A few days ago, Joe rushed me out of bed and down the stairs to see this:

A morning visitor to our back yard

He told me it is a Pileated Woodpecker, I never saw such a big woodpecker before in my life! I thought it is a weird flying chicken but I have to admit I was quite sleepy at the time. Later we heard someone drilling in the background, Joe said it is the woodpecker, I was sure some neighbour is working in his back yard.

And I am still knitting, sometimes.

While in Israel I managed to finish a shawl I knitted for my mother’s 80 birthday:

My mother wearing her Koigu Shawl

I had a lot of problems deciding on the pattern and yarn for this present, I started quite a few shawls; one was too lacy, the other too dark and yet another one was too warm.

In the end I settled on a simple shawl knitted in Koigu KPPPM and at long last managed to finish it before we left Israel (the 80th birthday was in January, shame on me!). Lucky for me, my mother liked it a lot and wasn’t mad at all about the lateness of the present.

During our flight back from Israel I managed to finish one of those shawls I started for my mother, I had enough yarn only for a mini shawl but I find it really useful in this time of year in Toronto:

My mini Noro Shawl

I really like the color combination of this Noro Silk Garden Sock colorway – 252.

(Note to self: it is really useful to brush hair before modeling for photos,,,)