Repurposing.

Over time I've learned that if I let a project sit on the needles for too long (read: many months) it will get frogged. I don't think this is a bad thing, necessarily. You start to think how you're not knitting that thing because stockinette in a cotton blend hurts your hands, and how the lace panel isn't quite what you want it to be, and how probably that pattern looks better on skinny girls anyway.

Or at least, that's what I got to thinking about Rusted Root. So it got cannibalized.


The ribbed lace bolero is such a cute, quick, smart little knit that I knew I had to make one. And I had a perfect opportunity, too.



My sister was born the day I turned 5 and a half, so my birthday is her half birthday and vice versa. Her whole life, I've given her a little half bday present on MY birthday, and she does the same, so when I turned 26 last week, I figured this little bolero (which is so exactly her style) would be the perfect twenty-and-a-halfth gift.


Pattern: Ribbed lace bolero, by Kelly Maher
Yarn: Cascade Sierra, in ginger, 1.5 skeins
Needles: US9 and US10, I think.



It stretches out a bit with wear, and my sewn bind off is a little wobbly, but I love the lace pattern and how it drapes in this yarn. Especially around the arm. Verdict? A winner. I'd love to try it in a 100% wool, too.

Blue x 2

After that needlessly drawn out cavalcade of FOs, we bring you two blue WIPS:

First, I'm pulling a Jared on Frost Flowers and Leaves.



Second, I'm finally knitting the mate to the lovely Tyrolean stocking that Leslie knit for me back in October. Just one problem, though.


Not sure if it's evident from this picture, but although I'm matching Leslie's stitch gauge quite closely (on US3s), my row gauge is pretty off. I'm at the beginning of the 11th central cable chevronny thing, and the leg is at least an inch longer than it is at the correspoding point on Leslie's sock.

What would you do? Keep going and hope I can fudge the length difference in blocking? (I hate this idea, myself, but I'll consider all options...) Keep going and leave out half a repeat or so? Reknit on 2s and block aggressively to combat the inevitable stitch gauge difference? Something else I haven't thought of?? I have the feeling that stitch gauge is more flexible than row gauge. Am I wrong?

My thanks in advance for you knitterly knowledge, dear internet friends, and may you all have lovely President's Day weekends.

Love, hats, and more love.

I'm sorry to report that the craftiest thing I've done all week was hemming my pants. However! My procrastinatory nature is the gift that keeps on giving, because I have such a backlog that I'm at no loss for postable stuff.

1. Sweater love
First off, THANK YOU for all your lovely comments about the Urban Aran -- and about Katie! (Just to clear up any confusion, Katie and The Lady are one and the same. 'The Lady' is not some bloggy pseudonym but rather, it's what I actually call her, most of the time. As in "How was your day, The Lady?" or "Hey, The Lady, did you feed the chickens?")

2. The last hat of 2007
Note that I didn't say the last FO of 2007. There are a couple more hanging around waiting to be photographed, but who knows when that will happen.

This hat was a special request from my friend Michael (He bought me the yarn, no fast-breaking here!), and he was very excited about the idea of a rolled up brim. So I took our favorite pattern, knit the ribbing for about 4 inches, and did 4.5 pattern repeats instead of 5.


The yarn is Malabrigo, in Black Forest, well under a skein. I may never knit this pattern in anything but Malabrigo ever again.

3. The first hat of 2008
I was on the streetcar the other day, and spotted a woman in the world's cutest hat. So I made one myself. Actually the band on her hat was skinnier than this one, and stockinette, and had a buckle instead of a button, but whatever. I give you the Streetcar Hat:



Way easy: I took some Lamb's Pride Bulky left over from the Urban Aran, cast on what looked like a reasonable (and odd) number of stitches on US9s -- i think it was 13 sts -- and knit a long rectangle in seed stitch with a slip stitch selvedge on both sides, until it was long enough to go around my head snugly with an overlap about as long as the band is wide. I did a few rows with decreases one stitch in from the edge, to round it off, and bound off. Then I picked up the selvedge stitches along one side, leaving the overlappy bit un-picked-up, decreased one (I was lucky) to get a multiple of 7, and knit stockinette in the round until it was long enough, then did your standard crown decreases. Sewed on a button and thar she be. Yes, the button is totally non-functional. I didn't think I would ever use a buttonhole, so I didn't put one in.

Got the lovely button from Josephine's Dry Goods, which you should totally check out if you're in the area. Gorgeous fabric and a whole wall of buttons.

4. Bloggy love
Can I just say how much I like this Make My Day thing? Yeah it's a nice little ego boost to get tagged, sure, but mostly what I love is that I've found SO many excellent new blogs to read, all with the stamp of approval of somebody I'm already reading. AWESOME.

So of course I was thrilled to make the days of Specs, Jennie, and Vanessa. (ETA: and Desiknitter! Sorry I'm such a spaz.) You three all make my day, too, seriously. And although many of the folks who also do so have already posted their own lists (I'm late hopping on this train, like so many others), I still want to give them a little shout out so they and y'all know I love 'em. So the remaining 7 (since I'm tagging back those three lovely ladies) in alphabetical order:

Dr. B -- Superior sewing skills, utmost humility, and the ability to make me laugh out loud at Every Single Post. The woman is awesome.
Elinor -- Is she cranking out the pretty stuff lately or what? Plus, one seriously cute baby.
Kristy -- Besides all the beautiful knitting, I love reading Kristy's blog because we have a similar career trajectory AND she's joining me in my stash challenge. Except she has to run. HA!
Leslie -- There's nothing I can say about Leslie or her blog that would be prettier or friendlier or better than the lady and the blog themselves. Go see.
Melissa -- I just started reading this, but I love it. There's something about her style that I really, really dig.
Tiennie -- How does she do it? Not just the beautiful knitting, of course, but the keeping up with everyone and their cousin in this little community of ours? A very sweet and talented lady, no question.
Whitney -- Again, there's just something about Whitney's knitting style that I really love. I'm always happy to see her name light up in my google reader.


Phew. So hard to choose!!

Happy Friday, y'all. I shall return with WIPs.