Paws to Remember

I've been busy knitting and neglected to post a New Year's post. I think I made some resolutions, but I doubt I'll keep them. 2009 can be summed up as raising Ardella and planning and having Keri's wedding. There's a lot of emotion behind those events and 2009 was certainly a defining year for me, but the things that mattered most were pretty much summed up in my blog.

At any rate, the leader of my puppy group is retiring and will be around, but not in a major way. I missed her retirement party (due to the wedding), but wanted to do something for her retirement even though I have only been with the group for about a year and don't have a strong history with it. Still, I decided to make her something and I chose the Evelyn Clark pattern Paws to Remember. I've wanted to do this pattern for some time and my leader's retirement seemed perfect for it. I think my leader has raised over 20 dogs and certainly has a lot of paws to remember. Anyway, here's the scarf:









The pattern has some V chevrons in the center that are supposed to represent the river of life. The paw borders surrounding the river represent the dogs that have accompanied us during our lifetimes.

Alas, I'm not happy with the blocking. We went to Home Depot tonight to get a foam insulation board and I'll reblock the scarf tonight. I'm pretty sure I can improve how it looks. I'm excited about having a blocking board. The ironing board just doesn't work well.

The yarn is Fibre Company's Canopy yarn, a blend of baby alpaca, merino, and bamboo. It's a fingering weight and I think it has become my favorite yarn for scarves.

I got the final WoolGirl sock club package today and am sad that it's my last package. I always looked forward to each shipment and every single one was a surprise. I'm not renewing because of the expense and because I need to knit from my own stash this year.

The theme of this package was sweets. I love the little stitch marker and the little stirring thing that came with the hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows. The soaps look good enough to eat and I love the color of the yarn. Here's a picture of the swag:



Here's a picture of the patterns:



I need to go reblock a scarf. I'll post a new picture if it looks better tomorrow.