Saturday!

Yesterday, a friend and I took a small road trip to Carleton Place. I had a gift certificate from a silent auction to use at the Real Wool Shop, and my friend just needed to get out of the house.

The weather was unseasonably warm for January - plus 8 C by the time we got home - and although the sun wasn't shining, it was fairly bright. We took the 417 and 7 out to Carleton Place, and saw a few turkeys, lots of crows, and possibly a hawk (it's hard to tell at 100 kph!).

Once there, we looked around the clothing (50% off a lot, and no tax on the rest), and my friend found clothes she wanted for a really good price. Black pants, black shirt, black jacket - and although that sounds a bit dark, black looks really good on her. Everything was 50% off, except for the jacket - that was a whopping 75% off as it was last year's stock. She was thrilled! I bought a pair of black stretch pants suitable for working out (hopefully I will get back to that in earnest again soon), and some beautiful yarn.

It's alpaca from Magpie Hill Alpacas in North Gower. It's a dark, heathery brown, soft and luscious. I plan to make a shawl out of it, something I can wrap around my shoulders on a cool spring or fall night. Double knitting (DK) weight, it'll be perfect for the pattern that I have in mind.

I also worked on another pair of socks last night. My parents gave me some Kroy sock yarn in grey brown marl (brown, grey, and brick red stripes - self-patterning yarn) for Christmas, and I'm two thirds of the way through the first sock now. These ones will be for me, as usual. The next pair that I make will be for my mom.

On the needles as well are a special pair of mitts for a friend. They're in Kroy sock yarn too, but there's no colour listed on the band. Multicoloured, with pinks, greens and greys, they'll be bright and warm. The index finger and thumb on the right hand will be open at the tip so that she can use them when she's out taking photos in the winter.

It's a pattern that I came up with for another friend, Heather, who owns Liberty Shots, a company that does professional photography and developing. Heather takes photos in all sorts of weather, and wanted something that kept her fingers warm, that she didn't have to take off during a photoshoot. These fill the bill admirably. Based on an old "Shooting Mitt" pattern that I made a long, long time ago for my ex-father-in-law for hunting, they knit up quickly.

I'll post photos as I finish these projects.