I started a cowl for myself yesterday out of this lovely orange alpaca/merino blend. I bought it a few months ago for a sweater, but I think I bought too few skeins for the pattern, and of course there’s no chance of finding more of the same dye lot at this point, so a cowl it is. I hadn’t been working on it for two minutes when I realized that I wanted to make a little deal with myself. I’m making the cowl, and in return I am promising myself that between now and next spring I will go somewhere cold enough to wear it. Just the thought made me so happy. I really, really miss cold weather. Most people think San Francisco IS cold, of course, and I do love our foggy days here, but what I miss is real cold weather. A vacation isn’t likely to be in my budget any time soon, so I’ll have to be creative, but even if I just go to the Sierras for a day or hop a cheap flight to someplace random, I WILL wear this cowl in actual cold weather this winter.

The book in the photo is Ward Just’s An Unfinished Season. I started it a week or so ago and was in awe of the first sixty or so pages, but then I let myself get distracted. I’m throwing myself back in to it and should finish it this week. I’m reading a ton lately, and writing a ton too. It’s one of those strange weeks when everything is working as it should. I’m trying my best to just enjoy it and not keep looking around for booby traps.

Yarn Along is hosted by Ginny on her lovely blog, Small Things.