Frozen Weekend and Neck Warmers

This weekend Winona held its 3rd Annual Frozen River Film Festival. Juan and I started the weekend off appropriately by snowshoeing on the river, going into the backwaters that we usually canoe through. While we did see some animals tracks skittering across the ice, the only wild life that revealed itself to us was a beaver who promptly disappeared into a hole in the ice. brrrr!!! The films we saw were really thought-provoking, touching, and sometimes a little scary. The theme of the film festival is environmental awareness. Some of the memorable films we saw included a couple on local and organic farming, followed by a panel of local farmers. You can see Fridays at the Farm here, which was my favorite. The Dalai Lama Renaissance was a very insightful film about a group of leading American intellectuals who met with the Dalai Lama to solve the world's problems, only to learn that the process must begin with the individual.

Continuing on with the Christmas gift showcase, here are the two "neckwarmers" I made. The first one I designed for my friend Lisa. I used the same stitch pattern from My So-Called Scarf, holding Berroco Ultra Alpaca doubled. I used two heavy silver horns at an angle and didn't make button holes so she could adjust how she wears it. Meridith is modeling it here.A close-up of the silver horn buttons.
My mom's present took the longest- I actually had to give it to her half done and then work on it madly the rest of the week to finish it. The pattern is from Rowan 42 and is called the Tapestry Scarf. The yarns I used were Rowan Kidsilk Haze, Rowan 4-ply soft, and Rowan Tapestry. It creates a plaid pattern and is actually warmer than it looks, since the yarns are all wool, silk, mohair, and soybean. Yes, soybean (the Tapestry yarn) And again, my "rotate picture" is not working *sigh* Just crane your neck, I guess.