Just when I thought winter was coming to an end, it’s dropping fluffy white stuff all over again! I don’t know if you’re familiar with Calgary, or it’s ever changing weather, but every winter, we get at least a few Chinooks. The warm winds blow over the mountains from the west, and *POOF* it’s suddenly spring-like. Snow melts, the sun shines, trees start to bud, and every good city girl jumps back into her 3” heels. But before you can circle the block in the shoes you’ve missed so much, it starts snowing again. Chinooks are wonderful (unless you suffer from migraines), and I genuinely appreciate the respite from the cold, nasty weather. I just wish I wouldn’t be fooled into thinking it must be Spring,....every single February!
The good news is that I’m inspired to get back to crocheting the Carnival shawl (Rowan Classic Holiday). I started it back when the arctic was pushing all its -45 degree windy weather down on us. I had forgotten how much I love to crochet. The pattern calls for Rowan Cashsoft, but I had 20 balls of RYC Baby Alpaca on hand and decided to use that instead. It’s heavy, probably much heavier than it should be, and the motifs work up nearly an inch less in width. All that means is that instead of making 36 motifs, like the pattern says, I’ll make 55. No problem, right?! My fingers hurt just thinking about it.
And last, but not least, I designed this pattern last summer, hoping it would fit into one of the themes for Interweave Knits Fall ‘08 issue. I didn’t think it was a good fit for any of them, so instead, I turned it into a pattern myself. Here she is, in all of her orangey-glory. I would love to hear what you think of the page layout. Download OrangeWave.pdf (319.5K)
I had a look at the numbers this morning on Ravelry, and it has 28 hearts and is in 24 queues! Mine is still the only project, but I can't help but feel flattered that 28 people hearted her! I heart her too, but maybe more in ivory, or eggplant.
Oh, and it just occured to me that most of you (and by 'you' I mean the one or two real people, and the hundreds of imaginary people that read my blog) don't live in Canada, and so you may not know what -45 degrees is in Fahrenheit. I think it's -49F. That's what my online conversion guy says anyway! Either way, it was really frickin' cold!
On that note, it's time to crochet!!!
August 1, 2008 - updated to change pattern link
