More wooly goodness

Tonight my knitting circle is beginning our first knit-along. Despite my objections to a larger project and/or one for a very specific type of recipient (and my stated preference for a small project that is not especially difficult and has no confusing assembly issues), the final winner was Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket which has acquired both a following and a shorthand name ("BSJ"). The fact that it's acquired a following doesn't mean much in itself: Fetching has a following as well, but only got a single vote in the final round of voting, if memory serves. But still.

I must say that my recommended pattern, Foliage, was only a few votes behind the BSJ when the results were in. I'll probably be starting a knit-along for that pattern as soon as this one gets finished. Anyone who can knit an amoeba and turn it into a baby jacket has no reason to complain about a mere hat. So what if it's a lace hat? It's not like it's a difficult lace pattern.

Despite my general lack of babies to knit for (there's only one baby in the family, and she lives several time zones away) -- which probably means I should be sticking to gender-neuteral colors -- I did buy a yarn in a colorway that is clearly better suited to one kind of baby than the other. The photo, of course, doesn't do it justice. I fell in love with the colorway and actually sent one of the staffers downstairs for the second skein I needed (believe you me, I wouldn't normally do that).



The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in "Vera", and contains a bit more of the dark brown than one might think from the photo. There are 225 yards to a skein, which is on the high end. And yes, it's incredibly soft and, of course, superwash. We'll see how it looks knitted (I tend to use yarns with only one color to them). Stay tuned for photos.