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:

6 Replies to “Happy New Year! See you at Woolfest!”

  1. Wow. Poor yarn. Isn’t it funny how they always have the guilty look? Thankfully my dog leaves my yarns alone but the second I bring anything in the house with any kind of wool in it my cat seems to hunt down the back and I find yarn dragged across the house. Animals..they have no mercy on fibers.

  2. I don’t know if this makes me a sadist, or just a fellow list-maker, but I loved checking out your Uberlists on Disgruntled Housewife. I was looking at your 2012 list – can I suggest that, instead of weeding 7 acres by hand, you borrow some goats to clear it? I don’t know if sheep do the job as well, but a few goat-herders in my area are renting out their services and herds to clear out overgrown land.

    1. The sheep just eat around the weeds. I was worried about that because many of them are poisonous to sheep, but from my reading, it looks like few are toxic to goats. I may have to get my friend Charlene’s goats out here. My main concern is that goats are mad escape artists and our road is fairly busy….

  3. I pray you and your family are alright after the tornado. I remember my time at Yarn School as a great event and hope you are able to continue that in the future!

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