looking into 2012

Have I ever mentioned that I like to look back over the past year to see if any themes emerged, and set an intention for the new one?

 

 2011's was Embrace the Unexpected. On New Year's eve 12 months ago,  I thought I was downing a tumbler or two of organic cranberry juice but it turned out to be evenly mixed with tequila. whooooeeee! The year followed, rolling out in unexpected and often delightful ways, though sometimes with a slightly painful hangover.
(Awkward segue warning)  F'rinstance I didn't plan to get into a blogging groove and then suddenly drop it.  I'm jumping back in with a Wednesday Wip. On Thursday. Because, guess what? I finished That Reindeer Hat.  And in Tangerine Tango, the color of the year, no less.*

 

About the Fornicating Reindeer pattern:  first, it's a chart. BYOP(attern).** I went with a generic 96 stitch hat, 2x2 ribbing over the ears ,  squared off top, so there'd be some slouch. I improvised  a checked bottom section and diagonals on the crown. The rest was the chart. It's been ages since I knit colorwork. I totally enjoyed it. Note to self: move Sleight of Hands mittens and Muckle Mitts up the queue.

 

Second thing is Reindeer can't Fornicate ***. On the bright side, your reindeer can be randy, screwing, mating, making whoopy, f*cking ... whatever the verb, you'll want to block the hat so the graphics look nice, and not puckery off the needles.

 

It turns out Leo wanted a closer fitting hat, and put it on his head like this. I offered to redo the top  and make it shorter.

 

But he said he's happy as is.

This is one of those zen moments of being a knitter and a parent.  He'd just said 'I really like how the yarn going across looks".  Of course I wanted to grab it and say " you can't wear it with stranding peeking out like that."  But I replied "yay glad you like it". 

I mean, here is a loved one appreciating a handknit, and it's got reindeer doing it, is anyone going to notice how it's folded up?

• • • • • • • • • • • •

* Isn't this aggressive  selling us  a color of the year ridiculous? Google the color and Pantone's flacking it all over the intertubes. What a weird consumer world we live in. (still, it's a shade of orange and I do like orange)

**If you too want to knit a version of this hat, I belatedly found a very nice (and undoubtedly warm)  pattern to go with the chart.  It's  reversible , so you can flash the reindeer or keep them close to your brain while revealing a SFW handknit. I can only imagine its usefulness in a dating situation.

***Thanks Kay for catching the ignorant use of the word. I had no idea it had legal connotations. I was sorely tempted to thank you for being my friend who knows a thing or two about fornication but that just seems tacky. Um, kinda like the hat.....

Check here for more WIP WEDNESDAY

the moral of the story is

 

Storm Cloud Shawlette by Hanna Breetz. I confess I bought Urban Silk while enchanted at  Loop & Leaf  when I was in Santa Barbara. Silk & cotton is perfect, just perfect for that charmingly temperate city, and this is my favorite shade of green. And, it was spring! Who needs wool in a world like that?  It's like buying kickass cowboy boots in Texas, they are so right when you're  there. Or big chunky turquoise & silver necklaces in New Mexico. Or shirts with flamingos on them in Florida.  Then you get home to your east coast beach neighborhood and natural toned wrinkly linen clothes and say, huh, what was I thinking?

 In this case, I was thinking I'd use it to knit Saroyan. Within a few inches I knew it wasn't working. With all the sheen and texture in the Urban Silk, the leaves disappeared into little crinkly sneezes along the edge.

So, I shifted over to the Storm Cloud, a simple semi-circle shawl.

yarn: urban Silk - 3 skeins

needles: size 9 us

modifications:  I changed it up a little, increased sooner than suggested, threw in two bands of stockinette. All good, it's a rock solid design structure and you can't really mess it up by improvising on the stitches.

my thoughts: Lovely yarn, wonderful simple pattern. But I was not truly feeling it. I'm an animal fiber kinda gal. I like wooliness. A short way in I realized it was, in essence, going to look similar to my Clapotis .  That is:  green,non-woolly, voluminous neck wrap, open stitch pattern. I lost my zip.  Until on a photo shoot for a dear friend. She loved it halfway done. I mean EL-OH-VEEE luuvvvved it and I am always thrilled to make something for her. I sped through the second half. So, happy ending, the Storm Cloud has been sent to New Jersey.  And if I can remember NO MORE shopping under the influence of geography, I'll be A-OK.

 

Although this example of shopping locally? No problem!13 pounds of August tomatoes etc bubbling away right now, to be frozen as summer sauce.