I’m failing at choosing colors. If you remember, yesterday I mentioned I was doing a test knit of a hat, and I’d chosen these two colors (they’d be held together throughout).
They were farther apart in color than I thought when I ordered them, or something, because when I started knitting with them, I didn’t like it. Fortunately I also made a mistake in the pattern so I had a good reason to frog and start over. But with what? I needed two colors closer to each other so the disparity wouldn’t be so striking. Next I tried these two.
I know, I haven’t knit enough to see it well. But I’ll tell you: it’s just okay. I’m not crazy about it. It would be cute for a little girl, so I might do the child size instead of the adult size. The pattern will be fun, though, as soon as I can get the color situation straightened out!
And I have to thank all of you for the good juju yesterday: the interview went great! I’m optimistic, but trying not to get my hopes *too* high.
Sure, Jack looks all cute and friendly, but in reality, he’s not great in a crowd. He’s protective enough that he’s uneasy with all the people and pulls hard to sniff them out. Or when he wants to greet another dog, he thinks he has to bark and act all crazy. *I* know he’s not trying to attack; I know my dog. I know his body language and barks and having seen both “on edge/aggressive” and “hey I just want to see hello”, I can tell the difference. But they don’t, and I know he sounds scary, so trying to manage him was a challenge.
Grace did better. She just wanted to lick all the people, play with all the dogs, and follow me when I walked away with Jack to help him calm down. So she was a bit wild, but in a friendly, non-scary way. And in her spare time, she wriggled around and ate grass. 
Jack finally calmed down enough to sit on the girl’s foot and hang out in the audience…until someone walked up with a bike. Bikes freak him out, so off we went again to walk off the crazy. I think it was good practice for him, but he’ll never be a big-crowd party animal.
and I finished a fingerless glove while I waited: 
It’s DK weight, because I can only do so much in fingering before I go completely mad.
I’ve got just a little bit left of that medium gray, and then it’s the last color and my Color Block Wrap will be done! It knits up so much faster than I expected, but it probably helps that I spent yesterday watching TV and knitting. I started Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary, and fell in and couldn’t stop. Total binge day. This was perfect knitting for it too, mindless enough that I could keep my eyes on the screen most of the time. I wish I could have watched the whole series but I have two episodes left and the hubby says I have to wait and watch them with him. Sigh. Fine. Whatever. Maybe I’ll finish it tonight.
But this morning I put it on a head to take photos for this post, and…well. I kind of hate it. 
It’s not the pattern’s fault at all. I love the zigzags and the way the decreases look, but it came out so much more slouchy than I expected.
I’ve made hats with this much slouch and they’re fine, but it’s not what I wanted this time. I’ll try it on my own head to make sure, but I’m thinking this one will be frogged and redone with fewer stitches and/or smaller needles.
Happy Monday, friends!
The pattern was written for DK, so I lowered the number of stitches to cast on with this worsted weight, but not enough. It’s a little looser than I would like, but it will do. It fits well enough on my noggin.
The girl and I went to watch Room with my mom yesterday, and I got this hat up to the decreases while watching. It was a good movie, grim but moving, definitely wonderful performances. I still liked the book better.
Maybe I knit more tightly than Jen, maybe my “super bulky” yarn wasn’t as bulky as hers, I don’t know. But I still love the hat, and I still want to make an adult version at some point. But for now, I’m going through the book to decide which pattern I want to try next! Until I decide, I cast on for another lacy cotton slouch hat, this time in a peachy pink. 
Yesterday was National Puppy Day but I didn’t have the time to blog, so Grace and Jack will send you belated happy puppy wishes! 
The yarn is Araucania Huasco, a lovely crispy Merino. It’ll be my first fingering weight Hitchhiker but it’s going quickly enough. Still, I got a bit tired of the skinny yarn and tiny needles and needed a bulky fix. So I started this. 
Simple beanie in super-bulky wool on size 15s. This was so super fast to knit…but the sad part is that I got to the decreases and realized I have no size 15 DPNs and couldn’t finish. Joann doesn’t carry them in the store, but thankfully we’re testing Amazon Prime so I’ve got a set ordered that should arrive tomorrow. But just that hat wasn’t a long enough break from the Hitchhiker, so I *finally* cast on for my 
Um, this yarn is AMAZING. It’s a bulky blend of 70% alpaca, 30% bamboo, and it’s a chainette yarn so it’s incredibly light and fluffy. I don’t even care that it’s spring and I’m knitting with alpaca. I might in a couple of weeks, but for now, this will be fantastic evening knitting.
I’m doing another 
Pattern is Duality, yarn is Malabrigo Rios in Lettuce. I’ve got enough leftover of it and the teal that I really want to make a striped version now.
But then…I kind of got bored with it. It is a really simple pattern, after all, mostly just stockinette. (This is why I think I will never be able to make a sweater.) So I had to set it aside and do something more interesting for a while, like cast on for a new 
This is what I got done during our viewing of Apollo 13, and there were several spots I had to stop knitting and just watch. It’s just such a good movie, you know? Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise are so good, and Ed Harris is a bit attractive, and it’s all suspenseful and funny and stuff. So yeah, it was a good Sunday. Jack agrees; he appreciated being able to rest after all the excitement of the birthday party. 
This morning I was resting on my couch with a cup of tea, appreciating the view of the magnolia tree in my front yard. We had one at the house where I grew up, so this is a lovely reminder, plus it’s just a gorgeous tree. 
I can see it from the window of my craft room too, where I sit at my desk. Just another reason why I love this house. Maybe it will inspire me today as I get back to work on query letters. I got my first rejection yesterday, a very kind form rejection, and it’s fine. I’m expecting plenty of those. I’ve got lots more agents to query, and I still haven’t searched through the new 
This was knit with size 6 needles, as the pattern recommends. But it was too loosey-goosey for me so I frogged that and started over with 5s, and I like it much better. I learned how to do picots and those are pretty darn nifty. But guys, there’s a trick in this pattern that I didn’t discover until I started knitting. When you start the first garter stitch stripe, you do the first three stitches in the other color and then pick up the stripe color. Well, that left a big stupid hole in my knitting! That irritated me so I frogged back (and frogging picots are interesting) to before the stripe. A bit of investigating showed another Raveler recommending the intarsia technique of twisting the yarns at that point. I’ve never done intarsia but I’ve carried yarns up the side of my knitting; is the twisting the same as that? I’ll do more investigating before going back to knitting this but I’d love any advice you have!
I used Malabrigo Rios (the recommended yarn) in color Teal Feather, and knit to 8.25″ before decreasing. I think it’s the perfect amount of slouch and I’ll definitely be knitting this pattern again.
bonnyknits 