Happy Halloween!

I'm just going to leave you with the Blue Man.

Something in the Air

Yes. I wish it were fall. I do. But it's 95 degrees here... No, I think it's ragweed, unfortunately. Anyone else feeling it? We've got stuffy noses, runny eyes, and headaches all around here! Luckily, I'm on some lovely allergy medication.

Something lovely came to my door a week ago:

It's Malabrigo Lace in "Verdes." And I love it! I'm not sure if you can even see how vibrant the greens are in this. It's the only lace yarn in my stash, and I'm planning on practicing with the "Easy Flame Lace Scarf" on Knit and Tonic. I'm almost afraid to touch it!

I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I've swatched for the Central Park Hoodie using Peace Fleece wool, which is a bit scratchy. I haven't washed the swatch yet, so we'll see what happens when I do. I really want to like this yarn!
I have actually finished my Tangled Yoke swatch, too.... and I'm loving Rowan Felted Tweed. I keep stopping just to look at my knitting! Hopefully I'll actually get that project to a point where it looks like something photograph worthy soon.

Have a good weekend! I'm off to make some Pumpkin Pie and pretend it's fall!

The Thing That Should Not Be.

This is me (notice the abnormally long tongue...sorry about that). The hat is Santa Cruz in sport weight Knit Picks Andean Treasure (which is really lovely, by the way). The crown has been ripped as this is the Smallest Hat Ever. Perhaps a gauge issue? Perhaps I have a huge head? Well, I enjoyed doing battle. Hat 2. Me 0. But I did get a good laugh out of it.

I think it might be punishment for not working on my sweater projects...

Bonus if you know who's song the title of this post is without googling it. ;)

Temptation Waits

I keep singing the song "Tangled Up in Blue" in my head. Did you know that women are more likely than men to get earworms? I almost always have one. Last week, I kept hearing the line "what a long, strange trip it's been" from the Grateful Dead song "Truckin." Just over and over. And really, it *has* been a long, strange trip. So I went browsing through the songs on this computer to find a title for this post. There are some great song titles on here that I can't wait to have a reason to use!

Okay, so a week and a half ago, I said I was going to go work on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. You know, swatch and stuff, maybe cast on, even. Right. But then I remembered I wanted to knit the Foliage Hat from Knitty. And I had some crazy colored Malabrigo yarn. I was tempted. Especially since I really wanted a quick knit!

Pattern: Foliage by Emilee Mooney
Size: Version 2 (worsted weight)
Yarn: Malabrigo Seleccion Privada

The yarn was somewhat felted in the hank and was, thus, a PAIN to wind. Even with my handy winder. It's very soft, though, and I'm looking forward to using Malabrigo wool again. These colors...uh...not so much.

The pattern is interesting (so they tell me- this is my first hat) because it's top down, rather than bottom up. I found it a bit finicky to cast on - when I finished the crown I noticed there was a bit of a "nipple" on the top. It bothered me. A lot. I kept picking at it while I was knitting my way down to the bottom! So when I finished, I managed to sew it down a bit. The lace pattern is very simple, but I kept forgetting to pass the slipped stitch over - especially when chatting or watching important baseball games (with playoff implications, as Fox put it). No matter! Really, with crazy yarn like that I can't see where I made the mistakes (ok, not easily - I know exactly where they are).

So, on to Tangled Yoke? Um. Yeah. I just cast on for Santa Cruz (yes! another hat!). My excuse is that I really wanted to try the traditional bottom-up method for making hats, more lace patterns (working my way to something with lace-weight yarn, even), and I have some Knit Picks Andean Treasure (100% Alpaca) that seems super soft and I want to try. So, there you have it. I was tempted by hats...and I really must get back to Santa Cruz because it's already one-third finished.