Fall hats

I've been wearing a microfiber rain hat from Lands' End and it is getting to be lame. So I pulled the broccoli hat out of storage along with two grey wool felt hats. I'm also knitting a variation on VK's Eyelet Cap. That should perk up the fall wardrobe.

Whipped Cauliflower Mash

1 bag frozen cauliflower, microwaved 3-5 minutes to thaw
4 oz. cream cheese
1 scoop whey protein powder

combine and blend thoroughly with a stick blender

add 1 egg and blend thoroughly

bake at 350 for 20 minutes, until golden brown.

So much new Yarn

First, I received a yarny surprise from my sister:

The solid brown is cotton. The variegated is very soft bamboo.

Then at YarnCon, I bought this from Yarn Hollow:

Hand Dyed silk/merino in all of my favorite colors. I plan to make the cuffs, collar and button band of a cardigan out of this. As soon as I find (make?) a pattern.

I also bought a mystery bag from Chicago Knitters United for $5. One skein was (unlabeled) acrylic and I passed it along to Goodwill. One is Cascade Pima Tencel in the color Turmeric. Very cheery. The other two are unlabeled and I'm not sure of the content. If I can find a book of matches, I'll do a burn test.

Projects Update

The Bamboo Socks are done. And headed for the summer box. Won't they be a nice surprise after a long winter? The Pocket Hat is also done. And is too big. That's a problem I seem to have with hats.

I did a full round of decorative crochet on the Pi Shawl, but I'm still not happy with it. I think I'm going to unravel the silk yarn and start over with smaller needles and a real pattern.

The Muppet Sweater is still going on. It is tough to knit with navy blue yarn in the evening. And I don't know if it will have a home. I may just rush it through and ship it off to Goodwill.

The Pink Eyelet Hat is in the van for when I have spare time in the car.

The Impala towel pattern is in Pixelmator, so I have it next to the computer.

I'm seriously considering quitting the Fair Isle Vest and maybe turning it into a pillow. I don't think DH will actually wear it.

Another one down

I finished my Pocket Hat this morning and wore it to brunch. With any luck, I can re-bind off my toe-up bamboo socks (that's all they need) tonight while watching an Inspector Morse episode from Netflix.

I was actually just about to give up on the sock bind-off. I've messed it up twice and have since worn the socks with the remaining thread loosely woven through the live stitches. Pathetic! Fortunately, I recently learned about Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. It may be just what I need.

WIP's, Etcetera

Actively Knitting:
Gray Pi Shawl
Muppet Sweater
Pocket Hat
Acrylic Yak Scarf
Bamboo Socks
Pink Eyelet Hat
Impala Towel
Reversible Hat
Mismatched Socks

Hibernating:
DH's FairIsle Vest
Venezia Hat

To be finished:
Bamboo Entrelac Bag (needs a strap)
Square Cake Bag (needs lining)
Chevron Lace Socks (need elastic)
Mainframe Pouch (needs lining)

Frog Pond:
Gray (Mercerized Cotton) Ribbed Hat
Leg Warmers
iPod Case

** ETA: Yak Scarf done! **

Yarn Stash is Under Control

From top to bottom, a small pile of failed projects that need to be frogged, a bin of finished knitting that needs post-knitting finishing (linings, etc.), a shoebox of small odds and ends of yarn, a vintage 1970's holder of works in progress, an overflow bin of works in progress and a big cardboard box of honest-to-goodness stash yarn.
My fabric stash still needs to be sorted and purged. That will be harder.

My Stash is Out of Control

This is an excessive amount of yarn, fabric and unfinished projects for someone who shares an 800 sq. ft. apartment with another adult:

Pi Shawl Progress

Shawl update: I didn't upload the picture yesterday, so now I can offer before and after.
and

My crochet bind-off was too big and I ended up unraveling it. If I do this* again, I will move the stitches to a very long string of waste yarn for the first blocking.

*By this I mean finishing off a shawl in a totally different yarn without knowing what the relative gauges will be after blocking.

Blocking the Shawl

To recap, I'm knitting a Pi shawl out of a silk-wool laceweight. I ran low on yarn with the bind off still to go, so I'm binding off with a single ply of Louisa Harding Mulberry.

The silk has a much different hand than the silk/wool. I swatched some knit lace and it just doesn't look very good. Blocking should help, but I think that blocking the two together won't work well for the silk/wool (it's just a gut feeling). To avoid this, I've bound off the shawl by crochet with a chain-2 in between each knit stitch. My plan is to block this alone and then crochet on a border in the silk.

The shawl is soaking in the washer with some Eucalan now. Here's how it looked before I put it in: