From Blanket to Doily

Hemlock Ring
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Well, this was fun.
I followed the original Hemlock Ring Doily pattern, with Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn. I skipped the last four-round repeat, because I was afraid I might run out of yarn. In hindsight, I probably had enough, but it would have been close. I like this size, though. It will be perfect for the back of a boring white chair in my living room. I have two of those chairs, and another skein of this Noro, so I might just whip out another one of these.

Reluctant model
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Jim, Zack and I drove from Jackson Hole, in the northwest corner of Wyoming, to Boulder, Colorado this past weekend. It's between 8 and 9 hours each way, depending on weather and whether. That is, weather that leaves the roads dry and whether you can keep the speedometer at 80mph or above.

Jim likes to drive, and Zack is old enough to be content on a long road trip with books and gadgetronica. So, that left me with about 16 hours of captive knitting time.

I spent the entire time working on the Pecan Pie Beret.

I have never made a tam, and I have never worked a brioche stitch. The brioche was cool. The tam is cruel. I have a problem with hats in general. I always feel like they're too small on the needles, and then they end up too big once bound off. Now, this is strange because I'm pretty good at math and I am comfortable getting an accurate gauge and jiggering the stitch counts to make things come out right. My sweaters are fine. Hats never work, tho.

This beret was gauging small on the needles, so I threw in an extra round of increases. Now I have a knitted pizza. I even threw it in with a load of laundry to try to shrink it a little. Now I have a knitted pizza I can't unravel.

Oh well. At least it looks good on the dog.