Is there life after Knitty?

Yarr...Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day, me hearties. Why not check this shawl from Monster Crochet, or get some booty from the Yaaarrrrrrrn Pirate.

So It's been about 48 hours after finally submitting three patterns to Knitty, and my brain is finally recovering. Everything had been building up to that deadline. I realize now I tend to think of my knitting in terms of knitting deadlines. Now that this one has passed, I can start some new stuff.

As you see above, I got some free Moo cards with my Flickr account. Of course, you can see all these pictures at a larger size on my Flickr page.

Also, I got my cube that I won from Schrodinger. Now I need to start some socks to put in it.

Actually, my focus for now is the Stash and Burn One Skein Contest, which is also a running start to Christmas knitting. It's a shame that the Knitty submissions have to be secret (although I understand why.) One of mine is a perfect one skein pattern, and I've made several since the contest began.

One of the projects I want to make is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Spiral Hat. The Opinionated Knitter seems to imply that they still make this yarn (The original pattern was written decades ago.) I need to do some research before I cast one. Last time I checked, I couldn't find it on Ravelry.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed, so I decided to just cast on something. So I started with Foliage from the new Knitty. I used Malabrigo Chunky in 102 "Sealing Wax."

I love this pattern!

The chunky version is going very quickly. It has a fun top down construction. Also, the designer took the time to include both charts and written directions. I have very little chart reading experience, but when I started looking, I realized there wasn't really anything to learn.

The most amazing thing happened with this pattern. The pattern calls for US #10.5 needles. During my break at work, I cast on a swatch on size 9's, knowing that my gauge is usually really loose.

This evening, when I arrived at Bluebonnet, I measured the swatch and realized the gauge was too tight. That was unusual. So I got out my size 10s. It was still too tight. So I bought some 10.5s. And it worked! I don't recall any other time I've gotten gauge with the needle size recommended in the pattern! I guess the designer and I must be gauge soul mates or something. I think I'll be making more of these. I also have some yarn for the worsted weight version.

I love the yarn. The semi-solids are beautiful.

And I love this pattern!