And still, I knit.

I haven't been to my knitting group in about a month. Maybe more. First it was the holidays. Then Adam and I had a date to see Garrison Keillor. And then, this week, I just didn't feel like going. I'm not going to be able to go the next two weeks either: next Monday I'm working nights, 8pm to 8am, and the following Monday I'm working the day shift at the ED, 10am to 8pm. So it looks like it will be mid-February before I make it back again. Hopefully they will still welcome the outsider. I'm the only one without kids, the only one not in their playgroup, etc.--but they are a great group, who don't seem to mind including me. Although I think they may have frightened me out of parenthood.

Despite my lack of attendance at knitting, I continue to have a number of projects in the works. Baby blanket for a friend who had better not have her baby tomorrow because I am nowhere near finished. A crocheted shopping bag from a sweater Michelle gave me while I was in Portland which I promptly frogged and am now recycling (she gave me the sweater for that purpose, I promise). And a request from Mom, who lives in chilly (but beautiful) Lienz, Austria--mittens! My first thought was to try a beautiful cable knit pattern I'd been wanting to use. It's a traditional Tyrolean pattern, which seemed perfect, since Lienz is in East Tyrol. Mom would fit it with all the traditional Austrian ladies and their mittens! But something wasn't quite right.

It is enormous and somewhat malformed. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my knitting, so I could not give this to her. Despite the wonderful twisted ribbing and intricate cables (which I did without a cable needle!), it had to be destroyed. Instead, I went with some leftover wool from my stash, double stranded to make it a bit bulkier, and voila! A very very warm mitten. Just one so far, but I'll get around to finishing the other shortly. I suspect it will be cold in Austria for awhile.