I had intended to put up a Friday Freebie this morning, but everyone in my house is home today. The man, the 2 boys, the dog – everyone. I’ve had a sick boy home all week so I’ve basically gotten nothing done all week long.  We went to the movies to see the Green Hornet (which I loved btw) but now we are back home and everyone is back to their regularly scheduled program of driving me insane!

So anyhow, let’s look at something pretty…

It’s my Pierrette pattern. And for today only, it’s free. So go and get it!

Did you have one? I did. I saved for sooooo long to buy myself a Swatch watch when I was a young teenager. And basically it was a cheap plastic watch that made my wrist sweat. A lot. But I always think of that stupid thing when I think about swatching new designs.

Last night I spent some quality time with some French Angora. It basically turned my black shirt into a blanket of hair. But I came up with something beautiful and it’s on the blocking board today. Gotta keep working to get into some magazines. And I really promise to get some new self-published things out soon. Plus some other fun little things are coming up. So watch (swatch?) this space!

You would think that having been smacked in the face with this on more than one occasion, I would have learned my lesson by now. But nooooo….. apparently I am that rat in the maze. Forever shocking myself by going the wrong way.

So let me give you the benefit of my bad judgment. If you are knitting on something that you need to know when you are half done with the yarn… WEIGH YOUR YARN BEFORE YOU START. Yes, I’m shouting. On purpose.

I have learned over the past couple of years that sometimes indie dyers skeins do not weigh what they say on the label. This is ok. They are independent and I’ve learned (I thought) to weigh the skeins before starting to make sure how much I have to work with. I did not however, think I needed to do this with a commercial yarn.

The lovely yarn that I worked up my most recently shawlette in had a label that read 125 grams. So I worked my shawlette up. When I reached my midway point, I had 66 grams of yarn left. Which is well more than half and should have given me enough to finish the shawlette no problem.

You can see where this is going. Apparently the skein weighed a lot more than 125 grams. It weighed 140 grams to be exact. Too much is better than short, right? Well not in this case. In this case it left me with not enough yarn and only two options. Option A: Rip back past the halfway point and reknit the entire 2nd half of the shawl. This option was clearly not acceptable. Option B: Find some natural colored yarn and knit the last 2 inches or so of the tip. This is what I did.

But I’m still grumpy about it. Mostly at myself. But kind of at Plymouth too. 140 grams DNE 125 grams. And if you’re designing this can become a big issue. Even if you’re just knitting. Maybe you’re wondering if you’re gonna run out of yarn on a 2 skein project. Well if the first skein you knit with has 140 grams of yarns it will not be much help with this. Because 140 grams goes way further than 125 grams. And honestly a 15 gram fudge? What if the skein was 15 grams short?

But anyhow weigh your yarn. It’s in your best interest. And mine. Hopefully I’ve learned my lesson by now. Beauty pictures and a pattern coming on this puppy soon.

I love the way lace knitting – even things with only lace edgings – looks like fuzzy lumps before the blocking. I love blocking. I love how it takes something that looks kind of pretty if you stretch it just so and turns it into something that is beautiful and lovely and perfect. I’m working up a nice little side to side lace shawlette. Warmer than usual, worked up in the softest baby llama yarn that is undyed but has lovely little sparkly silver streaks in it. Undyed yarn just seems so much softer than anything that’s been chemically altered.

I had intended to use beads with this design, but then I found a lace edging that I loved that didn’t really go with beads so I opted not to. The yarn has 273 yards to 125 grams so it should make a nice cozy shawlette on size 8 needles. Here it is in fuzzy lump form.

This might even be done before year’s end. Or at least it will be one of the new and fabulous things you see come 2011. Stay tuned.

When your children ask for knitted things your heart is touched. Especially as a designer – “Mom, will you design something for me?” But let’s think about this logically. If your children are boys that are twelve and eleven – well knitting something for them is sometimes like shoveling the driveway while it is still snowing.

The rate at which they grow is alarming – awe-inspiring I tell you. I knit socks for them once. With plenty of room to grow. They didn’t last a month. But I think I’ve found the (temporary) answer. Hats. Their heads are not gonna get that much bigger. So I can make a hat that will at least last a year or two. It’s genius!

Not my genius though. My boys are smarter than me. So they asked for hats. They drew sketches (!!!!) and told me exactly what they didn’t want – nothing girly mom. So here you have a hat that has been approved, inspired by, and fully endorsed by a twelve year old boy.

One of the requirements for men in this house is a very deep fold-up brim. Check! For the twelve year old – he wanted Gator Blue. Check! And the stitch pattern has been approved as well.

And by the way, I would love to know how this young man came to be. I mean I know I made him and all of that. But can he really be this big? He’s nearly 5’6″ and has this man voice that I just don’t know where it came from.

So today, for the 8th day of my Christmas spectacular, you can get this hat for the bargain price of $2.50 – no coupon code needed! Tomorrow it will go up to full price – $4.50 -  so today is a good day to buy!

Needles: Size 7 needles (4.5 mm) – either 16″ circs & dpns *or* long enough to magic loop

Yarn: Cascade 220, 220 yards to 100 g, color 7818 – 150 (175, 200) yards

Size: Small (18″), (Medium (20″), and Large (22″)) – all circumferences are unstretched

Gauge: 18 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette

Notes: Worked in the round – offered in written & charted format.

The Benlocke Hat on Ravelry – $2.50 USD (today only!)