A Hat for Alex

The yarn is leftover from a sweater I made for my niece 13 years ago.
Finished this hat on the Thanksgiving weekend road trip.
Trillian42 on Knittyboard has posted about her hat project here. I used the pattern she had linked to her blog post.

Also finished a hat for the same niece for her 13th birthday. No picture. I left the hat wrapped up for her birthday. All I have left are yarn crumbs.

Boucle that's bugging me

While I should be working on other things, some boucle keeps nudging at me for some reason. There are four bits.

One's a 200 yd hank of Wool in the Woods that I bought last year-plus as a congratulations to me for surviving something workish. It's very soft. Will look good with winter coats.

Two are two different hanks, each 330ish yards of a CTH end of a year closeout sale that I won't do again, as I have indulged enough.

Interestingly enough all three hanks, above, have an interesting color conversation together. Reds / purples figure into each of them, though each is clearly different (dark purple in one, some green and maroon in another, etc.)

I've been swatching a little bit with the W-i-t-Woods, so today I rolled up one of the other hanks so I could see what would happen if I alternated all three. They're all surprisingly comfortable and not scratchy, so it's rather too bad they couldn't have made an eye-poppingly bold big old sweater. (Never mind the math that I'd need to get less than 900 yards to BECOME a sweater.) The actual yarn weight is subtly different side by side. And there's a clearly visible difference in how they're spun.

Had shifted to using large needles, and suddenly the difference in the actual yarn weight seemed major. Next experiment? I'm back to thinking about what to do with them. Any recent personal bests out there with soft, bumpy boucles?

Oh, there's a bunch of Debbie Bliss Astrakhan that I bought some time ago at a store that was closing. Looking for a sweater, but that's really hanging to the back of the queue. Really, I shouldn't speak of it.

PS. This sounds all name-droppy. Sorry about that. I'm just trying to be specific, since I have no pictures of my puzzlings. If I can get pictures up next week, I will.

Finish one thing, and move on to the next.

Truly that's the way this fall has gone. I finished one project, and bang we're onto another. That's just work. Knitting has been littler, but there have been plenty of little projects.

This hat is actually one of the later knitting bits - part of the next big project, actually. A student shaved her head for a role - quite a bold thing for her to do - and so I decided I needed to make her a hat. She needed a little extra TLC, I thought, for taking on such a major endeavor and making such a personal commitment.




The hat was done pattern free. The yarn is Misti Alpaca's but it's not alpaca. This is the pima cotton and silk blend. Boring color, but it was what was on hand when I went shopping. Soft, soft, soft. The recipient is allergic to wool, but I just wasn't excited about making an acrylic hat in this particular case. It needed to feel like a treat.

Fetching Tapestry

While away from blogging, I knit a pair of mitts. Fetching, from Knitty. The yarn is Rowan's Tapestry, a soy/wool blend. Must admit that this was late summer already. Was thinking about making them for ssarahevt, my knittyboard secret pal, but I decided I wasn't content with them. I sent her a ball of the same yarn, in her preferred colorway, actually, so she might enjoy the knitting process. These are from the same ball. Isn't it interesting how the color changes have worked up? The yarn is rather like Noro - the color changes are spun in.

Started another sock

I was working on two sets of socks. Naturally as soon as I finished one, I started another sock. I had some early fall commuting time to kill and walked to Loopy yarns. This is Ravenswood, aptly named for a neighborhood through which the Brown line runs. Didn't they call the Brown line the Ravenswood line? Why of COURSE they did.

Some socks finished

Trekking Aunt Socks. Went for pebble rib on the Anne Norling pattern I go to when I don't want to think about fancy socks. I used the pebble rib once before on a sproingier worsted. I think the Trekking isn't as suited. Must send these off to my aunt.

Oh, and I officially have enough for another pair if not more. Did I mention before that I somehow thought I HAD to start from the same spot on matching balls of yarn. I will die of boredom knitting another set of socks from this yarn if I do it too soon.

