Happy New Year! See you at Woolfest!

My little reflective 2-day break was kind of a masterpiece of denial. I totally did not have any time to spare, and the holidays, as they do, sucked away even more time.

I have been knitting and reknitting my ass off. I really need to work on being a more focused knitter. My method of knitting half a garment, deciding the sizing is all wrong, frogging it, and repeating 2 or 3 times until I’ve gotten it right is utter bullshit. I need to make some stock size forms that I can lay over my knitting so I can tell I’m way the fuck off well before the garment really emerges. Oh! I should put that on my Überlist!

Speaking of which, last year’s absurdly ambitious Überlist was kind of a bust. I’m scaling back my list this year, since making it too hard just doubly depresses me. A person can only so much, and grand delusions–even when I realize they’re absurd–just make me disgusted with myself at the end of the year. But keeping the list mellow is always a huge battle, since it means accepting I am only a normal human person with normal human abilities and I totally want to be Wonder Woman (without all the crime-fighting, of course; that just seems exhausting). Actually, what I really want is a bucket of those clear pills from Limitless. I watched that last night and I don’t think I’ve ever been as covetous of an imaginary thing as I am of those imaginary pills. Sigh.

In addition to book knitting, I’m working on a super cushy thrummed headband/cowl pattern for Woolfest. (If you haven’t been to Winter Woolfest & you’re in the Kansas area, you should totally come! I’m vending & I’ll have the DIY carding bar again, and I’m doing carding demos and teaching the free thrums class.)

The pattern’s called Polaris (after the failed polar expedition, hee hee) and I’ll post it as a free pattern when it’s done.

In the meantime, if you’re coming to Woolfest and want to attend the class, here’s your homework:

Polaris

Thrummed Headband or Cowl

Needles
US 9 and 11 16-inch circulars or DPNS

Gauge
11 sts= 4″ on larger needles in stockinette (no thrums)

Yarn
Headband/Cowl: 50g/100g Wicked Stitch Cauldron Dyed (doubled), or other heavy worsted (doubled) or bulky yarn that achieves gauge

Thrums
Headband/Cowl: 1oz/2oz Merino Combed Top

Homework (either version):

CO 51 with US 9. Join in the round
Work 3 rnds K2P1 ribbing
Switch to 11s and work 4 rnds.

For a parting gift, here’s what I got for sleeping in yesterday morning: