emily at beSottied.com

…and prepare to do some celebratory dancing! I’ve actually finished something!

I cast off my red silk and alpaca Grace Lace Beret last night, after months of banging on about it. I’d originally planned to knit the hat when on holiday in Scotland back in September, but the yarn didn’t materialise in time. Instead I started my Keppoch Socks there, and finished the hat last night while watching Local Hero: a great little film set in Scotland and featuring the gorgeous Camusdarach beach, which was a stone’s throw from our holiday house near Arisaig.

I blocked the hat last night, using a big plastic picnic plate (our dinner plates are square: not great for blocking a beret). It’s looking snazzy but the k1, p1 has stretched slightly during blocking. I half expected this, as the yarn I used was Blue Sky Alpacas Silk and Alpaca (the recommended yarn is a blend of wool and silk). It doesn’t seem too bad at the moment - I might need to hairgrip it to my head if the wind gets up! - but I hope it doesn’t give out any more.

This project has also helped me earn my first Knitting Scouts badge (hah!). Reading through the list of badges, I think I’ve earned a few. However, when I was working on my beret on the train last week and realised I’d forgotten to bring a stitch marker, I rummaged in my handbag for a suitable something. And lo! A giant paperclip! It was a bit cumbersome and tugged at my stitches, but it did the job! I wonder what clever tricks other knitters have come up with when faced with such a conundrum..?

I’ve come to accept the fact that I’m just not a regular blogger. Brave Ysolda is trying to blog every day in November: I think I should come up with my own challenge and try to blog at least once a week for the rest of the year. Do long-standing readers remember my Thursdays are update days! resolution? That didn’t last very long! Maybe I should re-introduce it for 2010?

Everything just feels so all over the place at the moment. I started back at uni. and the least I say about that, the better. I have major motivational issues at the moment. I’m in that kind of mood where I can barely be bothered to get out of bed to go to work, nevermind go to work, come home, do all the usual junk you have to do, then do a load of homework and online postings in my class’s internet discussion forum. But whatever. Deep breaths, I shall prevail.

That’s not to say I’ve been going without adventures and japery. Since my last post, I’ve had a birthday, Mutti’s had a birthday, Keith has moved out (hurrah), I’ve been to Edinburgh with Neil, been to see Michael McIntyre in Newcastle with Laura, finally registered with a doctor (after about 3 years of not bothering), climbed Helvellyn and managed to not get scorched at Neil’s bonfire party. All of which were super-dooper. Apart from registering with the doctor, but you can’t have it all.

Photo-wise, I’ve been slipping. I kept forgetting to take my camera out of the hotel room when we were in Edinburgh, and didn’t even take it to the lakes when we climbed Helvellyn. I have, however, just snapped some photos of my knitting progress. Not that I’ve made much progress since my last post, whe I was casting on for my red lace hat.

After spending considerable hours asking myself if I was really happy with my k1, p1 ribbing (I wasn’t), I frogged the hat, tossed my DPNs to one side and got cracking with the co-ordinating scarf, using the same lace pattern as the Grace Lace beret, using Blue Sky Alpacas Silk Alpaca on 5 mm straights. It’s going OK, considering I’ve barely picked up my needles this past 6 weeks. I’m planning on knitting the scarf in two halves then grafting it together in the middle. I bought 4 hanks of Silk Alpaca: I’ve used two so far, one on each half of the scarf. The two scarf pieces are now sat on stitch holders. Now I need to get the hat done, then use whatever yarn I have left (hopefully at least one hank) to complete the scarf.

So last night, after Mutti and I moved lots and lots of furniture, hoovered, dusted, washed down woodwork and took down curtains and blinds (I forgot to say, we’re getting the house decorated, too) I made a half-hearted attempt at reading on of my uni books before settling down to some knitting. I had to wind a hank into a ball, because I was too lazy to do all 4 hanks when I bought them. I used two sets of DPNs, lots of waste yarn and a tapestry needle, with a circular needles on standby, to do my own preferred method of tubular cast-on in the round. It might not be the most economic way of doing things but it certainly avoids the tantrums of dropped stitches and tubular tantrums! By the time I retired to mon boudoir last night, I had a lovely looking (if I do say so myself) k1, p1 rib going on my 3.75 mm DPNs. I’m looking forward to getting to the main bit of the hat so I can break out the shiny new Addi Turbos I treated myself to in a flying visit to K1 in Edinburgh last week. Clacketty clacketty clack!