A hat

I knit a hat as a thank you.
The pattern is Marnie Maclean's Nautilus hat, the second on her page. (I'd link if I were in the mood. I'm not in the mood.) The lovely Lorna's Lace worsted is Black Purl.
The wool came from a lovely little swap on the knittyboard. I think I fancied that I'd make myself a hat. There's some leftover. It may be part of something for me. In the meanwhile, it made a deserving student designer very happy. Purple is one of her colors.

Is this thing on?

I do, at long last, have some postable knitting pictures. I've been knitting, after all, even little bits. Finished socks, zipped out some mitts and a few other things. Have to go home now, though, so I can do a rare thing and eat a meal AT home. I'm going home - or maybe to the coffeeshop where the knitters are tonight. Either way it's a night OFF. Tomorrow, maybe some blog ON.

Where's the knitting indeed?

A week without knitting? Sheesh.
I'm ready for some serious knitting.

Yearning for fall

During the heat of the summer, I do rather yearn for fall. I have always considered myself to be an oily, sweaty person, so the summer is rather a time for giving up hope of feeling in the least bit dainty.

Here we are in October, and my work life has raced me through a month of the best of fall. I've missed the late summer tomatoes. In fact, today was the first in a month that I was able to hit the farmer's market. I have a few tomatoes to tide me over, but the splendor of today's market was clearly the apples. Bought some to eat. Bought some plums for baking.

Now I just yearn to knit more than the couple of socks I keep inching at on the train....

Insert Pathetic Whine Here

I'm having one of those days. Maybe you've had one? Where everything that runs across your path simply points to twenty billion more things you should have done and have to do, and the phrase whattaloser comes into your head more than you'd like but it's all self directed? Failure day.

That's today in my sandbox.

Maybe the problem is I'm only looking at the day's equivalent of those teensy little offwhite stitches that look like a tension flaw. Even though I know they'll even out in the blocking (and with tweaking), this day is like the kind of knitting day where you can't see Oh COOL, look at the forearm of the sweater. Cool. I did that.


Wish I could have seen the day like I can see the sleeve. Here's to maybe, someday, learning more from my knitting.

I did frog last weekend

Knitty sp7

Adriennec outdid herself in finding clever ways to spoil me. I am in awe. I'd write more, but there's a bus to catch. For now, pictures. I'll edit next week. The lovely lemon verbena soap was too shy for a photo. Imagine it on the beautiful washcloth.

Invisible Girl

Still here. Massive frogging. Sock knitting. More on the Equinox. SP7 beautiful things to share - adriennec outdid herself, and she has challenged me to step into some great new directions.

Meanwhile I'm invisible here in the knitting blogosphere. No pictures to air my progress. No stories that amuse me. No one is washing my dishes. My laundry started to catch up and then lagged behind again, lazy laundry. Fortunately cats are fed.

However, I'm keeping quite busy. There's singing and dancing and carrying on. There was knitting aplenty on buses and trains, but I gave myself a few days off from carrying too many things. I read last night. Today I gazed out the window and drank coffee. Enjoyed the anonymity of the urban commute.

More when I can whip off the cloak of busy invisibility.

Frog the darn thing!

Spitting Yarn mentioned it.

kt gave out the challenge.

I could do with a little guilt offloading.

I join late, but I think this is a worthy task.


I've been rehearsing the idea for the better part of a year.

This is what some of the unknit portion looks like.

I think it will be worth it.

Copycat, copycat

Seen over at SABLE:


My Personality

Neuroticism	72
Extraversion	68
Openness To Experience	92
Agreeableness	71
Conscientiousness	40

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report MySpace Surveys, Bebo and MySpace Layouts by Pulseware Survey Software

Interestingly, I think my levels of guilt and perfectionism (see Neuroticism above, *ahem*) take the conscientiousness factor far lower than I'd have expected. Quizzes are interesting beasts.

