and the winner is...

Well, this afternoon I popped numbers into the random generator and out popped a name. That person will be getting a signed copy of Fiber Gathering... and the winner is...(drum roll, please....) Diane Mulholland!

I'll be emailing Diane as soon as I finish posting this. Congratulations! Thank you to everyone who "played", I loved your notes! Aside from the whole book signing thing, I should mention that I've noticed that my book (list price $27.99 US) is now selling very affordably on Amazon. That is, somewhere around $12 or less...and I have no control over such things! So, if you were hoping for a copy but didn't win this time, click on the little image on the right of my blog for an affordable purchase.

The only shopping around here today would happen online, as nobody's venturing outdoors much. We're having weather that can be described as "Ithacating." What's that? Well, if you've ever lived in Ithaca, New York, (home to Cornell, where both the professor and I went as undergraduates) you know what I mean.

It's this goop that you can't see out a window. It comes from the sky and hits you on the face, stinging as you walk. It's sometimes snow, sometimes rain, sometimes sleet, and it's just damp and slushy and icky. Apparently a part of our mild January temperatures (roughly between 10-32F) here in Manitoba is a nice 3 day storm with lots of "ithacating." Of course, the temperatures here will drop very soon, which will result in an ice rink, with lots of blowing precipitation, but for now, we're holed up inside....cause there is no telling when the temperature will drop and leave you to skate home...in your car!

Overcast days seem to allow our dogs to nap for longer and longer sessions, which is nice and quiet. Harry in particular seems to be taking the medal in the dog Olympic finals of napping.


Sally dog has been enjoying the dog bed in the professor's office, where she keeps some toys stashed beside her bed. Sadly, just as I walked in to snap a shot of the runner-up in the napping competition, I woke her up and disturbed her chance at Olympic level napping.

(And, if you think we in Canada now have Olympics on the brain, you'd be right! It's day and night excitement around here, waiting for Vancouver 2010. I've written two essays about it and tried to sell them to U.S. publications. No dice. Apparently either those publications already bought all their Olympics writing already--or it's not on their radar the way it is here!)

I've spent my time indoors hard at work. I'm now onto scarf #3 on the endless handspun warp that came with my new loom. With each scarf, I'm learning more, and with something like 9 meters of warp, well, I have at least another scarf to go before I have to figure out warping again. (Whew! It's warping from scratch that scares me...)

Scarf #3 has an interesting weft--a blue tweed handknitting yarn, Rowan DK, I think, interspersed with some very lightweight silk (3 strands wound together) in shades of teal and grays, purchased several years ago on Granville Island at the the silk weaving studio. (No, I wasn't weaving then, but the silk was too beautiful to leave there, so I bought some anyhow!)

On the knitting schedule was a reknit of my Heart's Ease sock pattern. The yarns originally called for in the pattern were, in part, no longer available. The "new" pattern is now available here on Ravelry and will be updated on my website shortly. The only changes to the pattern were very minimal...just a switch from a yarn called "Red" to one called "Serrano" and a new photo. Here it is, just in time for Valentine's Day knitting:

Lastly, heartened to hear from Geek Knitter that apparently the police have been hard at work in Crete. There have been some arrests in these two arson attacks at the synagogue in Hania. There has also been a lot of community and world-wide support to help this small building and congregation back on its feet. It's nice to hear some good news!

I hope you're all enjoying a little quiet and restful winter hibernation, wherever you live. I'm thoroughly enjoying a cloudy, wet, snowy, messy day...inside.