I'm finding that my knitting passion waxes and wanes on an almost weekly basis. When I have new projects or test knits, I'm a knitting fiend, without regard to the state of my hand, arm, and back muscles. When I'm solely facing down the ever growing pile of WIPs, I find myself playing on Ravelry instead of knitting.
I've finished 2 hats in the past couple of days, one a request from a friend and one a test knit. The first of the 2 hats was for my friend. She's a knitting Muggle, so I hope she realizes I'm not going to just start over if she doesn't like what I made. I picked a few patterns I thought she'd like and told her that she could either pick one or I'd set her up with the Ravelry pattern browser. She chose the Eyelet Hat from Knit Simple magazine, Holiday 2008. We discussed colors in depth (she wanted IA State red), and whether or not it should be washable (yes). So I went with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Superwash worsted in Shane's Red. Being that she's in IA and I'm in NC, it's not like I can easily show her a picture. The color on their website is WAY off on my monitor, so who knows how it might look to her. Lord help her if she doesn't like the finished product, there's only so much I can do when one wants a unique color of red in superwash.
The test knit was for a Ravelry friend, and a Malabrigo project. Now, get used to the word Malabrigo in this blog. I seriously think it's one of those words that needs to become so much more than just a company name. Malabrigo, if you've never held it in your hands, is far and away the softest wool I have ever touched. I love the stuff, and will knit with it until my fingers fall off (and my stash reflects my love for this yarn). It's heaven to knit with and heaven to wear. I also adore the kettle-dyed nature of the colorways. The colorways of this yarn speak to my spirit in a way that few other things do. The semi-solids create such interesting visual texture, and the variegated yarns have bursts of color to match my every mood. It's beautiful stuff.
Enough with the blithering on about Malabrigo, the test knit. It's an interesting piece, definitely not a hat I would have made of my own accord, but it is growing on me. I think I'm going to loop down the little point at the top, but otherwise I think it's not such an odd thing to wear. At this point I'm just hoping to block it enough that it will fit my head comfortably. I seem to have become a much tighter knitter than when I started long ago. I hope I can get my gauge loosened up a bit though, it's easier on my hands and it's more in line with the way my Nana taught me to knit.
One of these days I'll start adding photos and whatnot, but for now I think I'll just try and get myself to the point where I'm blogging regularly.
