Monday, September 26, 2005

The bastard's done! Knitty's Hush Hush nightgown is finished, blocked, and detailed. But you'll have to wait for pictures because I'm lazy. If this angers you and you can't wait, there are some unblocked and undetailed pictures on Flickr. But you'll have to hunt for them. Because I'm lazy. I think we just covered that.

My next project is going to teach me to follow directions. It's the Mystery Shawl. Doesn't it sound mysterious? Doesn't a Mystery Shawl sound like the kind of thing your grandkids would find in your attic after you're dead and make up stories about it?

Actually, how it works is every five weeks they reveal a new piece of the pattern. You have no idea what kind of ride you're being taken on.

This means I can't skip ahead and ignore the directions, make stuff up, or fudge my way through it. If line 34 says "[k3, p4, k1, yo, k1, yo] 12 times" then that's what I'm going to do.

This project will tell me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if I really am pattern stupid. And if I am, I can seek help. I'm sure there's a support group.

The only problem is I don't have anywhere near enough of the yarn I was planning to use for it. With ALL the yarn I'm hoarding, I don't have enough of ANYTHING to make a shawl.

I went to Gary, looking for sympathy. He patted me on the shoulder. "Okay, so buy the yarn you need."

"I can't just buy the yarn! That costs money. I should just use whatever I have laying around."

"You can't knit without yarn, dumbass. You don't have to ask."

"Yes I do!"

"No. You don't."

Then he showed me a picture of the $1200 bike he wants.

"Oh," I said.

And he didn't really call me dumbass, either. He's just that cool.

So help me decide which color to make it…That Tangelo is awfully fun, but is it mysterious enough?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've only been reading your blog for a week or two, so don't really know your complete personality, but I'd go for the juniper. And I am so jealous that you could actually make a mystery shawl. I want one too! I'll have to find someone who knows how to make one for me! BTW, love your blog!

Anonymous said...

I'm loving the Tangelo because it screams Fiesta! The Sweet Pea is a close second...

Aunt Murry said...

I think you should go for the mermaid...It's mysterious.

lauramacf said...

I'm voting for either juniper, which is as close to exciting as I could get, or mystic beige because it's boring but is trying hard not to be and I admire that in a yarn. But then I'm not making the shawl and you would probably look fantastic in the tangelo. Have fun,and tune in later for info about my weekend project, a machine knitted sweater for my sister's 40th. It doesn't fit her and needs to be entirely redone (due to different sized sleeves), but I finished it! Sort of.

Deborah said...

It has to be mermaid. No question.

Chris O'Brien said...

Thanks so much for helping me decide! I have to admit, I almost went for Mystic Beige because of the name. And that Juniper has been my favorite shade of green for the longest time. But I hadn't even considered the Mermaid, so I went back and looked, and I think that's what I'm going to go with. It's kind of got this weird slivery-turqoise thing going on.