the Akamai Knitter

Yesterday I received most of the materials to make the Jayne Hat for my friend David, and I cast on for the hat while I was on the phone with him. I had a couple of rough starts as I kept twisting the cast on and I couldn’t quite get it right. I haven’t done a hat in years so I felt really awkward with the whole thing, but I persevered.

I also kept coming across these knots in my yarn, which I found highly irritating. I suppose it’s because the yarn I’m using is Brown Sheep’s Lamb’s Pride Bulky, which is a loosely spun single so once the yarn is broken it’s hard to join the fibers together again. I suppose that could be it.
Either way it was highly annoying, but seeing how it’s been a dark and dreary day the colours in this hat really picked my spirits up and got me in a mild Halloween mood. So I “made it work.”

And I know have most of the Jayne Hat finished. I find it beautiful in an “ugly beautiful” kind of way. I loved knitting this because the yarn was so soft. I would definitely use this yarn again even with the knotty problems.

All I have to do to finish up the hat is knit up the ear flaps which will be in a red, which is on it’s way to me via the USPS. Then I’ll add a pompom! I’ve never made a pompom so it should be fun.

I still have a lot of yarn left from both colours so I may either make another Jayne Hat for another Firefly fan or I might just may use it for hats for charity. Speaking of which today is the last day to sign up for The Dulaan Brigade, just email Ryan with a working email address to let her know you’re in. This will get you on the “official” list and you’ll be eligible for a prize. Thanks to Rabbitch for posting with the information.

Once again the magic of blocking has amazed me. I finished the Skull Illusion Scarf on Friday night and blocked it yesterday. So I have one present ready to go for Christmas and I should be happy, but I feel like I’m in some sort of limbo.

I’m wondering how many of these scarves I can make before I get totally burnt out on them. I’m not really looking forward to seeing what that number will be either. I’ve never been a fan of making more then one item of something, but I thought I could make at least 2 of these. It looks like I’ll be making at least 3 though.

I do have enough yarn to make another scarf in the exact same colours, but making another scarf in the exact same colours would drive me to an exacting madness. I’m not sure that these colours speak Alien Illusion Scarf either. What to do? What to do?

I was also thinking of doing up some scarves for OFA’s Red Scarf Project. I have some Briggs & Little Heritage in a Burgundy or Dark Maroon that I could use up for that, but I think that yarn might be a little too coarse for scarves. Has anyone encountered this yarn? If so, what do you think about using it for scarves?

I think what I’ll do is knit up a swatch and see how it washes up. If it’s too coarse for a scarf, I’ll just use it for a felting project. It would make a nice messenger bag or even a cool Noni Bag. I will be getting the book Scarf Style in the mail soon along with more scarf making supplies from Knit Picks, so I might be able to find a solution or some sort of inspiration in there.

In other news, in the month of November, I’m used to my friends writing madly for NaNoWriMo, but this year I’ve joined NaBloPoMo! I’m not really ready to write a novel, but I can try and blog every day! I do want to make it clear that I in no way advocate the use of guns in anything but the posting of a daily knitblog.

Centerpiece Treasure Afghan

I have a few projects lined up to make up for the lack of lace knitting that is going on in Chez Opal. One of them is the Centerpiece Treasure Afghan from Lion Brand Yarns. I bought the pattern and yarn for myself as a birthday present to me.

Click To Make Bigger

As you can see I’ve made a start on the afghan and it’s been an adventure since the pattern is wrong. Luckily I was able to figure out what was going on by looking at the picture and proceed from there. I found it interesting and vaguely amusing that Lion Brand has a disclaimer on their pattern for human error and typographical errors and basically anything else that can go wrong with their patterns.

And we will just ignore the fact that my afghan center is puckering up like a nipple or maybe a funky belly button in the center as I will block that out later. Just keep walking, folks.

I also have at least 2 other Illusion Scarves to knit up. One of them will be another Skull Illusion Scarf and the other will be the Alien Illusion Scarf from the book Stitch’n'Bitch. All of these will be gifts and the recipient of one of the scarves reads my blog. So I could make them Top Secret Projects, but I’m just too much of a blog addict to do that! I’m a really bad friend, aren’t I?

I’m also playing with the idea of making the Linux Illusion Scarf, but I’d have to rewrite the pattern. I’m not sure I’m prepared for such a intensive endeavor. We’ll have to see how things play out from now until Christmas. I’m pretty sure the person I’m giving this scarf to doesn’t read my blog, but then I think it would be pretty suspicious if I asked him right out.
And of course, I haven’t forgotten the ugly ass Jayne Hat. How could I? The image of that hat is burned indelibly into my poor brain!>

“A man walks down the street with a hat like that, you know he’s not afraid of anything.” -Wash

The Blue Blob

I am really struggling to finish this shawl, the Shaped Triangle. At this point I only need to do the edging, but the edging is fiddly and tedious. I’m thinking that somehow some type of strange entity swept into my bedroom whilst I was sleeping and stole my Shawl Mojo because I am now completely in a rut with this whole project. Not even the Yarn Harlot’s inspirational post of the year has stirred my mojo back into being.

So I have decided to go easy on myself at this juncture and to give myself permission to let it sit in the corner while I hold my thumb over it when it crosses my line of sight. (Thanks for the suggestion Jane!) I’m also going to have to direct the Hidcote Shawl to the corner for now as well, but that’s okay. I can use my other thumb for that one.

(Click to make bigger)

On Tuesday, the skull finally started to emerge but there were some shaky moments as all I could see were stripes of black and brown. At one point my friend Paul called for a chat. What he got as a greeting was:

“Hello. I can’t see the SKULL! The SKULL isn’t THERE!”

I will say he took this proclamation with surprising calm and fortitude. He asked me to calm down and take a deep breath and explain to him what was going on. Once I finally did, we had a nice chat and he got my mind off the Illusion Skull Scarf, which I had decided to call the Invisible Skull Scarf.

Towards the end of the conversation I laid scarf on ottoman/mini-table to take a picture of it and VOILA! EUREKA! there it was! The Skull had Emerged! I think I might have pierced Paul’s ear drum with my squeal as I started to sing:

“I SEE THE SKULL”

I can only imagine what my neighbors think of my boisterous rantings. Luckily no policemen were called to the scene.

(Click to make bigger)

Needless to say, once I saw the Magical Skull emerge I could not put this project down. I’m now past the halfway point and I have plans for at least 2 more illusion scarves for holiday gifts. I’m even looking forward to blocking the mangled skull scarf, since I’ve never really blocked anything besides lace.

Speaking of lace, we’ll just ignore the blue blob in the corner of the room that is the Shaped Triangle. It’s not there. It’s not there. It’s not there.

And Paul, if you’re reading this? You are the best! What a guy! I just might have to make one of these for you, but if I do, you’ll still need to act totally surprised, okay?