Damn you, wintry mix.

It happens every winter: the dreaded wintry mix. How can something so pleasant-sounding be so miserable? It's the same every time - circa 29 degrees, but feels like 10, snow, sleet, hail, ice blowing into your face until it stings. The ground is covered not with soft snow, but hard, slippery ice that and intermittent puddles and only the best Hunter boots can prevent a klutz like myself (or a "fall risk" as they call us at the hospital) from flying face forward and taking an ice bath.

Aside from the traditional winter staples that I have slowly started to trust since my move east (i.e. floor-length mummy-sleeping-bag-like down coat, scarf, winter socks), there is nothing like a warm wool headband to keep the snow off your face.

Thankfully, Martha had just the knitting project to keep the wintry mix at bay. Less thankfully, my knitting skills were really rusty when I began. The project was a cabled headband (cabled matching mittens to come once I master this whole cabling thing). The whole thing took me 8-10 hours of hard labor and in the end, my fingers are definitely burning and probably will be for quite awhile. That said, I was pretty impressed at how easy it is to incorporate an I-chord and cables into a normal knit-pearl repertoire. For those of you who don't speak knitting, suffice to say that even an impatient knitter who always loses count can do this.

Although I definitely don't look like Martha's model (or Martha), I have to say that my project is pretty close to Martha's. Day 2... look at me go! More ambitious knitting to follow? It's a good thing.

Mine (tied to a chair):.....................................................And Martha's: