Behind or Ahead

Word has it that it is nearly September. The realization comes with a bit of a shock, but also somewhat of a relief. Life is busy in the summertime, even if Porgy and Bess say the livin' is easy.

So, what of summer projects? Something cotton? Fresh? Cool and easy to wear?

Well... how about wool?

It seems like I've got my seasons all mixed up, because this summer has been all about working on merino and alpaca projects. Mind you, I've been so busy that the projects have been slow-going, but you'd think I'd throw in a bit of something different for a change.

I'm blocking a scarf based on Wisp by Cheryl Niamath from a summer issue of Knitty, which would be a summery project, were it not for the fact that it is knit in merino wool. In my defence, I really wanted to knit something with this yarn, because the colours are so striking. It's a hand dyed skein from a now-defunct indie Etsy store. It was kind of a hit-and-miss project: each time I picked it up to work on it, I had to decide if I still liked it. I think I like it more now that it is blocking. It's starting to show its true self.

And now that that is finished, I decided to pick up a skein of laceweight bamboo yarn to work on, just in time for the fall! Yes, the days are shorter, the nights are getting cooler, and soon, the chill will be in the air. Uh huh, bamboo time. Yup. Ready for next summer, I guess.

I took it with me during a work trip this week. I never thought I'd stuff a ball of yarn and a crochet hook into a hard hat, that's for sure:

The yarn was a gift from my friend, dkzack. She got it during a trip to Olds Fibre Week a couple of years ago, before she realized she didn't really like working with laceweight yarn. It's a pretty hefty skein, probably about 900 yards by my calculations. I decided I didn't want to fight my way through a knitted laceweight project, so after a few trials, I decided on a free crochet pattern from Lion Brand called Tranquil Wrap. It's a pattern I would have never looked twice at before. It was only that I had spotted some of the versions that people had made with light weight yarns that I changed my mind. I tried a few different hook sizes before I decided on a size that felt right (seriously, I don't know how anyone can crochet with laceweight with a hook larger than 4.00mm). It's slow-going, but I think it's still going to eat up the yarn faster than with a knitted project. And I got quite a bit of it done in the airport the other day:

So, wool for summer, bamboo for fall. But you know, maybe I'm not behind on the seasons. I went shopping on the weekend and discovered that black and red are SO IN this fall. So like, maybe I'm just fashion forward. Ahead of the game, that's me. Follow me, pack. I shall bring you to the FUTURE.

Yeah, I know. I'm tired. It's Friday. Gimme a break. Back to the hook.

P.S. Rascal is doing pretty well. He's a bit skinny, but he's more comfortable these days, as you can see: