knitting away in Minnesota

My plan was to knit up a swatch of my newly-acquired Plymouth Suri Merino, an absolutely lovely alpaca/wool blend that puts the Knitpicks Andean Silk to shame. Lo and behold, I now have another scarf on the needles. There should be plenty of yarn to make one of Grumperina's Odessa hats as well. Minus the beads, of course.

I absolutely love this easy, reversible stitch pattern. Just one row to remember! This is a blessing after the mess I made of my lattice scarf while watching The Horse Whisperer on Saturday night. Messing up on a bias knit scarf resulted in a very funky shape, much to my dismay. The movie was far better than I expected, though fairly predictable. The real star of the movie was Big Sky Country -- Montana. The cinematography was fabulous, and I longed for mountains and open spaces while I watched.

My mother is doing far better physically than I had anticipated. She actually has been cooking up wonderful meals for me in an exact role-reversal of what I envisioned. I did bake my dad a carrot cake for his birthday, though, when Mom needed a rest.

We did some thrifting yesterday and found a few goodies that, alas, cannot be mentioned publicly.

I joined the Holiday Ornament Swap, and I'm already planning my contributions. Maybe little knitted mittens or stockings? Or embroidered felt birds a la last year's Anthropologie catalog? I would love to find a pattern for knitted (*not crocheted*) ice skate ornaments. You know, those cute ones that use paper clips as blades. I have a yellow pair (with bright pink pompoms) that my grandmother made in about 1960 or so.