no heat calls. Oh, well, that's what keeps us in business.

I just photographed the Ironstone Yarns "Starlights" yarn that I bought before Christmas. I bought it to make myself a scarf. Can you believe I don't have a scarf? Well, I do but I don't like it so I don't wear it. The Starlights is 50% mohair, 8% wool, 36% rayon and 6% nylon. I'd love to make the Misty Garden scarf from Pam Allen's "Scarf Style" (which is a fan and feather stitch) but I only have 143 yards of the yarn. The pattern calls for 285 yards. And it cost me $25 for that one hank. The yarn recommended in the pattern is Jo Sharp's "Rare Comfort Kid Mohair Infusion". Maybe if I make it narrower than the 7" and shorter than the 59", I will get a scarf out of one hank. Because I really don't want a $50 scarf. The gauge on the yarn label says I can get 2 sts. = 1" on size 17 needles. But then I'd have to make a plain garterstitch or stockingette stitch scarf and I really want a pattern. I guess I'll have to wind it up and try the fan and feather pattern. I just hope it's not too much of a bitch to rip out if I don't like it.

The first photo shows the yarn on my antique yarn swift. I bought it at an auction probably 20 years ago when I had the antique shop. I liked it so much I never put it in the shop. And I never used it until last year when I bought some Bartlett's Yarn and needed to wind it into balls. It's a pretty cool swift and it works just fine.

I did not knit at all yesterday. We were cleaning out the basement (yuck!) and when I sat down last night, I read instead of knitting. I haven't done that in a while and it felt good. This morning, though, I worked on the latest Precious Layettes sweater that I started on the way to Oswego Sunday. This time I have two skeins of the Patons Canadiana yarn so I can make the hat and booties (or socks) to go with the sweater. I won't make the mistake of only buying one skein of yarn again for one of these sweaters. Granted I can make the sweater out of one skein but I can't get a hat or booties out of what's left.