The Harlequin Scarf

What do you give someone who suffers seasonal affective disorder? A bright, colorful, warm handmade knitted scarf with orange fringe, that's what! It took me about two weeks to knit, but a lot longer to finish. You know how that works. You zip through the main part of the project and then for some reason, it take weeks and weeks to sew one last stitch. C'est la vie.


But it's done. My father-in-law loves wearing crazy hats to walk the dog. His latest acquisition was a court jester hat with great colors and little tassels on the end - given to him by my husband. I felt the hat alone wasn't enough to cast away the winter blues. No. He needed an added accessory. Enter, the crazy colored harlequin knitted scarf. It was my first attempt at intarsia (knitting with chunks of color) and it was great fun.

The package was sent and delivered a few days ago. I'm hoping it's new owner will enjoy the brilliance and joy of this scarf as well as the occasional odd-ball looks he'll get from the neighbors.

Harlequin scarf - the early stages

Harlequin scarf - final product

Art Projects Revealed

So, guess who finally graced us with his presence 2 weeks after the new water kettle arrived? You got it, Mr. Swivel Base himself. Unbelievable. It was hiding in the cabinet behind some other stuff. Anyway, I must put this behind me.

Art project. Our first art project was due end of February. To recap, the quote was, "Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies instantly." February's birthstone: amathyst. Timothy and I both scrambled on the very last day and here's what we came up with.

Jen's project
(Photoshop)

Timothy's Project
(nickel and amathyst colored rhinestone)

On February 28 we submitted our projects and searched out the next written work for our March inspiration. This month it was my turn to pick the book. I chose The Bible. I picked the page and Timothy randomly pointed to a sentence. We landed on the Book of Job 42:11, "Then came there unto him all his brethren" March's birthstone: aquamarine.

As usual we were down to the wire. The night before, we stayed up late to finish our masterpieces. The result:

Jen's project
(acrylic paint)

Timothy's project
(mirror and aquamarine stone)

The April project is now in effect. The idea of couple's month was thrown in there, so we might work on a project together. We'll see. April's source of inspiration comes from Edgar Allan Poe's, "The Oval Portrait" The quote is, "...the spirit of the lady again flickered up as the flame within the socket of the lamp". Birthstone: Diamond/Crystal.

Can't wait to see what we come up with. Can you?