Thursday 16 December 2010

Forwards and Backwards

I've just re-done the ribbing on that pigging hat for the third time, and am casting off again. I cast off another eight stitches and did it on a circ this time, because I think I do ribbing very loosely when I'm working on four needles.


If this doesn't work I'm just going to put some elastic through it. Sue me.

The Eternity Scarf is going a lot better and I was mad to think I wouldn't finish it in time. Of course, now I'm thinking of making a hat as well and tempting fate all over again. The colour, Chapel Stone, isn't one that I would have chosen usually, but it's perfect for this person and it's growing on me.


I noticed that most of the versions of this made in Malabrigo Worsted had got very long and since the giftee is quite slight I didn't want her to be swamped by it. I cast on 170 stitches instead of 200 and it's come out just right. I could have got it out of one skein of the Malabrigo but I've decided to do another inch or so, so that it provides lots of cover. I don't want any sneaky gaps for the wind to get in.

I also cast on for a Koolhaas Hat in another shade of Malabrigo, but I made a daft mistake for about three rows so that's to be started again. Blame it on the cold weather. I think I must be the last knitter on the western hemisphere to embark on this project, but I'm looking forward to it. And this time I get the ribbing over at the beginning.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas over at The Big Picture.


Donice, I hope your snow isn't too awful and inconvenient. Your comment provoked a slight attack of Tourette's in me. Whenever I hear of Columbus, Ohio, I blurt out, 'The high water mark of our life in Columbus Ohio, was the night the bed fell on Father.' I was raised on, amongst other things, the works of James Thurber and S.J. Perelman (I often think how my father must have quailed at the sight of me waddling towards him with a New Yorker Album in my chubby hands, pointing at a cartoon and saying, 'What does this one mean?') and I know chunks of them off by heart. So this seems a good time to link to that story: it may not be very Christmassy in itself but it's a good tale for a winter afternoon.

8 comments:

Donice said...

Thurber's house on Jefferson Ave. is now a literary center, where authors give readings etc. When they refurbished it (it was somewhat derelict) they found some of his drawings on the walls or roof of the attic - I think I'm remembering correctly!

Raveller said...

My mother kept the New Yorkers in a large tubular basket for months after they arrived. I loved the covers, and like you read the comics. The other thing I looked for was coloured illustrations to cut out to make collages. It was unusual to find one that wasn't black and white. What are the clippings in the photo of the Chapel Stone hat?

Judith said...

I see you have the same excellent Xmas cards as me! (the clippings are Xmas cards, well they look just like mine anyway)I bought mine from Dulwich Gallery http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/
and have seen them nowhere else until now, obviously a very exclusive and good taste purchase!

Anonymous said...

You are the last knitter in the known universe but one to make the Koolhaas hat. I shall be casting on soon...

Knitting Linguist said...

I always loved New Yorker cartoons myself. I think they fell under the family rule that my parents employed for things that we saw at the Berkeley Repertory Theater (where we had season tickets): if you understand the things that the actors are saying, don't tell us, and if you don't, don't ask. Heh.

Mary Lou said...

No Koolhaus here, either. I think elastic is perfectly acceptable. I one knit a baby sweater that I couldn't get cast off properly and ran some elastic thread through it. If the mother noticed, she didn't comment or complain. A reading of the night the bed fell might be just the ticket while I wait for the potatoes to finish baking.

Mette said...

Lovely December knitting.

Janet said...

I enjoyed the link to The Big Picture photos. Thanks.