Knit One, Purl Too: A Knitlog

Because I felt like leaving behind the feeling of disappointment brought on by knitting a sweater with armholes that are too small, I knit the Knit One, Purl Too birthday boy (aka my husband) a hat, at his request.

“Please make me a Moby Dick hat” was all he needed to say, but he also pointed out that he was a fan of Patons Classic Wool. And like a shot, I was off to Joann’s for supplies. One week later, thanks to the cleverness of Elinor Brown’s Pod of Cetaceans pattern, I had a hat, with one white whale. [Before you think I am too clever for hacking together a hat, I just want to say for the record that it took me a few extra minutes while knitting this to realize that I was not going to need to duplicate-stitch the white whale - I could just alter the pattern. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you know what I mean. -ed.]

There are a few construction details here on Ravelry; the most significant thing I noticed was that my colorwork tension was even enough that I was able to knit the entire body of the hat on the same size needle – no need to go up a size for the pod of cetaceans. I officially love colorwork, so be ready to see more of that coming your way this year.

I also finished my first lace shawl ever, Multnomah. Note that about this time last year, I said that my first lace shawl was going to be the Flower Basket Shawl, and that has languished at the end of chart A. As a member of the 12 in 2011 group on Ravelry, I committed to making 12 projects this year, and the Flower Basket is one of them. I looked at Multnomah as a way to a. prove to myself I could complete a simple lace shawl and b. get some of the most misbegotten sock yarn I have out of my stash. That Koigu was meant to be part of the Latifa scarf from Knitty [alert: Garnstudio Silke-Tweed is discontinued! - ed.], but I made entrelac socks that didn’t quite fit instead, and then I made half of a Baby Surprise Jacket with it.

We were both a little worse for wear after several years, but Koigu P106 and I had one last adventure together – these mighty skeins totally redeemed themselves, and I seriously enjoyed Feather and Fan more than I ever thought I could. I seem to start each year secretly worried that I’ll never finish another knitted object. Some garter stitch and nine lace repeats later, I’m happy to be wrong and I feel ready for 2011. P.S. I was so excited to pin it out that it wasn’t until later I realized that I had blocked points right into the scalloped edge of Multnomah – still loving it though.

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