I Dream of Sheep

For a little while it was all going so well.

At first I was able to resist the siren calls of an enticing new yarn, begging for me to take it home and love it. I could look at other people’s stash and resist the urge to put it all in my purse and run out of the door with it. My drawers were shut tight!

But then I started slowly caving… I would put a pretty yarn in my virtual shopping cart and then take it back out again when I realized what I was doing. I started browsing the yarn section of Ravelry again.

It all went to pot today though, sadly. I went over to Knit Picks to buy myself a shiny set of nickel plated interchangeable circular needles. All was well until I went to check out and found yarn there too! It was some of the “last chance” colorways, so it’s not like I could take them out and come back for them later.  Once it’s gone, it’s gone! What madness is this? No, no, I went ahead and bought them much to my shame.

And then my mother had the audacity to give me more! Quite a bit of it too. She picked up a sweater’s worth of Reynolds Icelandic Kurlie from the flea market this morning, just for me. I don’t even know where it’s been, so I have to give it a good washing to make sure it’s not all moth-y. I also need to frog two sleeves and half of a body’s worth.  I suppose that’s my punishment for failing on this diet.  Thanks a lot, mom! It’s always nice to know that you’re so willing to capitalize on my moments of weakness! (But seriously, I am quite grateful.  It is 100% wool after all.)

At least I do have the excuse that I’ve been productive.  All this hard work has made me hungry for more wool, clearly.  It’s not my fault! It couldn’t be helped.  At any rate, have a variation on a theme:

Wonky (Light Blue) & Not So Wonky (Dark Blue)

Pattern: Wonky
Yarn: Sheep Shop Yarn Company Sheep #2, colors A098 (L. Blue) & F111 (D. Blue)
Needles: US10 / 6.0mm
Finished Measurements: n/a
Started: August 1st,2009 (L. Blue) | August 3rd, 2009 (D. Blue)
Finished: August 1st, 2009 (L. Blue) | August 4th, 2009 (D. Blue)

I really, really liked the Wonky pattern on Knitty when I first saw it.  It took me a while to realize that one of the suggested yarns for it was Sheep #2, a personal favorite of mine and one of which I have ample amounts of in the stash.  I immediately felt the need to cast on the project right then and there.  I was amazed at what a fast knit it was too.  I was done in just under four hours and it probably would have been even faster if I hadn’t taken frequent breaks for silly things like eating and socializing.  It took much, much longer for the project to dry on the blocking pad.

My husband liked the Wonky too, only he decided to be picky and only like the woven looking bits.  To make him stop badgering me, I started a second one (the dark blue one).  This time I cast on 88 stitches instead of the 66 the pattern called for, just to give it a little bit more room around the neck and chin.  I then followed the pattern as written, omitting the bits about stockinette.  I must admit that I do really like this version a lot.  It is more traditional looking than the standard version and will probably be a bit more versatile.  Unfortunately, I did promise the husbandly unit that he could have it before I noticed that I liked it so much.  It’s his now, since I can’t just whip it out of his hands and break into rounds of neener neener (well, I could, but then I’d have to deal with the sad faces and I really can’t stand the sad faces).

My next project is a yarmulke.  I am aiming to have it done in time for Rosh Hashanah (September 18th/19th) so that my husband can pretend to be a good little Jewish boy while he celebrates with my family this year.  Last time he had to make do with one of his ratty old beanies and it looked rather silly.