Pretty as it was, snow is very, very disruptive in the UK, and when our flight was cancelled after an 8 hour delay, we gave up, applied for a refund, went to get the car, found it buried under a snowdrift, and walked to the nearby Travelodge, bagging their last room (although I felt desperately sorry for the guy who walked in directly after us). So we are holidaying at home instead, and have rescheduled Ireland for late summer, when the weather is likely to be kinder, both here and there. There are some advantages to this - I can work on all 3 items on my needles, for example, and we are doing regular day trips out so I have a few yarn shops in mind for visits.
Taking advantage of the cold, snowy weather and of not being at work (where the heating inside is set to tropical temperatures - whereas at home our own elderly boiler frequently fails us, as it has done today) I am happily wearing a different handknit a day. Yesterday I wore my as-yet unblogged and un-ravelried version of Cecily Glowik McDonald's Hampton Cardigan, which I knitted while in DC out of 100% natural, undyed alpaca yarn, bought from a local crafts shop at Posades Airport in northern Argentina many years ago. I'd always wondered quite what to do with it, until I saw this cardigan. I altered the construction somewhat, knitting it top-down from my own calculations and then breaking into the vine lace pattern once I'd completed the bodice. I also had to do the sleeves short, due to yarn amount (see previous post!).
In this picture I am wearing it with a light thermal long sleeved t-shirt and absolutely baked in temps that peaked just above freezing! I wore this last winter in the mid and north Atlantic late winter and it was fantastic - I remember being caught out in a snow storm in rural New Jersey wearing this outfit with only an unlined waterproof as a jacket, and being totally fine. Not for nothing do they say alpaca is the warmest fibre on earth! I have not worked out how I want to fasten it yet, so am wearing it here with a pretty brooch keeping it closed. The fantastic tiled wall behind me is at the Tiled Hall Cafe in Leeds, where we stopped for lunch on our way to retrieve the car:
Today I am wearing the Garter Stitch Tunic - a favourite in cold weather - and will try to get a snap of that for tomorrow's blog, and as we are having a rest day at home today (very productive - I have made marmalade and planted polyanthus in pots by the front door), I plan to do a little from all 3 projects - the Afghan, a current sample, and the husband's sweater.
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