First FO of 2009

First off, please forgive the long absence.  It definitely did not take 3 months to move to Seattle!  My only excuse is that the winter light here is not terribly conducive to taking lovely WIP shots.  Nonetheless, I’m quite excited about 2009, and plan to post much more often.  This truly is the first year in ages when I haven’t struggled to write the new year on my checks until halfway through April–a good sign I think!

While I have plenty of knitting to catch up on from 2008, I want to get the year started off right with the first FO of 2009, the beautiful Selbu Modern.

Pattern: Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4 Ply, Barley (#264), 2 balls, and Highlander (#266), 1 ball (Ravelry Link)
Purchased at: Janette’s Rare Yarns
Needles: Addi Turbo US 1 and 3
Gauge: 30 stitches and 32 rows to 4 inches
Mods: None

The pattern: I loved this pattern so much I cut my hair for it. Yep, that’s right. Bangs for the first time in 10 years just so I could wear this hat. And I have no regrets.  The pattern is extremely easy to follow (it’s charted) and apparently even a beginner with some well-placed confidence can whip this baby up because my brother’s girlfriend is knitting this gem as her third. project. ever.  She’s an animal. I bring this up to say do not fear the stranded knitting! I swear to you, as in most things in knitting (cables and lacework, for two), colorwork is not nearly as hard as it looks and you get mad props for the results. So go forth and strand! (Kirsten, I’m looking at you!) The kind folks in the Ravelry Stranded Group will definitely help you out.

The yarn:I can’t even tell you how sad I’m going to be when I run out of this yarn. I’ve stocked up at Janette’s Rare Yarns twice now and have almost all of her remaining colors, but I still feel like I need more, just in case! One of these days I’ll spring for the updated version of this yarn, Scottish Tweed 4 ply, but I have a hard time paying $5.95 for 120 yards of fingering weight. For reference, I used roughly one and a half balls of the main color, barley, and almost exactly one ball (with about a yard and a half left) of the complementary color, highlander, so you should be able to get by with about 120 yards of your CC if you get gauge.

Overall impressions: Love! I want to knit another one in turquoise and red.Let the slouchy hat obsession begin!

Up next: Here comes the fun part! I don’t know what got into me, but I joined NaKniSweMoDo on Ravelry, which can only stand for National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon. And yes, I will indeed (attempt to) knit 12 sweaters in 2009. Yikes, just writing that freaks me out a little! But the good news is hibernating WIPS count, and all my WIPS are hibernating, so that should ease the pain a little. More on my plans and schemes to come! Thanks for reading!