That's A Bit More Like It

The January weather disappeared on Friday afternoon, and November weather came back cool (but normal temps) and bringing with it rain. Next week it looks as though late December/early January will be returning.

No time to get down about it! I've my window insulation kit *and* I'm holiday gift knitting for some favorite people. Right now, it's this hat. And we all know I love some beautiful texture knitting.

At first, the hat and I had some terse discussions. I posted yesterday: "Just three rows in on *Beauregard's cabled band, and already I've dropped the "Fuck! Fuck! Fuggity fuck fuck!" curse bomb for doing the wrong stitch sequence. This is going to be a very trying pattern." (*If I'm going to be spending a lot of time fondling the yarn and cursing, the hat needed a name.)

However, Beauregard isn't as fiddly a pattern as I believed when I was ready to set fire to the pattern yesterday. (Set fire to the pattern, *never* the yarn, it's not the yarn's fault in my home. Ever.) And while it's not nearly as fiddly, as with a new lover, it wants more of my attention than a regular old right-twist cable. So I put aside my DVDs and television remote, and queued up my favorite podcasts.

The Malabrigo Silky Merino is Matisse Blue. *sigh*





This is point I dropped the megaton fuck bomb on Beauregard. Then abandoned it on the table to go make some bread.





And here we are happily knitting along after some time apart.





I'm done with the first repeat, only seven or eight more to go.





This was Tank after her bath on Friday evening. I think it may be the usual huddle position for us this winter:

Hello, Gorgeous!

It's been done for a few days, and the friend loves it! I'm glad I was able to use the angora that's been sitting in my stash for a few years now. And it was the right move to carry it along with the silk/merino yarn.










Remember, source your angora yarn from farms/spinners who meet ethical standards for the treatment of their rabbits. It's more expensive, but worth it.

*insert sound of chattering teeth here*

For the past week, my neck of the woods has been 15-20 degrees (fahrenheit) below normal for this time of year. Next week isn't looking much better. Tank is relatively unfazed by the cold. Although she's taken to snoozing on my reading blanket more often.





Of course, I've been thinking about knitting wool socks for myself, but a friend requested a scarf. Her hair is short, and she's usually feeling chilled when the temps drop below 70F.

Luckily for her, I've decided that 2015 is the year of Using Up The Stash, this gives me an jump on that goal.

I knew I had the angora which I had purchased under the delusion I would look elegant in a cardigan of 100% angora, instead of a rabbit fur-covered version of Violet the blueberry from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

I pulled the pale blue angoa yarn from the stash. However, I knew my friend would need a bit more substance in her scarf for added warmth, I also pulled my two skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino in off-white that had been lounging in the stash.

Next, I didn't want a scarf for her that constantly needed adjusting, and she wears hats to keep warm. I like cowl scarves as they can also be pulled up and used as a head scarf, too.

I pulled out my SNA circs (size 8 US - 24") and got to work. As I have that whole work thing during the day, then cooking-chores-errands-sleeping taking up precious knitting hours after work, I'm only at 50% after 6 days of knitting.











Next up, continuing the parade of dishcloths for the girl and her beau. They've moved into new digs, and I've wanted to give them something for their kitchen as we're a family that takes our food to heart with delighted passion.

I'm mainly using garter stitch or bee stitch for the dishcloths. I'm using Dishie (KnitPicks) from the stash, Sugar'N Cream (Lily) from the stash and some bought on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

FO - Ribbed Bolero Shrug

I *adore* this shrug! However, it took some work, in addition to knitting it up, to get this ready for wearing.

I washed it, then blocked it. The bits of merino wool in the alpaca bloomed to the point it looked like I had a fistfight with a fucking lint trap. Just look at it!









Three hours, one Ott Lite, one pair of needle-nose tweezers, and one pair of razor-sharp embroidery scissors: both sides de-linted (I just made it a word, shut up).









It looked like sheep had been shagging on my bedroom floor:





Then the seaming...





Ta-dah!












* * *


Needle
US 6 - 4.0 mm
US 9 - 5.5 mm

Yarn
Caden's Moon Alpacas

Weight
Worsted / 10 ply (9 wpi)

How much?
10 skeins = 2000.0 yards (1828.8 meters)

Colorway
natural

Purchased at
Knit & Knot in Bettendorf, Iowa