Catching Up, a Coral Scarf, and a Winter Walk

February was an interesting month, in which we fell victim to what I think was walking pneumonia. Whatever it was, it lasted for weeks. And weeks. So persistent was my cough that I was tempted to name it, and dithered for days between George and Urk*. (Never did make up my mind.)

But March is here, and we're (mostly) through with coughing - hooray! Now we're trying to catch up on all the things we didn't do last month. For me, this includes blogging.

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A pattern of mine was recently featured in an online article over at I Like Crochet. The pattern is the Eden Eyelets Scarf, published in I Like Crochet's Ultimate Scarf Collection.

Left photo courtesy of I Like Crochet; right photo is mine

The Eden Eyelets scarf features alternating long rows of Y-stitch and granny clusters, and is trimmed with tassels at each end. A surprise edging technique ensures perfectly matching tension on the long edges.

The sample was made with KnitPicks CotLin DK, a pleasant cotton-linen blend that blocks to a beautiful drape and softness. The colorway, Conch, is perfect for spring, and also happens to be a close match for Living Coral, Pantone's Color of the Year.

Head over to I Like Crochet for this pattern and many more!

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Our weather over the last several weeks could be summed up as: snow a lot, melt a little, freeze, repeat. Sometimes, for a change, it would rain a little, melt a lot, freeze, repeat. The overall result has been ice - lots of ice - and less-than-ideal walking conditions.

But on Sunday the sun shone so brilliantly that I couldn't stay inside. Here are a few photos from that walk.

The snow was piled high at the start of the trail; my feet and lower legs disappeared at every step.

The sun shone through the branches of a favourite oak:

Animal tracks crossed and criss-crossed the fields:

After a few hundred yards of plunging and wallowing through knee-deep drifts (great workout, but very tiring), I reached the packed surface of the snowmobile trail. What a relief to be on firm footing!

After winding through a little wood, the snowmobile trail cuts across the prairie restoration project, between wide fields of winter-bleached grass and flowers. Goldenrod is a common sight there:

As is knapweed:

I followed the trail around a few corners to find a forward-thinking tree that had decked itself in buds in preparation for Spring:

The buds themselves were dressed (like me) in wind-proof jackets with fuzzy underlayers:

A little farther on, the snow was zebra-striped with tree-shadows:

And every tree stood in a little bowl of snow:

From here on, the wind became so icy that I had to pull my scarf up over nose and mouth. (Which caused my breath to steam up my glasses, making it hard to spot photo ops.)

A very cold walk, despite the brilliant sunshine.

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This is the time of year we start to feel slightly desperate for warm weather and cycling. But winter still has a firm grip here; night-time temps have been below zero all week. It's hard to believe that calendar Spring is only two weeks away.

I wonder when real Spring will arrive?

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*George, in parody of a classic Looney Tunes scene ("I will name him George, and I will hack him and cough him...."). Urk, after a character in Cold Comfort Farm, whose name sounds like a cough. :)