A wee bit of knitting.

A second chemo cap for my sister-in-law. It went into the mailbox earlier this week.

Yarn: Rowan Calmer, a bit less than one skein.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#6.
Pattern: Cast on 90 st, do a picot knitted-in .75" hem, work even for 5.75", decrease 6 st evenly every other round for a while, then decrease 6 st evenly around every round until there are 6 st left. Break yarn and draw through remaining st.

Cuffs for #1 son's mittens:

These are Cascade Heritage sock yarn, color 5604, 1x1 rib on US#0, 76 st.

I got the charts and instructions for the caduceus today from Colleen, the designer, plus photos of the actual thing.

It.Is.Teh.Awesome.

It occurred to me that I could tell #1 son I am knitting his mittens but not tell him about the caduceus and DNA designs. So I did and got hand measurements from him. Oh, the relief! His hand circumference is 8", exactly what I guessed after measuring my own hand at 7" around. This means that the mittens I am knitting should fit perfectly; I am planning on 1" of positive ease at the knuckles, mittens needing to have a bit of air space for insulation. The cuffs are just the tiniest bit too big for my 7" wrists, so should be perfect for his 8" ones.

The reason I knit both cuffs is because I reached the end of the first cuff at about 10 pm one night earlier this week. I didn't want to quit knitting but I knew it would be pure folly to start a new-to-me and potentially complicated design that late in the day. I knit one round of stockinette on the first mitten, using a US#1 needles and thereby freeing up the US#0 for the second cuff. I reached the end of the second cuff at about that same time of day later in the week, once again knowing enough not to start the design when my brain was not sharp.

Instead, I cast on for a baby hat for Rwanda.

 

The teal -- which is more saturated in real life -- is Knit Picks Main Line in Harbor. Main Line may be discontinued; I don't see it on their website any more. It is worsted weight, 75/25 cotton/merino blend. Of course it is discontinued -- after knitting with it for a bit I decided it was perfect for a February Lady sweater. Damn. The colorful yarn is a bonus that knitnzu threw into the package when I won her contest last spring. It is perfect for this project, having exactly the same color of deep teal as the main color.

And now it is time to attack the mittens for realz. Do I do the DNA helix or the caduceus first? Decisions, decisions...

Comments

[Chris]

Of course. Deciding a yarn is perfect for something is its kiss of death.

[Catherine]

I did knit a February Lady Sweater with Main Line last year and yes, it was the perfect yarn for that project. However, my sweater was not perfect as it was at least 2 sizes too big for me (what was I thinking??). I threw caution (and common sense) to the wind and tossed it in the wash thinking that the 75 cotton content would "save" it but let it shrink a bit. It came out as a nasty, lacey felted thing that was promptly given to the secondhand store. Someone else's treasure??? Don't feel bad about not getting to do a Main Line FLS. I screwed up the karma for that yarn/project union enough for everyone.

On a happier note: The hats you sent for our Hats for the Homeless project arrived and they're BEAUTIFUL!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

[gayle]

I'll bet you do the caduceus first... 8)

[Heather]

Do you want me to mail you some conductive thread for the thumbs? You stitch just a tiny little bit of it into the thumb so that there's a little x on the outside and a tail on the inside, and then he can use his iPod without having to take the mitts off.

Send me your address and I'll send you some!

[Nora]

Wonderful cap - I love the picot hem!

[Kym]

Great projects all! Chemo hats out of calmer are The Best. And I can't wait to see the mitts. They are going to be Perfectly Nerd-Cool!