A truthful New Year

To be entirely truthful - the Palindrome reversible cable scarf did not get finished in December. That makes it the first project of the New Year.

Nico says, "Give me that muffler or I'll bite you!"

It's lovely and warm but rather short so Mr. R. wears it like a muffler (folded) rather than a scarf. I actually used up all the yarn (all 436 yds but doubled) so my only other choice is to sew up a loop on one side and a button on the other. He thought that seemed a little "old man ish" so - we'll see.

The cables are really nice - I recommend this pattern!

I do have an excuse, though. It's hockey season in MN and with tournaments every weekend (OUTDOOR tournaments!) that really cuts down on my knitting time.

8 degrees F.,  two overtimes, a shoot out and - a goal for Youngest Child!

At least the daylight makes for a more pleasant occasion. This past weekend, our first game was a night game.

A chilly chalk talk from Coach Frank.

And I have started my first sweater of 2013 - a Breezy Cardigan from Hannah Fettig. 

It's a top down cardigan with lots of stockinette stitch. As it happens, it looks more like a cowl than a sweater so far. I'm using up some Davidson Domy Heather - this is the never ending yarn. You can use it for anything!

Also since Youngest Child saw my  QuoVadis mittens (I wear them with liners to hockey games), he wanted a pair. Well, I showed him SpillyJane's pattens and he chose . . . 

Owl Mittens. 

Those are queued up with Cascade Yarns fingering in orange and grey to match his coat. So, I've pretty much covered any and all knitting occasions right now.  Time to pick up those sticks!

Big city or small city?

As a belated anniversary present, my husband and I took a quick trip to New York City this past weekend.

We had a lovely time, walking and shopping and eating, visiting museums and seeing a Broadway show (Warhorse!) and even hitting up some yarn shops - Knitty City and The Yarn Company. 

A real highlight was this view from the top of the Empire State Building.

That little blue area? The skating rink at Rockefeller Center!

And then we came back to catch the last game of Youngest Child's outside Mite's hockey tournament.

Mite hockey tournament at Phalen Recreation Center in Saint Paul

It was just such a wonderful juxtaposition of winter experiences. 

I am starting another project that is a juxtaposition of sorts - the Teknika conductive thread glove pattern from Knitty.com. The pattern calls for a solid yarn and a crazy, multi colored yarn and these are my picks:

CascadeYarn's Heritage sock yarn in mustard

Schoppel Wolle's Crazy Zauberball #1701

Yes, I'm still thinking about a Drapey Tam for Oldest Daughter and I really just need to tidy up some finishing on my Turn of the Glass cardigan but this just looks lively and fun! Now, remind me of that in about a month!

I'm also participating in Knittymama's Monthly Apparel project (make something to wear every month!) and the Craftsy.com's Block of the Month quilting project , so it's time to get to work!

Getting our "grit" - Minnesota style!

This was the first outside mite hockey tournament for our family. Three days of games - all outside. Oldest Daughter didn't play until she was 10 and she skipped the mite system so it's all new to us.

Wednesday night and we are all watching by standing on a big mound of snow just outside the boards. Good thing those little kids are so darn cute - otherwise we would have all gone back inside.

I asked Youngest Child if his coach gave him any special instructions and he said, "Yes. The coach said the other team were all little kids so don't knock them down." As Youngest Child is only 7, the other team must have been composed of four year olds! 

This may have lead to his Gold Team's amazing win! And they won again today, too. There may be something in this hockey thing . . . let's see if they can make it a three-peat tomorrow!

As for the whole knitting thing, you can't knit standing on a mound of snow outside in the 15 degree F. weather. So, I'm still creeping along on the Tangled Up In Blue socks. And I'm thinking of using some of this project's 

leftover yarn - Dream in Color Classy - to make some mittens. I have a new winter coat that needs some cute mittens!

Today's Saturday Seven was easy. 

I've been cataloging my books using the Shelfari.com site and it makes weeding out books very easy. I'm thinking of offering them up at my Monday Night Book Club next week. Then, the remainders go to a rummage sale.