People are strange

I was just reading Lime and Violet, and was taken by a small article about a crocheted hat. This, very simple, spiral hat receives more compliments than you would think normal for such a simple object. This got me thinking about my own projects, and what gets most approval.

The Mad Knitted Blankie, for example. this is possibly the simplest thing EVAH knitted. Just a bunch of randomly sized rectangles and squares, different stitch patterns, different yarns and colours. Sewn together with thick black wool and backed (no, it's still not finished) with a remnant of raw silk. People love it. Maybe it's the scale of it, or the colour combinations, but they go doolally over it. Weird.

Another one is my "Harlot's One-Row Handspun Scarf." I wear this a lot for work, it's a basic, workaday kind of scarf. It's knitted in a cheap acrylic (James C. Brett Marble Chunky) in a blue-turquoise-green-purple colourway. It's fuzzed like you would not believe, it's not really long enough, and again, people adore it.

It would appear that there is no accounting for taste, and there is nowt so strange as folk. Well, tell me something I didn't know already.

Anyway, what's been happening? Well, I've been knitting. There is a works do at the greyhound racing planned at the end of the month, so I decided I needed a woolly hat. (I'll add a picture later) I knitted it from Shunklies' Handspun Pure Merino, picked up on holiday in Cornwall, which is like knitting with buttah. There was lots left over, so I'm knitting up a 2x2 rib scarf to go with it. I'm cutting and spit-joining the yarn to get smaller stripes, and I cheated and added a little Freedom Spirit held double to add some bright red to the mix. Just hope there's enough to do a decent length scarf. I'm also hoping to finish my mittens, ready to wear on the night (picture to come) which are my first ever DPN project.

I just want to interrupt myself at this point. DPNs? Not Scary. Fiddly, yes, but not scary. I am feeling very smug. You just know it's all going to go horribly pear-shaped now. Another, unexpected benefit: when knitting on DPNs in work lunch-breaks, people are hugely impressed by the complicated knitty thing that you are doing. They think you're impossibly clever. Hah.

The Macgregor sweater? Halfway through the final sleeve. I'm in danger of dying of beige stocking stitch overdose, but I'm getting there. I'd really like to wear this to the first outing of the Stoke Stitch'n'Bitch next week, but I'm not sure I'll get it seamed in time. I really don't want to rush the seaming...

And finally - I have succumbed to a proper, stinky Cold Of Doom. I haven't had a proper cold for over two years, and this one is kicking my butt. Hate hate hate. I can't even take time of work as I don't get paid for sick days (I'm a contractor.) Bugger it. My nose is literally glowing. Yuk. However, I can still knit, so all is not lost. Great look for Valentine's Day, dontcha think?