Compliments make my day

So this morning was WW (down another2.4 lbs, thanks for asking!) and while I was waiting outside (they're serious about when they open, 9:30 and not a second sooner, they don't care if it's snowing or not) a fellow WWer asked me about my choice of headwear (I was wearing my Noro Calorimetry) and was very excited to know that there are knitting patterns out there for such cute head bands! She just went on and on about it, in the 2 minutes we were left shivering. That made my day.

And looking out into the wintery wonderland we've got going on today in NE Ohio, somehow, I don't feel like I'm the crazy one for knitting and spinning. And I have been doing both. I've really hunkered down and put some serious time into the long ignored Hidcote Shawl. I know, it's been forever since I've shown it to you.
Look, a different stitch pattern! Finally! I'm now on chart 7 (out of 10 if you were wondering) and the 3 remaining charts get smaller (yay!) even though the rows continue to get longer (boo!). I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get this bad boy done by the end of the month. I'm not letting myself start any major (read: large) projects until this one is done. Quit laughing.

I've also managed to get a bit more done on the Druid Mitten. Still trying to limit myself on this one, I really don't need carpal tunnel or any other neurologic issue to interfere with the knitting.
Love the details of this pattern. Even the bobbles - and I'm not usually a bobble person.

I've also picked up something that was started before Christmas (at point, in a moment of insanity, I thought that it might be a Christmas present for someone, but I quickly recovered my sanity and put it aside) it's a Flutter Scarf. I'm using Jojoland Melody (same yarn as the Hidcote Shawl) and it's so pretty. I'm a little more than halfway done with one half of the plain bit of the scarf - does that make sense?
I'll try to explain. There's a 4 row repeat, that you do 50 times, then you get to do the fun flutter part at the end of the scarf. Then, you go back to where the bright pink yarn is, pick up the stitches and do 50 more of the 4 row repeats going the other way, then another flutter bit. Make sense? I'm looking forward to the flutter part.

I have my first 2 FO's of 2009! The first (the Mittens of Doom) really will get a post of their own soon. The second:
Another striped scarf! This one used Boku yarn instead of Noro - but to the same effect and I love it! It matches my new purple coat. Note in the first picture - the window on the right side. Yeah, it's snowing a lot here today. I managed to crank this puppy out in a long weekend! Granted, I worked a double hockey tournament, so I had plenty of time on my hands. It's also fewer stitches wide, and slightly shorter than the original. And it's the second FO because I wouldn't let myself sew the ends in until after the Mittens of Doom were complete.
Now for some spinning. Yesterday was Distaff Day - a spinners holiday, bet you didn't know that. So before Christmas I got the last shipment of my spindle and fiber club (very sad that it's over) and once again it was fantastic!
Included was a 1.19 oz green onyx spindle, 3.77 oz of "Nans Cottage" superwash merino (which you can see I've already started spinning) and 3.68 oz of "Light Hearted" alpaca top (which if you'll remember, matches the merino and mohair from previous shipments). To all you spinners out there - this is an amazing club for a great price, you should really consider it, and if not the club, check out the store - all of her stuff has been fantastic!
My other spinning is the now plied "Rockin Around".

I'm thinking that it's almost exactly like the Brave Woodsman I showed you, because I got the same yardage. However, I do have a bit more left on one bobbin that I need to Andean ply (or maybe I'll let my good friend Meagan the spinning goddess do it, I'm rubbish at the Andean plying, and this isn't the yarn I want to practice on). Still needs a soak and all, hoping to get all the new yarn soaked and dried this weekend.

In other news, I'd like to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS!! to my brother Paul, who just got hired on with the Painesville Fire Department. He's been working long and hard for this and I'm very proud of him. Here's hoping that this means more time off for visits.

Also, for the first time in my career, I saw a shutout in a basketball game. I didn't think that it was possible, but it is. It was a JV girls game (you now can understand how horrible it was). By the end, you just wished someone would make 1 shot. The refs started calling fouls on my girls just to give the other team foul shots. The varsity game wasn't much better, we won by almost 60. Yikes.