AuburnChick's Adventures

On Sundays, I tend to veg out and knit.

Having just finished the chemo cap (see previous post), I started trying to figure out what I wanted to make next.

My friend, Rabbitrescuer, is going to be working on her first pair of socks.  We’re going to do a KAL (that’s knit-a-long for all of my non-knitting readers).  I am honored that she is allowing me to walk her through the process.

We had been discussing which pattern to use, but we had not made a firm decision yet.  I knew she was working a 12-hour shift on Sunday, so that left me in a quandary.

What to do with myself.

You know you’re addicted to knitting when you wander around the house, lost for something to do despite having ironing and dirty dishes giving you the evil eye.

I managed to ignore them, as usual, and racked my brain.

Poor brain.  It cannot take too much.

I considered casting on a pair of socks for the fun of it…something I could work on until we started our KAL.  However, I was afraid to commit my needles in fear of needing them for whatever we would settle on.  I only own one set of each size of needles, so I’m stuck there.

In desperation, I meandered to one of my yarn baskets and pulled out the first skein my hand touched.

It was this:

Araucania Nature Wool Chunky #134

It had been a gift from another knitter who sent it to me along with an oddball blanket I was working on at the time.

Here it is all wound up:

Araucania Nature Wool Chunky #134

With the yarn in hand, I sat down at the computer and pulled up Ravelry.  I love Ravelry for its search feature.

After plugging in the yarn, I found many, many pages of projects.  Most of them were too large for my one skein.  I found myself trying to decide between a couple of patterns, finally settling on Calorimetry, a free pattern from the Winter 2006 issue of Knitty.

What a fast knit!  It only took me about three hours.  I made myself finish binding off before going to bed at the late hour of 11:30.

I used the double rib invisible bind-off from the Interweave Knits Fall 2008 issue.  If you have this issue, it’s worth taking a look at.  I just love the finished edge…invisible, as promised.

A couple of notes before you get to see pictures (unless you’re cheating and already scrolled down).  I only cast on 92 stitches.  This pattern is notorious for turning out too big.  I also went down to a size 7 needle.  It fits using the hole closest to the end.  I do have big hair, though.  If you make this, you might want to venture nearer to 100 stitches.

The pattern only required 45 grams of yarn, so it’s a great way to use up some of that stash you might have.  I still have about half a skein left.

And now, here are some pictures of my project:

The color in this picture is a little bright.

Thank goodness I save all of the extra buttons that come with my clothes.  I scrounged around and came up with one that worked.

This is the true color.

Ok…off to take a peek at the pattern that Rabbit and I decided on.  More information on that later!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: araucania, calorimetry, head, headband, Knitting, wool |