Friday, November 19, 2010

the mad hatter strikes again

I took a quick break from my Greenfield Cardigan to knit a chunky cabled hat for my mum.
Pattern: Cranberry Sauce, by Brittany Tyler
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky, #3317, 1 skein (~ 100 yds.)
Needles: Clover US 9 and 10.5 bamboo 16" circs

Notes:
This went very quickly, and I used a super cozy and squooshy yarn. Alpaca gives me both the sneezies and the itchies, but doesn't bother Mom. I didn’t check my gauge, and I ran out of yarn during the decreases as a result. I tweaked the pattern a bit to make it work, and it still looks great! Next time I’d use smaller needles, especially for the ribbing, and maybe have an extra skein of yarn on hand.
I've never really mastered the art of taking photos in the mirror, but here's a rough idea of what it looks like.
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Just in case you missed it, The Decemberists were on Conan last night!



Here's a link if they embedded video doesn't come through via a feedburner.

Colin's rocking the plaid flannel, of course.  Takes me back to the 90s and my misspent youth. ;-)
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- Has anyone seen Guy and Madeline Sitting on a Park Bench? If so, what did you think? It's a recent indie film that's part documentary, part musical, but it had a very limited release and isn't on netflix yet.  It sounds fascinating.

- Amazon has made it possible to give e-books as gifts. Huzzah, huzzah! More info here. Paul recently built 3 big bookcases for our downstairs den, and dealing with that has reaffirmed my desire to keep using my Kindle. Some books benefit immensely from physicality -- cookbooks, knitting books, art books, things you want to treasure forever or lend out to friends -- but half the books I read don't fall into those categories. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo simply doesn't deserve shelf space in my library for all time.
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new knitting patterns calling out my name

- Shalder, from The Shetland Trader Vol. 1.  I'm jonesing after the Quince & Co. Lark yarn (perhaps glacier or peacock?) for this pattern, but I must resist until another sweater (or two) is off the needles.

- Leaving, from the new Twist Collective. What a great overall issue!  I'm always a bit surprised by how expensive each pattern is, though. A $5/pattern limit is firmly entrenched in my brain; I wince at anything above that, especially since whole books full of fabulous knitting patterns are so affordable.

Little Owls, by Susan B. Anderson.  Just too cute! Plus you all know I'm an owl-addict.

- Holden Shawlette, by Mindy Wilkes (free).

8 comments:

marycatharine said...

It looks so warm and cozy... alpaca is one of those strange fibers, people either seem to love it or sneeze. How did you manage to knit without going crazy?

Chris said...

I have the same question as Mary Catherine - how the heck do you knit alpaca if it has that effect??

Oh yeah - go, ebooks! :) Do you subscribe to the Books on the Knob blog, which keeps up with all the Kindle ebook specials and freebies?

barefootrooster said...

thanks for that link -- i LOVE gillian welch. (and i do like the decemberists, but saw them here a few years ago and maybe it was the venue, but i left after a few songs.)

cute hat/cute mirror picture! and hooray for friday.

Nebraska Knitter said...

Darling hat. Alpaca is one of my favorite fibers.

Nebraska Knitter

Katie M. said...

Happy weekend! The hat looks warm and cozy (p.s. I love the star lamp!) .. and thanks for all of the links! I just wish I had unlimited knitting time. And you are so right about the books. They are the reason I dread moving.

peaknits said...

What a great hat! I love my kindle too -and you put it so apt that certain books don't deserve to be on your shelf for al time - I sooo need to thin the herd and love my kindle even more:)

Caffeine Girl said...

That is a darling hat. You are so fast. I can't believe how much you get knitted.

I have never heard the Decembrists, though I've heard about them. I'm coming back to watch the video you have up.

Mia said...

if alpaca is giving you sneexing and itching, it might not be smart to knit with it. Slight allergy to it maybe. The hat is cute though. And who doesn't alter a pattern?

Alpaca has no lanolin and that might be the problem for you. And sometimes how it is processed makes a differnce. but I am lucky in that I love it!!!!

I am putting a Kindle on my holiday list. Hopefully it will show up. Well a Kindle and g/c for my LYS and my fiber supply place. And you are right some books are nice to read but don't deserve space nn the shelf.

And I like the last shawl pattern. Just what I need, a new project!!!

And the one thing to keep in mind about Twist is that the designers are the ones getting the money. It means they can make a living designing. I still haven't decided which ones I like best yet in the new issue.