The World Will Follow After

After spending a week and a half at my parents’ and being busy with slowly but steadily going stir-crazy, I’m back in Leipzig, and thank god for that. My system’s acting up, my skin’s acting up, I had random nosebleeds, headaches and a back like a board. So, yes, I’m definitely glad to be back home, where I can stay up all night without a bad conscience and where I’m not trying to squeeze myself into a bed that’s just a tad too short for me to fit comfortably.

The visit wasn’t without perks, though. First, my parents are clearing out my grandparents’ house, and there’s just so much stuff. I snagged a bundt cake pan, a ton of buttons, wooden spoons and tongs my grandpa made himself, a couple of meters of lace edging… also a full set of gold-rimmed china, and a couple of pillows, but I’m not taking those back to Leipzig now. Or in the near future. We have so many plates already, I think our kitchen would burst. But there’s also a couple of quirky things, like an automatic drink dispenser thingy shaped like a knight’s helmet. I’m all for weird drinking accessories!

Then, I got to drive to the Atelier Zitron again, which is always exciting. I only took €45 this time, and didn’t even spend all of it. Which raised eyebrows, honest to god. I guess it’s nice that they know my face there, but it’s also a bad testament to my spending habits when people ask me what’s gotten into me when I leave with less than €60 worth of yarn.

The stuff I bought wasn’t outrageous, but very lovely all the same: four 50g balls of Gobi, which is my favorite worsted weight yarn ever: 40/30/30 merino/alpaca/camel, buttery soft and just an all around joy to work with. It isn’t available in a crazy range of color like the KnitPicks yarns, but all of their colors are lovely and very cozy, somehow. I bought one grey and one burgundy to make another Opus Spicatum hat (for my mother this time, and I finished the thing the same evening), and two rust-colored balls for a hat for myself. Though that one’s gonna have to wait a bit, cause I swear, I can feel spring approaching, and I ain’t knitting no warm hat when I can practically feel the air warming around me.

I may be exaggerating slightly, but at this point I am so starved for a little sunshine and a little spring.

Anyway. The rest of my purchase was a little less extravagant: a test skein of yellow/orange HandArt, 4 balls of a DK-ish grey new wool yarn that was 2 bucks a pop and I couldn’t resist, and Zitron’s newest baby, the No. 1 Lace Filigran. Lovely indigo blue, nice texture – I like merino lace yarns, they’re not too delicate. Not that I don’t absolutely adore Misti Alpaca Lace, but merino is kind of more down-to-earth. And also more widely available.

I got struck by a bit of startitis, with the weather changing, so currently I have two new shawls on the needles: one Haruni with the Filigran, and a fudging-it version of the Shetland Lace Triangle. Figuring out how that pattern works made me feel like the knitting equivalent of Sherlock Holmes and entertained me for a whole evening. Entertained is too weak a word, I had a blast. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve had this much fun on my own in forever.

Then again, I haven’t really been doing things all by my lonesomes recently. I usually have company, either in the form of roomies hanging out two feet from me, or people via IM programs. I guess I forgot how fun it was to do things by myself. I’ve seriously gotten a little codependent with how much Saskia and I hang out on a regular basis, i.e. at least seven, eight hours a day, every day.

I guess that’s one of the good things that came out of this trip: rediscovering solitude.

But I’m glad to be going back, and rediscovering company, too.

PS: there’s new socks, too. They were awesome and perfect, and then they fulled like crazy in the washing machine. I have a feeling it might be the flamé yarn. So, in conclusion: no more flamé socks.

Wilf’s Hat

Since there seems to be some problems with the Wilf’s Hat Debate – just to clarify, here’s my shiny PDF of my chart of Wilf’s Hat.

When Doctor Who: The End of Time aired, there was a lot of attention on and discussion of the red cabled beanie Wilfred Mott, gramps extraordinaire, wore. This pattern is the result of a bit of a community effort over at the Who Knits group on Ravelry: the very first draft was made by Anushka, but after test-knitting her chart and swatching around on my own for a bit, I realized I’d made enough changes to justify putting them up myself.

True to the original, this is a six-panel cabled beanie with a folded-up brim. Knit it in red and find an airplane charm for maximum geeking pleasure!

Hold on to this feeling

Exciting news: I finished stuff today! Amazing, I know.

Stuff being my little scarflette in bulky handspun yarn (no photos yet, sorry) and my rainbow bright Rainy Day Socks.

I haven’t woven the ends in yet, but… eh. I’ll do that tomorrow. Ish. Who knows. Also, I joined the new sweater into the round, and I’m below bust level. The Weasley sweater is dyed and dry in my wardrobe, even though it looks a bit like camo. I’m thinking about dyeing it again, in the hope that it sticks more to the yellow patches, but really… part of me is considering just leaving it as is, duplicate stitch a big ol’ P on it, and be done with it. It’s a boxy drop-shoulder sweater anyway, which means comfy sweater, which means not likely to be worn outside the house. Plus the geek factor of the whole Weasley sweater thing. So, yeah.

Also, the most amazing thing about today: the good guys are back. Sassi, and…

… the dog. Wave. The Plüschplüsch. Who’s fuzzy and squooshy and cuddly right down to his big, fuzzy paws.

It’s been a good day today. Apart from where the whole apartment is already littered with dog hair. And I brushed the hell of that dog already, and when I say hell, I mean at least 10g or so of fluffy dog hair just waiting to be spun up. Now, if I only had my spindle here.