Speedy Knitzolas

I have seriously never been so excited to knit something before. I was itching to start the Maze hat since my #3 needles freed up, but couldn't start until Thursday night, because I was at the bf's house and the yarn I bought for it was at mine. When I got home, I took as little time as possible getting my stuff reorganized (read: dumping it all on the floor) and started right in. I knit from 10pm-2:30am that night, then a good chunk of the day yesterday, and finally "finished" at 3am yesterday. I say "finished" because I still have to tidy up - adjust some stitches so they look even (color knitting is fun like that), weave in ends, and toss it in with a load of laundry. And the stitch adjusting is taking forever.

Even so, I don't think I've ever knit one thing in this short of a timespan. I also tried some new things! This was my first time doing color knitting. I learned that there is a indeed a right and wrong way to twist the two strands together in the back; at the bottom half of the pattern, I don't have any actual holes, but there's enough space between stitches at the end of every round that you can see the yarn twisting behind it. If that made sense.

This was also the first time I knit something where I had to change needle sizes partway through. No lie. When I first heard of this needle-changing technique, I totally didn't get it. I thought "change to larger needles" meant you had to take all your stitches off the smaller needle, then somehow shove the larger needle through each loop. I've gained some common sense since then.

Anyway, I'll get some pictures of this hat once I (a) totally finish it, and (b) get camera access sometime this week.

In other hat news, check out the hat in the "About the Designer" section. Holy awesome. I don't think I could ever pull it off, though - and I'm not just saying that because I don't have dreadlocks long enough to make pigtails. Even if I did, I don't think it would look right on me. But A+ for creativity to that girl. (And the yarn is pretty, too.)


I got myself into an experimenting mood tonight. I've been eyeing Modular Knits for a little while now, and thought I could figure out how to make that basic square shape on my own. After a couple tries, I got the basic setup down - except I had a line of gaping holes running diagonally down the middle. I thought I needed to slip stitches to do a short-row shaping kind of thing, but for some reason, those stitches always wriggled themselves loose. Maybe I don't need to slip stitches at all; maybe I just need to knit/purl in short row form? *shrug* Don't get me wrong, though, I still want the book; I just had a burst of creative energy [/cliche] and needed to do something about it. (I also apologize for not having a picture of this one. I reeeeally need my own camera. Hmm, there's something I should put on my holiday list...)


In completely unrelated news, the bf and I are moving on Saturday! So, posting may be sparse in the next couple weeks, as we clean, pack, move, unpack, train kittens, and attempt to find affordable high-speed internet. I'll try my best, though.