Slow and steady wins the race
That, my dears, is two-color brioche stitch's personal credo. It sure ain't fast, but it sure is pretty.
This is the first time I've knit with Malabrigo. I love to softness and the squoosh, not so much a fan of how the light blue ball had four breaks in it or how it doesn't like to be ripped out. The fibers cling together like they're impersonating mohair.
As you can see, I did end up buying Weekend Knitting. I got a tremendous deal, actually. I had a gift card, which Matthew won at an employee meeting. (He's a certified professional framer. Hot, eh?) I grabbed a Christmas stamp set for card-making, and that was 25% off. I got up to the register and the nice checkout girl scanned a 50% off coupon for my book. The total for my book and stamps was about $13, less than the regular price of the stamps. I love it when that happens.
And I do dig this book. Although most of the patterns are a little more basic than I usually use patterns for, all the patterns have an interesting twist (the fingerless mitts, for example). I love the argyle slippers (and will use Naturespun for those) and the perfect pie shawl. And, of course, this two-color brioche hat. The two-color tubular cast-on sure is crazy, though. Remarkably, I didn't twist the cast-on either of the times I did it. My first attempt at this hat kicked my rear, as I thought I was too smart to use a stitch marker. Trust me, no one is too smart for a stitch marker when dealing with this pattern.
Q&A
I love it when I have questions to respond to!
Delana asked if I liked the Bearfoot. I love Bearfoot. It's so very soft, yet strong (I bet it wears like iron), didn't split for me except on cable crossing rows when I wasn't paying attention, and it creates a dense-but-soft fabric. No problems with getting dyes on my fingers for me, either.
Carissa wants to know the name of the cable in the sleeve in my last post. It's an upsidedown staghorn cable (or Staghorn Cable II, according to The Harmony Guides 450 Knitting Stitches Volume 2, which is a great stitch library for the money):
Knit over 16 stitches.
Set-up row: p across
Row 1: C4F, k8, C4B
Even rows: purl
Row 3: k2, C4F, k4, C4B, k2
Row 5: k4, C4F, C4B, k4
I purled through the back for stitches 8 and 9 on row 6, to tighten the cable up a bit.
Renada commented on my Tudor Roses buy. I didn't know it at the time, but apparently it's out of print (am I right?). Yarnzilla had several copies, in hardcover. Thank goodness I bought it - I was balking at the $28 price tag!
Speaking of sales...
I went to the Yarn Cafe to check out their sale on Sunday, and left without anything. Why? Their sale - apparently - was one where you pick out all your yarn, then pull out a colored chip that tells you your discount. Now, I'm not going to spend time picking out yarn only to find out I get a whole 10% off. I'm not going to buy yarn I don't need unless I'm getting a significant discount up front. Maybe the hoity-toity fancy people in Maple Grove (or executives who own yarn shops) are cool with that, but I'm po' (relatively speaking). And cheap.
I didn't have much luck at Amazing Threads, either, although they had some really nice stuff discounted (like Optima, 30% off). Nor did I have luck at Three Kittens when I breezed in and out (I was in a hurry). I'd love to make these Norwegian stockings (don't we all after seeing that picture?) and I'd love to use Dale of Norway yarn, but, man, that's an expensive pair of socks, and they don't have the colors I want to use (I'm thinking brown main color, light green/celery contrast color, and a darker green or orange or ivory for the second contrast color along the top). I have poor knitting-fu lately. Or at least, poor yarn-fu.
I'm going to go now so I can knit on my brioche hat for a few minutes before having to jump in the bathtub and start my day. (I have Friday off. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to that.)
Tipper @ 5:03 AM * link
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