An Elephant Beret

Little knitting news to report. Work continues on the pinwheel. It continues to look much the same. When I knit it in public, people get very, very confused. "Is that a hat?" they say. Even though it's far past the point of being a suitable hat for anything smaller than an elephant. Yeah. That's it. I'm knitting an elephant beret!

In other knitting news: I've spent the entire morning figuring out what yarn/needles/pattern to pack for a four day weekend to San Francisco (weeeeee! San Francisco!). I've settled on some nice blue merino for a Summer VK scarf project and some handspun wool/mohair/silk stuff from Northern Idaho for Branching Out.

It makes me nervous to have only two projects, though I know there's very little chance I will complete them both and come Sunday afternoon be forced to rip my clothing into shreds to knit with. I hate packing. Almost as much as I hate flying. And I'm flying standby, so I'm having difficulty gauging just how afraid I should be (it would be such a waste to expend all this fearful energy if I'm not going to get on the plane...).

Anyway: Here's to hoping I get on the plane, that it makes it to San Francisco and that I brought the right projects!

Here, I debut my new shrug in Burley, Idaho, a small farming community I’m convinced will one day be discovered as the center of the known universe (but that’s a different blog). In the car, I’ve got the Yarn Harlot’s “At Knit’s End,” and I’m working on my own knitting meditations. The first mystery to solve: What kind of knitter am I?

I am the kind of knitter who:

1. injures herself from knitting too much, then keeps on doing it until nothing short of four months of physical therapy will fix it.

2. sustains said injury six months into her knitting life.

3. is not a perfectionist. Speedy, yes. Mistake free, no. Willing to rip out a project to fix a mistake? Probably not. When the going got tough on my Charlotte’s Web, I threw it in a corner. (Luckily, I returned to the web a few months later and just bound off, giving myself a truncated, but nevertheless lovely, version of the project).

4. has a panic attack upon completion of a project if there’s not another one lined up to start. Even if there are six already-begun projects waiting patiently in my knitting room for a little attention.

5. is a knitting evangelist. I am on a personal mission to convert as many new knitters as is humanly possibly. Just ask my friends, husband, family, cat.

Stay tuned for more knitting (and personality) deconstruction.
 

Wheelin'

You spin me right round baby! I've hopped on the pinwheel baby blanket bandwagon and here's my progress. This is my first official knitalong and I was so psyched I pinwheeled all through the two-hour season finale of the Amazing Race (you go, Uchenna and Joyce!). Here's a peak at my progress (I've got about 240 stitches on ye olde needles just now). I love the rosy color, and while early results looked more raspberry beret, I think it will end up rosebud. I'm planning a green cottony crocheted border that I hope will add to the whole flower effect (without getting too Anne Geddes).

Details:

Started: May 9.
Yarn: Schoeller Esslinger Merino Soft from my good friends at Elann.
Needles: 6 (for a soft, loose gauge, for speedier knitting, and because I have three sets of size 6 circulars and only one set of size 5)
Pattern: Free pinwheel pattern. I'm adding a purl ridge about every 10 rows (when the stitches between the yos are multiples of 5 [see, I really can do math!])
Border: I'm thinking something crocheted and something green.
Gauge: About 6 stitches per inch
Recipient: My little niece, due for arrival in July.

Look, Ma! It's a pinwheel! Or a rosy flower (I'm planning a green cotton crocheted border). (Note: The yarn is pinkier and rosier than this photo shows. I included it to give an idea of how the sweet purled rows are turning out).

Here's a pinwheel close-up. 

Blocking Like A Rabbit

Notice in the photo below my snazzy new blocking board, all thanks to fluffa!

So, thank you, kind skinny rabbit!

Details on the capelet: With my special mystery Icelandic yarn, I cast on 90 stitches then decreased a couple of stitches every six row five times. The last two rows, I k4-ed, k2tog-ed around then k5-ed, k2tog-ed around before binding off tightly. The first time I bound off, the little bugger wanted to slip off my shoulders, floorbound. Stay tuned for mystery-yarn capelet tried on as soon as it's cute little self is all dry.

Here's what happens when you have a super cool brother-in-law who brings you yarn from Iceland. The balls didn't have labels, but there were two of them and my gauge swatch on my No. 15s came out to 2.5 stitches an inch. So I knit this little capelet, praying I'd have enough yarn. Looks like I did. 

Hooray! After eight long, long years, you can finally call me master. Yep. That's right. I defended by Masters thesis on Thursday and here I sit, all proud of myself, telling a little more of the world about my a) procrastination, but also, b) about how I perservered and at the very last minute kicked it and now have an MA in English. Yeah, baby.

And, on the way to Pocatello for the aforementioned thesis defense, I knit a little skinny hot pink scarf and a gauge swatch for this lovely little shirt/wrap thingy from the latest Vogue. (Oh, how I love my Vogue Knitting). The yarn, btw, is some Tahki cotton classic from the stash. Yep, I finished my degree and started a stash busting project. (I'm doing the Snoopy dance in my mind).