Author Archives: Rachel

Going to the COLD Yay!

Tomorrow night, if the weather out there in the Northeast will permit, we are going to the cold, YAY! Oh yes, it makes me happy, even some delays in some airports will not make me change my mind, I want SNOW!

Preparing for this trip I realized that my winter wardrobe is practically non existence, no wonder considering where we live. So when I saw Anne’s new mitts pattern, I knew I must make myself a pair. I thought I didn’t have any suitable yarn but a quick visit to my stash, revealed a few candidates, I chose a yarn I bought quite a long time ago in a little place called The Creative Needle in Amherst, Massachusetts, it is Artful Yarns Virtue a 100% Cashmere I just couldn’t leave in that shop as lovely as it was :)

The next afternoon I had those:

My Lovely Cashmere Waffle Mitts I think I like these mitts Comfy Mitts, Yummy Yarn

And yes, those threads are all conspicuously weaved in by now as Anne tells us to do!

So, last evening I found myself with 2 little balls of Cashmere left (it is only 25 grams/75 yards per ball), not enough for a hat from me as I have a big head (rosh gadol tartei mashma as we say in Hebrew, yes, in more than one sense, people say,,,), really not enough for a scarf, what can a woman knit with it and quickly? I tried a few ideas, I went up a few numbers in my needles and started something in the round, at first I tried the waffle stitch but realized the other side of it is not very attractive (yes, I know, I could have checked it in the mitts,,,) but I don’t mind ripping especially with such lovely yarn! Then I remembered the Hypoteneuse and its lovely 100% reversible pattern, but the repeats in Anne’s original pattern are a bit wide and tall so I opened my excel and in a few minutes made myself a smaller version and I went knitting, this is what I made by the end of the evening:

Circular Knitted Thingie But warm I will be
Now I have a set ANother way to wear my thingie

Oh and before I started all this, I did finish my softie Hypoteneuse Scarf and I must tell you it is such a pleasure to knit, I enjoyed every minute of it. When I got to the second skein of my yarn I realized I noticed in the store that the color variation is wide but bought it anyway,,,, again, I was lucky it is a present for the wicked girl so I just continued knitting and the result is quite pleasing even if I say so myself, look:

Oh So Soft Cushiness

Inspecting the colors Same Color, Same Yarn The Color Gradient

One last thing, before I finish this post I must confess, while posing with this softie for the photos I had second thoughts about who should be the owner of this knit, I really want to keep it for myself but Joe claims that if I knitted it for Sam I have to give it to her and actually there is not much I can do with an angora scarf around this place (so what?!?) hmmm,,, I told him I will keep it and give it to Sam only at the end of the trip before we leave her in Marlboro, Vermont at her college,,,, hmmmm,,,,

Don’t worry, it will be nicely wrapped and waiting for her under the tree in Toronto, yes I placed an order for a Christmas tree and snow too! I think the tree is a sure thing, not so much the snow! and so what if I am an atheist Jew? at long last I will be able to fulfill one of my childhood dreams: In all those books I loved so much, Christmas always looked like the BEST holiday to young me.

For Dave

Oh and yesterday I forgot to include those:

AWF taken on a Sunday

and even better:

A in full view decorated with a red beauty

It is my modest contribution to Dave Daniels AWW. So what if it is not a Wednesday post and quite a bit too late? I like doing things my own way,
I always did :)

And if we talk about Dave, here is Saki sending A Have a Nice Weekend
wish to Ms. Lulu:

Nikon Saki

and to all of you too, of course!

Red

OK. I was good! I finished the socks and they are on their way to Israel and now I can knit my softie without too many scruples (what are a few UFO’s between friends?)

Last Sunday we went on a day mission to find signs of cold weather; we drove to Payson and from there to Flagstaff, the temperatures dropped nicely and it was cold alright but oh so dry! no sign of recent rain anyway and here in Arizona, you can tell, even the forest up in the mountains looks dry and sad.

But my love doesn’t give up easily and on a little dirt road he found a very small and very frozen pond, he was so happy:

Frozen pool

I took the opportunity and asked Joe to take some photos of my recent findings in Israel: Do you see those red things? I fell in love with the hand bag the minute I walked into the Kisim (pockets in Hebrew) shop in Tel Aviv and the bag on display was brown no less! I don’t like brown, I never wear brown, but the bag called my name anyway! I am sure you can imagine how glad I was when the girl working in the shop opened a drawer full of bags like this one in many different colors, I did not have any problem choosing mine! The girl told me I can put my things in the bag to see how it will look and I replied: it is ok I don’t need to put anything in it, I see how it will look! so you probably understood I couldn’t leave it there. You want to see more of it? I know Anne does, so here you go:

Another look on my red beauty!

and another view:

Red Hand Bag

I had to find matching shoes and when I couldn’t I just ordered a pair, it is good that my sister now lives in Jaffa and there you can order shoes in many little shops. They are almost the same color, aren’t they:

Red Hand Bag and Shoes

So as you can see, although a girl can’t find decent yarn in Israel (I am picky what can I say) she can sure find nice leather goodies, isn’t it right?