A lovely person on Ravelry has made the needed edits to my pattern, and with credit to her, I’ll be test-knitting and re-releasing the pattern soon. Watch for updates, and to all who have been frustrated by this hat, I give my sincere apologies. It is a lesson learned as a noob designer: Don’t be in a hurry to release your patterns. Be thorough and do your best to make sure it is correct the first time around.

In pleasant Shark Hat news, something awesome is going on over at Halos of Hope. One of my shark hats has been knit, named after a wonderful pit bull (which, given my other aspiration in life, fits perfectly), and took an inspiring voyage for cancer awareness. I have no place to brag in this awesome story; I am merely humbled that something as adorable and silly as my shark-eating-head hat could be an inspiration for something like this. Halos of Hope is an awesome organization; if you can spare it, throw them a donation.

Last weekend was spent in Virginia, up mountain at my sister (the Knitting Pirate)’s house. She is not my blood sister, but her and my two swornbrothers make it a point to unite ourselves a few times a year.

Sister and I knitted. Natch.

My sock is RPM knit in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi. It looks weird when not on a cylindrical object, but it’s knitting up very nicely.

Knitting and wine while watching our brothers cook was bliss. It was an enjoyable retreat and I look forward to their visit here in February.

Falling back into that comfortable knitting groove is nice.

Firstly, how about a new sock.

This is a Jaywalker (natch) knit in Regia Canyon Color, in the Beach colorway. The RPM aren’t done yet. I enjoy switching up my socks a little so the monotony isn’t there when I return to the second sock.

Nothing beats a good Jaywalker.

I’ve also been at work on some babythings for my fast-incoming baby niece/nephew. I bought some nice corn fibre-based yarn for a baby bonnet or two…

Which is super soft and gender-neutral(although leaning towards girly). I’m most likely going to go with the Top-Down Baby Bonnet for them, as it’s easy and cute.

I’ve also started swatching for a new baby pattern all my own.

The photo sucks, but there really isn’t much to show yet, save for the color choice. The yarn is Patons Decor, a nice wool/acrylic blend that is both washable and soft. The green is foresty and cool.

I plan on doing a Vandyke Lace panel in three columns, but after all this swatching (there’s three so far) we’ll see how everything adds up. It’d be nice to add to the solid-colour baby blanket patterns out there. :)

Oh, and quite possibly the biggest news as of late. My good buddy Ethan happened to have a friend with an alpaca farm. And when said friend mentioned alpaca seconds, my good buddy Ethan figured he would suggest myself, the Pirate, and friend Janis as possible receivers of said fleece.

It came in on Monday. 8 pounds of it.

It is, of course, fresh off the animal, so there’s work to do. But I’m quite surprised; despite an obvious smell of farm animal (which doesn’t bother me in the least; I worked on a ranch for years) the fleece is in really good shape, and the natural colours are really gorgeous. I have one bag of Fandango(black) and three bags of mixed browns.

I’ll be spending the next little while learning how to clean and prepare it. If anyone has suggestions or helpful websites, please let me know!

Now, IMPORTANT NEWS

Knitting Pirate, my darling sister, has a new pattern published, and man, is it ever cool: Highwayman Armwarmers. (Here’s the Ravelry link for Ravelrers.)

I knit a pair and plan to live in them this fall.

They are super easy, but the cables make them fun and interesting. I would recommend a nice soft yarn on bamboo needles.

Yay Pirate! ARRRRRRR

(I’m a day late for Talk Like A Pirate Day. Oops!)

First, I finished the first RPM sock…

…and have cast on for the second. No slouch, no sir.

I also knit a friend, for a friend.

He is knit from BitterSweet’s Crazy Kiwis free pattern, and is for my friend Corrie for her birthday, as she adores kiwis.

I also snagged myself a set of Addi Turbos for the Boogie vest, so that it won’t get so stuck on my bamboo straights, and be a bit more comfortable to knit on, instead of “OW the needles poking into everything”, etc.

On the venture for Turbos, I also got some Regia Canyon Color in the  2801 “beach” colourway. Methinks they will become a proper pair of Jaywalkers.

Starting the heel now. Such an easy pattern, and so well-suited for constantly-variegating yarns like this. If it wasn’t already obvious, I’m doing the top-down, flap heel version. I’m a traditionalist.

Pondering the next baby project, too, as I only have two projects on the needles right now (!!) and the baby is fast approaching.