take a hike

Actually, it is a bit difficult to hike around here. The riverrim has seen several snow/ice storms in the past week. We have a combination of layers on the ground. They remind me of the rings that you see when you cut a tree open. Tell tale signs of the passing of time. We have a base of about 1/2 inch of ice. On top of that, about 3 inches of snow. Then, we have approx. 2 inches of ice. This most recent storm added 6 inches of snow, and then rain that turned to snow before it finished. Thank goodness for my Yaktracks.... they keep me from slipping on the ice.

The type of hike I am talking about is the IHS pattern that can be found by clicking on the button in my sidebar. The Irish Hiking Scarf knit along blog is..I believe the knit along will continue until the end of the month. I found this site while looking for a pattern for a scarf. You can click on the button in my sidebar to see my entry titled "just found it" on the IHS blog. I would recommend this pattern to anyone, it is easy to do and the cables are fun and fast!

To make this scarf, I used some nice Icelandic Wool that I had purchased at the Endless Mountain Fiber Festival in PA. The bag of wool (approx 1/2 pound) was marked "For Felting". I had never spun Icelandic Wool before, and did not know very much about it. I brought the wool with every intention of felting with it, but the temptation to spin it was overwhelming. The coat of the Icelandic Sheep is made up of 2 layers. The tog is the longer outer layer, and the thel is soft inner layer (which really reminds me of angora). The bag of wool that I purchased contained both the tog and thel mixed together. The tog is black and the thel is gray. I was told that I could separate them, or spin them together to make a lopi yarn. I decided to do the latter. I spun a single with very little twist...and let the slubs happen. Then I performed a Navajo ply, and wound up a nice ball of yarn with about 7 or 8 wraps per inch. I knit the scarf on size ten needles. The cables are chunky looking, and the finished piece has a halo in black. The scarf is more like a muffler in size. I am giving it to the previous owner of my spinning wheel.

We are in for some cold weather this coming week...temps. are not expected to climb above freezing at all. This will bring the eagles up the river for open water to hunt/fish in. I counted 8 this past week when I drove along the river to town. I am sure I will be seeing more of them each day.

Don't forget to check out the pictures coming in from the Titan probe. You can get there by clicking on my sidebar Astronomy Picture of the Day or going to NASA Cassini-Huygen web page. The pictures are breath taking. "Keep looking up!"