Flying Saucer

That's what Phillip called it when he saw the Noro beret drying on a dinner plate.  He's not wrong:

It borders on unnatural, how much time I spend looking for weird household items for blocking.  I am the self-proclaimed Crown Princess of Making Weird Towel Shapes to Block Stuff With.  As a late-stage convert (I only began to understand the importance of blocking a couple of years ago), I have become a Blocking Zealot.  It's lame how long it took me to get a clue about blocking, having trained as a tailor.  Tailoring requires more than just a little steaming, thwacking, molding and otherwise sculpting of fabric, so you would think that knowledge would be more easily transferable to knitting.  But it wasn't until I had to study and write about it for the Master Knitter program that I really gathered brains.  Now I love to do it so much that no knitted item is safe, and no household implement, non-porus surface, or passing pet is sacred.  I'll block anything on anything.  My personal best was a combination of 6 washcloths and 2 balloons for a lace shrug with puffy sleeves.  Wish I'd had the presence to take a picture that time.

But back to the hat:  My kids are fighting over who gets it, which I take as a good sign.  I think it's okay as a first attempt, and I learned a lot about self-striping Noro.  There are things I will do differently next time, like chart a bigger, clearer motif.  I also would engineer a more interesting pattern for the crown.  I think I will also choose 2 really different colorways when I do this again, rather than two ends of the same skein.  I did myself no favors by going cheap on that one.  (Note To Self:  Since when are you scared to spend Money on Yarn?)  What I really enjoyed about this project was not having any idea what to expect as the colors changed on me.  I did not know what a control freak I am with regard to color.  I kept having to tell myself not to break the yarn and felt in a new color - MADE myself trust the progression of what was on the skein, just to see if I could stand it.  And I did!  I even was surprised by how much I liked some of the combinations that happened, notably yellow and burgundy.  These are two shades I almost never work with, and certainly not together.  But in context of the small space of a hat, I really liked the area where it happened.

Tomorrow I head for the garden spot that is Tacoma, Washington, for the Madrona Retreat therein.  I am so amped I can hardly keep it together.  My goal is to post on all four days, so stay tuned for reports on my adventures.  Reminders not to paint "Madrona Or Bust" on my car are probably needed.

In unrelated news, one of the projects has been cut from my book, and I am completely devastated.  I thought my skin was much thicker than that, but apparently not.  It's like loosing a toe.  I will live, but I think I will always miss it.  The good news is that the outcast project is going to be featured on my episode of Knitting Daily TV, whose theme, I'm told, will be "Fun With Color".  I think it will also be offered as a free pattern via the Knitting Daily Pattern Store, so it's future is by no means doomed.  Watch for it next November.  In the meantime I plan to Get Over It.  Knitting, after all, is not for weenies.  And wallowing in despair messes up your hair.
 

Launch Failure

It happens to knitters all the time:  They start out full of great expectations and positive energy, and before the cast-on is done, something's gone sideways.  At least, that is what I have been telling myself for the last two days, as I struggle to Knit A Hat.  Real rocket science, this.  Clearly I am in over my head.

The yarn, by the way, is Noro Kureyon Sock #180, which I finally looked up online because I wanted to be able to curse it more specifically than just "YOU @()(&!) **! hat".  Now I can say "YOU @#()*) Noro Kureyon Sock #180 !*&#@%^hat".  Not that it helped much.

Attempt the first had me working toward a simple watch-cap style, until a small bystander commented that "berets are way cooler, Mom".  Far be it from me not to be cool.  Of course, the change in shilloutte required math.  No problem.  I just needed a change in percentage, divisible by 10.  Only took me half an hour and two calculators.  I am seriously flummoxed by numbers, and I can't believe how often I have to dig my way out from under them when I knit.

Attempt the second began with two ends of the same skein of yarn.  Huge tactical error:  After the first color change on each end, the pattern disappeared when one strand changed to Orangey-Rust, while the other strand changed to Rusty-Orange.  Couldn't have done that on purpose if my life had depended on it.

Attempt the third commenced after re-winding one of my half-skein balls to the other end, and a brief entreaty Ombrella, the patron knitting god of color-change yarn.  Naturally I jacked up the pattern and worked four rows before catching it.

Attempt the fourth found me repeating the mantra "Yarn is my Friend" and rocking in place as I got the colors to contrast properly, the number of stitches right and the pattern to repeat:

No wonder people think knitting is hard.  Watching the gyrations knitters go through on the path to nirvana must be really scary for those on the outside.  I am telling myself that I needed more stillness around me than I had, to get this hat started in fewer tries.  Too much chaos does nothing to complement meticulous patterning on size two needles.  Being out of town, the rigors of attending my daughter's sporting event, and hotel-mattress-induced sleep deprivation are this hat's afflictions, not its maker's lack of skill.  Really.  I think.

Madrona is this week, and I am so stoked to be going.  I can feel the energy gathering here on the west coast as knitterati converge in Tacoma.  I am signed up for classes with Elspeth Lavold, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Lucy Neatby, and Stephanie Pearl-Mc Phee.  Something good has got to rub off in that kind of company.  Also, I get to go on a wee vacay, which is feeling a bit overdue.  Good thing I have this swell "@#()*) Noro Kureyon Sock #180$!" hat to work on.
 

Mad Hatter

Dontcha just love it when you get totally crazy over a ball of yarn?  This little gem followed me home from the yarn shop when I was visiting relatives.  I am always so much more vulnerable to yarn lust when I am away from home - I think I'm afraid I'll run out and be stranded with no projects.  Never mind I never leave home without a separate suitcase of yarn.  Not Kidding.  So I succumbed to the charms of this particular skein at Thanksgiving.  I was so excited to start swatching that I recklessly tore off the band and promptly lost it.  Then reason briefly reigned for a while and I got back to work on the thing whose turn it really was at the time.  Flash forward to now, and I can't for the life of me remember what kind of Noro this is. 

I am so excited to tell you: I have been chosen to teach a class at the spring Knit and Crochet Show, sponsored by our friends at TKGA.  It's in Portland, Oregon, my home town, which makes it even more terrific.  My class is going to be about designing in stranded colorwork, and we'll be making hats based on our own charted motifs.  When I realized I needed to start getting ready for this, I immediately thought of my dreamy Noro whatever-it-is that I have been meaning to hat-ify in the Ruth Sorenson style.

I have never made anything in the Ruth Sorenson style, but that is not going to stop me trying.  I'm going out of town for the weekend to a figure skating competition, which just begs for something small and portable to take along.  This should just about do it.  And it fits so nicely into the Knitting Suitcase - barely takes up any room at all.