Beyond good and evil

Okay. Turns out you’re all evil. Barring a few exceptions – kind people who comforted me with assertions about their own inability to knit – the majority of you urged me to hold on, to not give up, to try again, to follow this or that link for video instructions. What’s a girl to do? Well, this girl listened to the voices of evil (particularly Hazel’s) and started another Baktus scarf.

You see, contrary to the impression I inadvertently gave you in my previous post, I can actually knit. I’m neither a knincompoop nor a knitwit. A couple of years ago I knitted a couple of scarves and even a blanket or two. What I meant when I said I wasn’t a knitter, was that knitting doesn’t come naturally to me. I can never find a rhythm, I can never really relax while knitting, I keep clenching and un-clenching, but I really can knit. A bit.

The conditions need to be just right, though, and they weren’t when I started that first miserable Baktus scarf. Let me explain. Knitting according to Annemarie:

1) Knitting needles need to be short (I never know what to do with those large things. I mean, where do you put the ends? They either end up tickling my armpits, or they disappear up my sleeves, making any sort of vital movement with the needles impossible). So: long knitting needles were substituted with short needles.

2) Knitting needles must be made of a warm-to-the-touch, natural material, i.e. wood. Or bamboo. Metal needles are cold and unpleasant. So, metal needles were substituted with bamboo needles.

3) Yarn must be made of something that feels and looks natural. Like something a sheep would wear. So, cheapo Dutch sock wool in the colour ‘Surf’ was substituted with a natural looking, slightly more expensive German sock wool called ‘Meilenweit’.

Behold my second attempt at the Baktus:

I see plenty more Bakti in my future. Thanks to all of the ladies who cheered me on: you’re all delightfully evil.

Progress is not impressive, but only due to the fact that I had to copy another one of Staci’s projects. What with Valentine around the corner and a deadline looming, I couldn’t help but succumb to this wonderful freebie by Primitive Betty’s:

And this, honeybuns, is truly my first start and finish of 2010.

Hang on, don’t go away yet! Remember the giveaway? We have a winner of the Goode Huswife chart Wife Into Thy Garden and her name is…………………

SU!

Aww, Randomiser couldn’t have picked a nicer person. Su and I have known each other since forever (well, at least before either one of us had a blog) and it's been quite a while since Su has received anything from me. Picture me jogging to the post office right away, Su!

Kielrain asked me a question in the comments about the second chart on the second row of the Goode Huswife picture. It is indeed out of print (as are all the charts in this book), and it’s called In Her House.

Have a lovely weekend, all. I intend to work, work and… knit!

Yours knittingly,
Annemarie.