I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

Last week, I made my way through the smog to the Jitterbug Coffee Hop where we celebrated the anniversary of our Tuesday night Stitch ‘N Bitch group.  Like it has for several years, the celebration included a no-obligation swap.  This year, the theme was cowls.  If you brought a cowl, you went home with a different one.  I was the lucky recipient of this little green number contributed by Laurie.

It’s knit from Malabrigo worsted so it’s fabulously soft.  Although it clashes horribly with my winter coat, I’ve worn it every day since the swap.  Love it.

My cowl contribution landed in the hands of Eileen and, happily, it matched her coat perfectly. Seriously, can an off-white cowl not match a person’s coat?

The pattern for the cowl I made for Eileen is now available as a free download on Ravelry.  As I mention on the Ravelry project page, I had a hard time finding a pattern that was exactly what I had in mind for my cowl.  There are similar patterns available but the cables either crossed too closely or too far apart.  And the cables were either too sparse or too crowded.   As Goldilocks would say, “This one is neither too hot nor too cold. It’s just right.”

And the best part . . . I worked up three sets of instructions for three different weights of yarn.  So shop the stash and cast on!

Well, I chose to head south, of course.  And, I have to say, it’s been nice to breathe relatively clean air the last two days.  Look, you can actually see the sky!

For those of you who asked, during the winter Salt Lake City often experiences something called a temperature inversion.  Basically, for reasons I don’t fully understand, the air near the ground becomes cooler than the air above. (The temperature is actually higher at the ski resorts than it is in the valley.) This traps pollution near the valley floor and it doesn’t clear out until we get a storm. Because we haven’t had a storm in weeks, the Salt Lake Valley is filled with polluted air that’s just sitting over the entire city. Yuck.

I live above the valley, near the foothills, and I usually escape the worst of the gunk. But the layer of smog has been rising rapidly and it finally overtook my house. So I escaped to the land of casinos and shopping.

But even where there’s sun and air, a girl can still enjoy knitting a thrummed mitten.

What do you think . . .

Should I head east . . . or . . . south?

At this point, I’d head north to Alaska if it meant finding breathable air.