Quilting and Knitting

[elizabeth_mn]

I managed to work for a couple hours on the koi quilt yesterday!



I think it's coming along pretty nicely, but I wonder, does it look enough like water?

I was overwhelmed with the desire to knit again the other day. I think it was a direct effect of having gone to the State Fair and petting the sheep, and burying my hands in their lovely wool. After that, I just kept thinking "I need to touch wool!! Now!!"

For a few years, I've been trying to figure out a way to keep my head warm in winter and still wear my hair in the big bun. I saw this knitting pattern at Knitty.com a few months ago. It's actually really cute and not dorky looking (like winter headbands often are.) I like the button and the crescent shape.

Anyway, I went out to a couple local yarn shops and got two skeins of the most heavenly soft, hand-dyed merino, malabrigo worsted kettle-dyed.  It has a really gentle twist and is very subtly varegated.  I got the shocking pink and a blue one, I can't remember now but I think it was either the jewel blue or the indigo.  I did a gauge swatch the day I got them, and now I am really excited to dive into knitting!  I'm knitting at 5 sts/inch so I think it'll go pretty fast.  The only things I am waiting for are 1.) I want to save some of this project for my Dallas trip, and 2.) a knitting friend is coming over Saturday to help me walk through the pattern. (It's pretty simple, but I always get hopelessly lost at any mention of "front of work" or "back of work"; I can honestly never tell which is which.)  I hope she can show me how to make a nice cast on for ribbing, too.

The hat is pretty small, so I'm hoping I will have enough leftover yarn for a pair of mittens.