Yakety Yak

Geez, as soon as I open my trap and make a grand prouncement - NO HOLIDAY KNITTING - I'm forced to retract my statement (hmmm ... you'd think I was president or something) . . .



Just when I thought I was in the clear, no presents, ba humbug, my friend Pete did something incredibly sweet. As I think I've mentioned before, Pete and I have brunch every Saturday. This past Saturday,we went to see Walk the Line at the Riverview Movie Theater (which, by the way, is no better than going to that er, shop, on 13th Street -- no one's bothering to run the projector there either, and you never know what you're going to walk in on in the bathroom), and we walked home via South Street. We past a framing store, and he asked to pop in. I went to the counter with him, and he said - could you, and he pointed to the other end of the store, shooing me away. What? Did you frame porn for your brother? Yeah, that's it, he said. I shrugged, and walked away. He picked up his porn, and walked me home. And, low and behold, it wasn't porn (I didn't really think it was), it was a present for moi!



He had my front pager framed! How could I not knit him a scarf, damn him! So, I whipped up the Rustic Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts:

The book categorizes it as a four to six hour gift. I'd say it's on the four end side - just 33 rows of garter, 3 different colors of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky -- stout (brown), olive oil (olive oil? what were it's parents thinking?), and string (tan). Did you fall asleep reading that, because I almost did knitting it. But, I think it looks nice, and it's done.

Now, naturally, at the same time, my friend with benefits started to complain that he needed a scarf. I let him try on the Rustic Scarf - too itchy. And some have the nerve to call women whiners, sheesh! So, I had him look through a few books, and he picked this scarf, sharp, he said, that's sharp. Sharp? Boring, so boring. But, at least its not ugly. That would really be a dilemna - what if he had picked a poodle scarf???? Well, there never really was any danger of that - but I just don't know what I would do if I friend asked me to knit something so hideous that it should be burried in the backyard with the rest of the traif. Gifting should be an attempt to avoid regifting, actually buying someone something they want, and if a friend of mine wanted a poodle scarf . . . I guess I would just have to convince them they wanted something else. Anyway, here it is:

But, it has to be in black, because my coat is black, and my gloves and hat are grey.

So, I trotted over to Rosie's, like a good beneficiary, and attempted to fill the order. I wanted to use Debbie Bliss's Alpaca Silk, yummo as Rachel Ray would say. But, the closest thing she has to grey is kind of a pale olive. So, I called him, how about . . .? . . . grey. Black and grey.

I ended up picking Karabella's Superyak (50% Yak, 50% Merino), a.k.a., the Boyfriend Yarn, because it solves that itchy owey whining. I guess it counts for the friend with benefits, as well as the boyfriend, they both complain the same (although, the friend with benefits stands no chance at receiving cashmere). But, black? He clearly is trying to make me go blind. I cast on a swatch, on 10's, and the fabric seemed to be holey -- like I was doing yarn overs as opposed to tweed. Lisa took a look, and opined that with blocking, it would probably grow and expand. I don't know what switch she flipped in my head, but from that point forward through the evening, I had Edelweis stuck in my head - "bloom and grow, bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever." It's not really a toetapper -- thanks Lisa.

I went down to a nine, and it's better:
Not that you can really tell in the photo - because it's black . . .