You know how it is when you get really excited to cast on for a new project, that you're willing to cast aside all the others to get to it? Well, I'm kinda there right now.
I just cast on for Anne Hanson's Monkeybread hat & scarf. I'm making it out of Great Northern Yarns' luscious 70% mink, 30% cashmere DK-weight yarn. And as one would expect, it is fabulous. I love this yarn. A couple years ago I made some ridiculous cable gloves from it, in black. The reason the gloves were ridiculous is because anyone with any sense would know that knitting cables with black yarn is just plain foolish. Then, to knit cables in black yarn that blooms like angora is doubly foolish. I did all that work with complex, mirrored cables only to have them entirely disappear because they bloomed so much that my hands looked like they belonged to a silverback gorilla. I'm not kidding. All that work and I could have done them in stockinette in half the time. On the plus side, though, they are the warmest gloves I've ever owned and I'll be making myself another pair this winter, as I've nearly worn through the fingers on the current pair.
But I digress. The Monkeybread hat is what I'm so excited about! It's so soft! and the cables are lovely. If only I were better at reading instructions. See, there are two sizes to this hat: small and large. This set is a gift for my mom, whose head circumference requires the larger size. The instructions say to start the chart on row 13, and idiot that I am, I knit 13 rounds THEN started the chart, instead of just skipping the 12 previous rows. I'm not sure how this happened, but I think I can make up for it. We'll see what I have to say in a week or so. I'm using the Blueberry colorway, which is gorgeous altogether, and I kind of wish I was keeping for myself. But this really is for Mom, unless she decides otherwise. That's the only way I'll get this back.
Since I started the Monkeybread hat, I haven't touched the Kristi socks, except to photograph them. An amazing thing happened with these socks: when I finished the gusset decreases, each sock was on the same row of the chart, ready to go, not needing any adjustments from me. This is a miracle of the highest order and will probably never happen again in my lifetime. What usually happens is that I forget a decrease somewhere along the line, so that when I finally have the right number of stitches along the bottom of one sock, the other still needs at least one more decrease round. It can be frustrating, but so long as both feet use the same chart for the top of the foot, I'm alright. In the case of the Kristi socks, the charts are mirrored, which would have made it maddening to do them at the same time if they were off even the least little bit. I am grateful they're right. I'll definitely work on them on the bus tomorrow on the way to work.
Lastly, I'm on the home stretch with the Kusha Kusha scarf, finally on the smallest size needle and rapidly running out of yarn on the first cone of silk/stainless. For whatever reason, the scarf seems to be going a little faster, but may only be because I can see the end. Maybe I can finish it Thursday night at Stitch 'n' Pitch. A bunch of us are going to see our Louisville Bats take on the Gwinett Braves. It's dollar beer night, so I have to make sure I take something easy. I hope I remember to take some pictures.
That's it for now, Friends. Until next time!
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