This Smells Like Alpaca (or: Everything is Knitters!)

This week at Stitch n' Bitch was pretty exciting, if I do say so myself.

and I do.

First: Everything was knitters!
I got to Stitch n' Bitch early, because my class got out early, which generally messed with my schedule, but it was okay, because when I got to the SUB, there was a group of numerous knitters in our usual spot. I was confused, but the back of someone's head looked sort of like Katherine, so I went with it. By the time I realized that I'd just pulled my chair up to a bunch of strangers, it was too late- so I went with it.

1) it turns out strangers are friendly when they knit!
2) it also turns out that these strangers were TLS (or at least part of TLS. I have heard that this is a sorority, but I do not claim to know these things...), and that they had decided to all learn to knit as a group, coincidentally, on the very same night that Stitch n' Bitch meets! It was pretty cool. By the time the rest of Stitch n' Bitch got to the SUB, I had already taught two of the new knitters how to cast on, advised one on yarn choice (fuzzy 'homespun' from walmart maybe not the best choice for a first project...), and taken a commemorative picture for the blog:

I actually missed one person, you can see her foot if you look really close. Sorry :(

We decided to leave them to their group, because they were having a committee meeting, and Jordan thought that might involve 'super secret sorority stuff', which sounded important so I went with it. Speaking of Jordan, she has revolutionized the art of making flowers for a scarf:

This is a chart of every available color combination, so there are no repeating colors on the scarf (which is finished, by the way). There is even a row of boxes around the outside so she can cross them off when she's done! This seems like something I would do...crazy in a good way! Here's what she has done so far:

Each color-coded with scientific precision!

so colorful! Next week, I bet this scarf will be done!

Madeline is making an alpaca hat, having just finished another alpaca hat. (one can never have enough alpaca hats. They're really quite important)

This week was full of alpaca hats!

Also, check out that sweater! All of the knitted things!

Woody has cast aside (albeit temporarily) his blanket square for a hat, and some very well chosen purple nail polish. My TARDIS blue nail polish is less exciting, but still pretty cool.

Here is a pretty fantastic basketweave scarf, made by yet another of Woody's yarn-loving friends:

I kind of feel like this scarf was a little less orange in person, but my camera is usually pretty okay with colors, so I went with it. But seriously- that basketweave is going to be awesome for this scarf!

Katharine is working on a blue scarf- in direct retaliation, I'm sure, for the worsening weather that we encountered this week. Sidewalks covered in ice? snow swirling from the sky amidst gusts of 40 mph wind? Don't worry- yarn's got your back! No cold's getting through these handknits (and crochets)!

Katherine is plugging along on the second sleeve of her sweater, as I am on the second sleeve of mine. The woe that each of us faces in this process has led me to believe that Second Sock Syndrome is not nearly as horrible as its lesser-known counterpart, Second Sleeve Syndrome. One would think that the prospect of a finished sweater would encourage the affected knitter, but this is often not the case. Often, the knitter is sick of the sweater, and just wants the whole thing to be over, and to be put out of her (or his) misery.

In more exciting news: A hat!

This hat is all the things I love in a hat. It is slouchy, there is a pompom, it is purple and grey, with colorwork and a twice-as-thick rim using a provisional cast on, and it generally looks great! Also, it is alpaca and everybody loves alpaca, and alpacas, too, for that matter. Remember the sitting alpacas? I do. How could you forget? It took about an hour of ravelry searching, but I have determined this hat to be the Garfunkel Hat, which is a free pattern and very exciting indeed! I even have a cake of alpaca all ready to be this hat! I do not, however, have a contrasting color, and I cannot break my yarn diet- I've come almost 3.5 months! We'll see. Maybe alpaca doesn't count. We all know it does... Maybe Yarn Diet is not equal to Yarn Starving, and what I'm doing is Yarn Starving. I guess a better term would be Yarn Fast, not yarn diet. At least on a diet, you still get a little bit of food. For the record, Katharine made this particular Garfunkel hat with alpaca yarn from knit picks, although she didn't know what kind. I would venture a guess that it's Andean Treasure, because that's basically the only remotely hat-like alpaca that knit picks sells. I got really excited about this hat (I think you'll agree-for obvious reasons), and this, combined with my horrible enunciation skills, led to half of this post's title : This feels like alpaca turned right around into 'This smells like alpaca'-which I guess is also a thing as well. Sheep has a smell, I don't know why alpaca wouldn't...

The other half of the blog post, was determined by this photo:

Everything is Knitters!

Half of the HUB, ladies and gentlemen, was knitters! Okay, maybe a third...but we were loud knitters, so it was basically like half. It was great. If you look real close, you'll notice something- clearly Jordan understands the excitement at the quantity of knitting going on:

Sorry it's a bit fuzzy, but I feel like the point gets across.. All the yarn!

Speaking of Jordan, she was having quite the dilemma over a book called 'The Joy of Socks'. She wants, or is going, to make a pair of socks from said book called "Takeout for Two", but didn't understand why this pair of over the knee socks didn't have heels or toes. We hypothesized on the root of this design element. Maybe they are yoga socks? Maybe they are for wearing with shoes that are too small for the added length? Maybe they are for wearing with peep-toe or open toe shoes? All of these are questionable reasons, at best. One thing's for sure, they are definitely for doing sexy poses involving laying down with one's legs sticking straight up in the air, crossed at the ankle. In case anyone needs a more visual explanation of this concept, Woody was willing and happy to oblige:

He even added the complimentary finger-to-lips trick. It's a good thing we knitters have a sense of humor. There are additional pictures of this pose on Ravelry, coincidentally. We all reassured Jordan that she would be able to knit these socks with the easy addition of heels and toes. We cannot, however, reassure her that she will not feel the urge to throw her legs up in the air whilst laying down, and cross her ankles. This may or may not happen as a side effect of the socks. There's only one way to find out!