Feeling smug (for now)

A great weekend for me, including knitting, rugby and housework success (hey, any housework achieved deserves a frackin’ parade, as far as I am concerned). With the E-P Scarf, this Noro Beanie and now a Red Light Special finished, I am starting to think that this holiday gifting lark is going to be fairly e-p in itself.

Pattern: Modified Silk Garden Beanie (I Co’d 88 st on 4.5 mm, did 1×1 ribbing, knit until it felt long enough [5.5 inches seems very short to me], then decreased 11 times around, reducing the number of rows in between decrease rows from three to none every third decrease).

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden in shade 224

Yarn Source: The lovely Clare

Needles: Pony 4.5mm circulars

Thoughts: Yes, well clearly it is slightly small for Mr. T. But, boy oh boy, is this ever a quick knit. And fun too, as all the colour changes magically appear. This, although modelled by the ever-handsome and rugged T, is destined for my male cousin’s wife, S. Although, I must say that T looks rather dashing in rose, chartreuse, navy and lilac! Poor man, added to the humiliation of losing to Les Bleus, his soon-to-be wife forces him to act as a mannequin for her creations (sorry, had to get a dig in there somewhere!)

Pattern: Red Light Special by b r o o k l y n t w e e d

Yarn: Frog Tree Alpaca Sportweight in shades 46, 90, 63 and 42 (I think, based on online colour comparison)

Yarn Source: The Yarn Tree, Brooklyn

Needles: Addi Turbo 3.5mm for the lining (best invention ever) and Pony 4.5mm for the stranding.

Thoughts: If the Noro Beanie fails slightly on length, the RLS more than compensates in both length and breadth! It is wearable, but it does give the wearer a slightly comic air, swamped as they are by a cloud of greeny-blue alpaca. I am hoping that a brief spell in the tumble drier will sort this out. The pattern itself provides an extremely satisfying knit, and a quick one at that – taking things one row at a time, bizarrely, makes the process seem much faster. Must be the magic of fair isle (see ‘At Knit’s End’ for reference)!