Starshower Cowl and Dark Chocolate Cherry Chews

It's amazing what you can make with a single skein of sock yarn! And the Starshower Cowl has to be one of my top picks for a single skein project.  Who among us doesn't have a stash full of single skeins that were spontaneous purchases?  I, like most knitters, find sock yarn irresistible because it's not that expensive for a single skein of yarn and the variety of colors and textures are amazing and beautiful so it's hard to resist.  Especially when the yarn whispers *love me* *knit me* *give me a home* and so forth. No one can resist that kind of sales pressure.  But even if you have to go out and buy a skein of sock yarn I would for this project because it's easy to knit and very wearable.

The pattern is called Starshower Cowl but I call mine Stardust Cowl because it reminds me of the cool fantasy story written by Neil Gaiman.  I won't tell you the plot of Stardust but it involves (obviously) stars and falling stars and that's enough for you to see why I connect that story with this cowl.  I read this book a few years ago when I found it on the self of a tiny bookstore while on vacation in Northern California and every book on their shelves was a treasure.  There's just nothing like an independent bookstore for a discerning selection and I always love the staff picks too.  It's sad to see these independent bookstores disappear as more people read ebooks or for that matter don't read at all. So go out and support your local bookstore and buy a copy of Stardust you'll be happy you did (and it would make a great stocking stuffer too especially if you knit this cowl to go with it!).

Particulars:  Starshower cowl designed by Hilary Smith Callis (TheYarniad); US 6 needles; 1 skein Hedgehog Fibers Sock Yarn (colorway Bonbon).  This is a wonderful pattern and I didn't make a single modification.  Well except that I used a variegated yarn instead of a solid color as used by the designer. I think it looks wonderful in both a solid or variegated yarn and the size can easily be adjusted to changing your needle size, how firmly your block it and/or the number of repeats you knit (but keep in mind changing the needle size or the repeats will effect your yarn usage).

Thanksgiving and Native American Culture

In the picture above I painted the plaque with the phrase "moon of falling leaves" as a whimsical way to welcome fall and also acknowledge our native american culture.  The moon was an important part of native american culture as it provided light to see at night around their villages and in addition it was used to track the seasons, i.e, "moon of the falling leaves; green grasses," etc.  At that time in history the night skies (both the moon and stars) were the sole means to track seasons and direction (for example you can find due north by finding the big dipper). In any event when I think of the harvest and thanksgiving and the bounty of this land I also think of the native americans and how they lived here for centuries in harmony with nature without destroying it and how in such a short time we have done so much damage to the wildlife and waterways and how that broke their hearts. I find the following Cree Prophecy relevant and poignant:

When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.

A sobering view of  our convenience, cost, and consumerism "values" and hopefully not a true prophecy but merely a warning of what could happen if changes are not made.

Lastly Dark Chocolate Cherry Chews

Because I wanted to end on a sweet note......

These chocolate cherry chews are amazing but very very rich so don't eat then all at once.  Steve (always full of great food ideas) suggested eating these with a scoop of vanilla ice cream kinda like an ice-cream sandwich.  I'm definitely going to give that a try.   Here's a link to the  recipe found online at MarthaStewart.com.

Until next time be well, love well, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!