The baby poncho actually turned out better than I’d hoped. As I was knitting it the tension was pretty awful and I kept splitting the soft superwash wool yarn. I’m not used to working with anything quite that softly twisted, even though the yellow in the original poncho was the same brand of yarn. I also wasn’t really paying a whole lot of attention to my knitting which is a surefire way to court mistakes. Obviously I didn’t really have my heart in this thing. I just wanted to get it finished. Anyway, I modified the bottom of the original poncho so that there was less garter stitch and instead of knitted-on lace it had a crocheted edging. I think the results are not too bad! Here’s what it looked like before wet-blocking so you can see how bad it was. The finished item with pattern tomorrow when it’s dry and I can take a picture. (Same goes for the socks.) Hint: it looks a lot better than it did in this picture!As is my wont, I immediately cast on for another pair of socks. This time they’re for T-Man in Sandesgarn Sisu (80% superwash wool/20% polyamide). I hope there’s enough to make them a bit longer than the last pair I made him. The Sisu has only 160 metres per ball unlike Confetti which is 210 metres so it’s a little bit thicker weight. The socks are only a wee bit wider than my usual 64 stitches at 68, but they have to be longer both in the leg and in the foot than mine. We’ll see. The toes may be another colour if I run out! This yarn was 3 plies of very dark grey and one ply of white but I dyed it burgundy. I have some black Patons Kroy leftovers that would be ok for toes. Knowing this relaxes me so I don’t need to stress over having enough yarn!
As I was casting on for yet another pair of socks, I thought about the Jaywalker socks that have been stalled halfway down the legs. Do I frog them or do I go on? Though they are somewhat tight I can get them over my heel ok so I figure I should carry on. But I need to concentrate and not try to read email at the same time. I might finish sometime this year if I make an effort. They’re next on the UFO list.
I was perusing the Winter issue of Knitter’s magazine (which I almost missed getting) and actually found 2 things that I’d like to make albeit with a lot of substitutions and modifications. One is a vest with simple kimono styling. I’d love to do that with modular knitting in colours for the body and a plain band. We’ll see! And the other item was a lariat necklace incorporating beads and novelty yarns in a unique way. It’s kind of a really skinny scarf made from loops of knitting interspersed with large beads and a tassel of focal beads on one end. I like it! More on that to come.
I also decided that crochet is going to be one of my study subjects this year. I haven't seen a lot of good crochet patterns out therr. Most of them have about all the cachet of toilet roll covers from the local school bazaar. There are gorgeous yarns out there and with a crochet hook you have lots of creative possibilities, many more than with knitting. And it works up so fast and frogs so darned easy that experimentation is a cinch. We have to bring crochet up to the exciting place in people's hearts where knitting is these days. Plus there's all the added possibilities of knitting and crochet together. (A taste of which is in my latest baby poncho.) So on that note, I've decided to scrap the beret idea I had and try a pattern in the Winter issue of Crochet Fantasy for an earflap hat. Not only will this go faster but it will protect my poor ears so I can hopefully avoid more labyrinthitis.
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