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.

Electioneering

I just posted the final poll to select a pattern for my knitting circle's first knit-along. (Members will be getting an e-mail about it as soon as I have a link for this post. Non-members may join by clicking on the big red and white thing at left.) After an extended period of nominations and preliminary voting, the finalists are:

• Calorimetry.
• Baby Surprise Jacket.
• Foliage.
• Fetching.
• Basic Sock Recipe.

I've already knit three of these patterns. As I mentioned last week, I've managed to crank out three Foliages (among other things) since January. I've also shown off one pair of Fetchings I knit with leftovers from the first of the hats -- the third pair of that pattern I've made. A second also uses Cascade 220 in an unidentified shade of blue (I lost its ID tag); a third uses Road to China, a very shed-prone yarn from The Fibre Company.




I even knit a Calorimetry a while back:



Of the five finalists, I'm partial to these three. My logic is that the other two are more likely to cause trouble. The Baby Surprise sweater is a large project for a first knit-along (and not as simple as it looks, apparently), and not all of us have babies at hand to show off our knitting skill. And socks are something that seem to require a lot of attention on the first pair, attention we don't necessarily want to lavish on something at the moment.

Fetching, on the other hand, is a tiny project (heck, I knit up a pair using leftovers) and requires nothing more advanced than double-pointeds and a few cable rounds. Foliage, my personal favorite, takes some attention and a circular needle, but is still reasonably small -- especially if you go for the version with the bulkier yarn. Calorimetry runs big and will need some raveling and tweaking (even if you have the gauge specified), but again, it's small and simple and a fairly painless introduction to short rows.

So, my advice is this: vote Foliage. If you don't feel up to that pattern, vote Fetching (or perhaps Calorimetry, if you don't mind adjusting to size).