Labor Day Knitting

It's interesting to track where spurts of knitting start and where they lead. Interesting to me, I suppose. I'd been picking up some oddballs of Karabella's Aurora 8. It's a very soft, rather springy multiple of merino. I'd been picking up dark colors in the sale bins of a couple shops over the past months. Wasn't quite sure where they were going. Sunday afternoon I ran a bunch of errands in neighborhoods I can't get to during the rest of the week. Picked up a pair of shoes that I'd ordered. Stopped into a Trader Joe's. And I stopped at the yarn store to pick up the order of a book I'd been ogling. I caved under the pressure of a holiday weekend sale. I picked up enough yarn to make a sweater. Karabella, see above.

I used the Equinox pattern to estimate yardages. When I got home, after some judicious browsing through magazines and books, I decided I might give that pattern a whirl. I'll see if I regret it: there are clearly some changes ahead. Among the obvious changes are my combinations of colors - but I'm enjoying that swap. So far I've been pleased with the mapping out I did - a one to one swap that still follows the chart. I'm getting close to a few points where I may do some internal swapping.

So while the magazine obligingly sang the praise of the care with which the designer worked out just the right colorways, I've pitched that out the window. Well, not altogether. I still have a brown body, a few warmish and light colors - just a different interpretation. And of course, the yarn I'm using won't provide the obligingly fuzzy halo described. Don't care. This yarn is incredibly soft and feels like a luxury. With the boat neck, it will be important, I think. Of course the yarn is just a teensy bit heftier than the designer selection. Sorted out gauge to suit myself - even gave a swatch a bath. I think I've found a gauge that will get me a reliable size, even if the hand and drape might differ a bit from the sample sweater. That's okay. I don't need that much cling. It'll be a cozy and warm thing, which is ultimately what I'd associate with a fair isle type sweater yoke.

More importantly, in hopes of identifying the creative spurt of which I spoke above, I should mention that I've embarked on a HUGE project at work. Very demanding. Naturally, one would think I'd want to stick with my recent bus and train knitting. Not this child. I started on Monday with the sleeve so I could really get at the color work.


Could be worse for a late night fluorescent lighting photo at work.

I've already missed my earlier train. I'm leaving early for the last one. I'm sure that I'll be returning to my regular soporific sock knitting later on in the project. For now, my parallel project is the Equinox pullover.

Long weekend knitting

There are Fetching mitts (Rowan tapestry is interesting....) in this long weekend of knitting, and 6 or more inches of colorwork knitting on the Equinox whatsit on the Interweave Knits Fall 06 cover. I am not using quite as fine a yarn, but I'm enjoying exploring some color experimentation in using some of what I have and some of what I picked up at the Labor Day Sale on Lawrence Ave. And there are socks in my bus and train knitting bag.

Oh. And I will miss the train if I don't leave.

ETA: I missed my train. Thank goodness there was another in an hour.

Bus & Train Knitting

Bus & train knitting:
A hat for a nephew who requested these colors for a hat, in which I tackled the jogless jog. Sadly, I didn't tackle a perfectly discreet carry along of the color from stripe to stripe. It peeks out. Still better than endless end weaving.

A pebble rib sock, in which I am so convinced I want the trekking to match that I purchase two skeins (for two pair) so as to start at EXACTLY the same spot, only to discover that this was a fairly regular colorway of trekking.

I also discover that I failed to count correctly. Mindless bus & train knitting was a teenytiny bit brainless. I wanted 64 stitches, and I had 68. This I discovered at the heel flap. Bah. It will be what it will be. They're comfort socks. I just have to remember to write down the "fixes" I did so the two socks will match. That's how this all started: buying a yarn reputed for not matching, I must find a way to make matching happen.

Must go catch my bus or train. Wonder which I'll take today?

Summer stuff / Semi sentences

Working on a nephew hat. Conquered the jogless stripe.
Lost a needle on knitting night.
  

Knit another one.
  

Started a sock for knitting at home. Nancy Bush's pattern has a repeat of more than a few rows. I may not remember it.
Here's the cuff and a little of the first repeat.
  

Finished Hedera socks.
  

Started another pair of socks.