yarr! pirates!

The pirate hat is done and I'm ready to make some progress on other holiday knitting. My mom's socks are still stagnant, and my husband's scarf has yet to begin, but I'm feeling eager to start on a hat for my sister. I'm glad to have a jump on the presents this year, but one anxiety remains: when the new Knitty comes out in December, what if I love the new patterns?! Something that seems perfect now may pale in comparison. I guess I'll probably be the only one to know, but that would do little to console me.

Pirate hat details. Pattern: We Call Them Pirates by Adrian Bizilla. Yarn: more Knit Picks' Merino Style for body, Frog Tree Alpaca Sport for lining Needles: US 3 for body, US 2 for lining. Right now it's blocking happily to a smoother finish than shown in the picture.

I really like the Frog Tree Alpaca Sport yarn. Now, I've always liked alpaca yarns, but this one has some really good qualities. It boasts a handsome, simple two-ply construction; it makes me think of spindle spinning. The yarn has a little loft, but doesn't shed too much. (I'm not finding scarlet alpaca fibers all over the house) It's silky and soft, unlike some alpaca yarns which seem soft in your hand but scratchy on your neck. Bear in mind that it has the limitations of alpaca, i.e. it is nowhere near as springy as wool, it will be very warm (mostly an advantage, in my opinion). The label was a little perplexing, though, suggesting that it be knit on US size 6 needles. This would make a very open fabric, judging from the results I got with US 2s.

Up next: my sister's hat, using this lovely Valley Yarns' hand-dyed Berkshire. I'll be using the same yarn in solid fuchsia as the main color.

mom's christmas socks (finally)

I'm only about 6 inches into the first sock, but even that gives me a sense of relief. I spent days trying to work out which pattern to use, casting on and frogging in wretched defeat. I started with the simple yet cute Charade socks. I wasn't enjoying the twisted ribbing, which doomed the sock. Then, I began the lovely, cabled Naïve socks. These were going well until I started to bring the small cables together into the larger ones that make up most of the sock, but my yarn was not really showing off the small cables to best advantage. Onward, I thought, to the Sprung Socks. Pretty, yet restrained, I thought. I quickly got sick of working the plain foot in the toe-up construction.







Sunk deep in sock-induced ennui, a magical email arrived. My library request for Interweave Knits' Favorite Socks was unexpectedly filled, giving me a chance to try Jennifer Appleby's Uptown Boot Socks, which I first saw on Grumperina's blog. Yes, these are cabled, but it's an allover cable pattern that twists only in one direction. Very easy. Also, the classic construction won't present too much of a challenge while holiday deadlines are looming. I'm actively working on some other gift projects right now too. I'll get to those later.

the dalek rises

So I'm working on Penwiper's supercool EXTERMAKNIT dalek as a gift for a certain lucky family member. I have to admit relief at being past most of the bobbles: it took me about an hour to complete each bobble row. Toward the end I was finding it less than joyful, but the result is really awesome. It is definitely worth doing if the FO will be for a small child; no buttons or beads to swallow.

My circular knitting method for this project has become a bit eccentric: 3 dpns and a short circular. Something like Cat Bordhi-lite. I haven't lost it, I just have the other two size 4 dpns engaged in the border of a lace project.