Ah, Monday...

I'm actually in a surprisingly good mood for a Monday morning. Today is Zarzuela's first day on the new job, and we took the train together this morning. I knew that having pleasant company for the commute would make the time go faster, but I didn't realize just how much faster. It seemed like one minute we were sitting down, the next minute I was pointing out how pretty the sunrise looked behind the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry (I wish I had gotten a picture of that--it was truly lovely), and then we were suddenly in NYC. Between that and having had time to sit down to breakfast with Taz before he left, it was a really good start to the week!

The weekend was lovely, too. Friday night we went to a cool place to listen to some great folk singers. It had been a long time since I'd heard live folk music, and it was a real pleasure. I even bought a couple CDs to give my mother for her birthday. I also got a lot of knitting done on x-mas surprise #1. In fact, on Saturday, I finished it:


A large wool hat (recipient to remain nameless).

It looks a little tall and square in that picture, but it really looks like a normal shape when someone puts it on, I promise. It was made on US #8's from the gray and blue two-ply wool I had, the brand of which I don't know. The pattern was basically made up, though I did use a free pattern from Red Heart to help me figure out the basics. Since my gauge was between gauges for their pattern, and the head I was knitting this for is larger than any of the sizes offered, and I was knitting it in the round rather than flat, I basically had to wing it. I did do 2x2 ribbing for 6 inches and then stockinette for another 4 inches before starting my decreases, but that's about all I did that was in the pattern. I wanted to decrease down to fewer stitches than called for so that I could have just 4 sts left over to go straight into the i-cord. Anyway, I started out decreasing 4 sts per row, and about halfway through, I began decreasing 8 sts per row. If anyone wants a more exact explanation of the pattern, let me know.

Anyway, getting that done with allowed me to begin x-mas surprise #3, and to put an end to my kidsilk haze virginity:


I swear the picture's not blurry--it's the yarn that's fuzzy!

I'm not telling what it is, or who it's for, but many of you can probably guess. In case you're curious, it's color #595. Everyone refers to this stuff as fiber crack, and I agree that it's very soft, especially for something that contains mohair, which I often find scratchy. However, counting cast-on stitches for this stuff was really difficult, because the stitches are very hard to see when they're close together on the needle. In addition, you may have noticed that I'm using the magic loop for this, and all I can say is that joining the first round on metal needles was like wrangling an eel. Now that it's started, though, things are going smoothly, and I kind of like the sensation that I'm knitting cotton candy. OK, so maybe it's cranberry-wine flavored cotton candy. Mmmmm. If my next post includes a picture of me coughing up a hairball, you'll know why.