For some people, it's the winter blues that are the plague this time of year. For me, it's the tax season blues. I'm not an accountant, but I do as much of the work as I can for our farm business, including all the bookkeeping, the payroll accounts and tax reports and other miscellany such as unemployment. So January and February are the months when I really have my nose to the grindstone, finishing up everything for the year that just ended.

It really gets to me. It isn't hard work, but it is taxing (pun intended) and must be perfect. So after a few hours of figures and forms, I MUST have a break.

My salvation from this swamp of seriously serious stuff is fiber. Fabulous fiber in any form or fashion! No, really, just two forms -- fabric and yarn.

Here's my footstool in front of my chair -- oops, that red doesn't show off the yarn, does it?

 

Much better! This yarn is absolutely a delight to knit with -- it is Marlowe by Juniper Moon Farm,  half merino and half silk. Luscious! I bought two balls when we were on vacation last October at the cutest yarn shop called The Sow's Ear, in Verona, Wisconsin, just outside Madison. It's a combination coffee/yarn shop -- absolutely darling. It was recommended to me by Susan B. Anderson of Itty Bitty Knits, and she couldn't have sent me to a neater place.

 

Now this Marlowe is being knitted into a prayer shawl for a friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer. She is taking radiation for the next six weeks. My needles need to fly so that I can put this shawl, knitted with purls and prayers, in the mail RIGHT AWAY. The pattern is called Weaver's Wool Mini Shawl and is free here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/weavers-wool-mini-shawl

How can I tell you how much I love ravelry? The best website in the whole wide web for knitters -- such a great source of inspiration and help.

 

Back to fiber: I just finished this sweet little cowl, the pattern for which also came from ravelry and can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/malabrigo-neck-thingie.

 

 

 

Yes, this is a darling neck thingie. It will be a valentine next week for someone very sweet. Imagine it scrunched down and keeping the cold winter wind away from that someone's neck -- if it ever gets cold again.

 

 

I only knit at night, when the television is putting us to sleep. But sometimes I need a daytime break, and that's where my other fiber love comes into play. See this new stack of freshly washed and ironed fabric that yearns to become a quilt? I'm thinking of using a pattern from a quilt designer of inestimable talents, Jo Morton:

 

 

 

Can you turn your head sideways (shoot -- I forgot to rotate before upload) and see that the name of this book is called Remembrances? Perfect for this stack of love that reminds me of olden times.

 

 

Should I use this pattern....

 

 

or this one?

 

No matter - they are both simple and would show off the fabrics equally, I think.

 

Now, to just finish these reports and spend a day in heaven (aka, my sewing room.)

 

Okay, I'm heading back to work -- just touching and handling these yarns and fabrics has given me the break I needed.

 

Where do you find refreshment?