martinimade

Before we move on to the knitting portion of this post, some random links:

-- When I found out that my Jon Stewart would be on Jack's Big Music Show, which is the only Big Music Show that both the kids and I adore, I DVR'd it. It was only this week that I realized why the bald guy singing the "Groundhog Song" was so hauntingly familiar; it is Steve Burns, formerly of Blue's Clues and currently still a cutie. I'm sure others noticed this long before I did -- but I kept thinking it was someone I went to college with and so was stuck on that track.

-- Neil Gaiman beat me to the punch on this story about The Vagina Monologues in Jacksonville so I'll just link to him.

-- Like Firefly, Kitchen Confidential was one of those shows that I didn't care for at first, mostly because the early episodes weren't the strongest ones. Both seemed to be hitting their stride right when they were canceled. Fortunately, Firefly came out on DVD and thousands of us were hooked. And, now, Kitchen Confidential is poised to do the same.

The knitting content:

My Decadent Fibers scarf is finished.

This is how I looked yesterday as I was stealing myself for a trip outside. Note scarf.

Since the ends were lace and out of a wool/mohair blend, they looked like wadded-up crap when first knitted. Ergo, blocking, which meant that I had to pick up the pincushion of death.

So named because Kid #1 "borrowed" it and moved all of the pins so that the pointy bits stick out. Honestly. Like trying to pick up a cactus.

My original plan for this yarn was a Backyard Leaves scarf but the yarn itself proved to be too colorful to do all of that patterning justice. So I ripped, promised to do Leaves another day and came up with my own damn pattern.

The body -- pictured here as the ends were blocking -- is courtesy Juno, who acquired it from the Harlot. It is a simple k2, p1, ktb1. Easy peasey and looks much more complicated than it is.

The ends are a leaf motif taken from Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge. I knitted them separately then sewed them on. Cute, no?

The scarf, in repose.

Aesthetically, I'm quite pleased. I lurve the colors. I lurve the pattern. It all blocked out nicely. My eye finds it enjoyable -- no pooling or flashing or nasty seams.

Now for the irony, which you had to see was coming. Yesterday, I discovered that wearing it around my neck was like being strangled by barbed wire. It buurrrrrrns like the heat from a white hot sun. It's like pink fiberglass on my delicate neck.

I usually don't have a problem with wool, not even on my more sensitive parts. I'm thinking it might be the mohair, which is 45 percent of the yarn. It didn't bother my hands but I get all itchy when I even think about wrapping it near my head.

I should be more broken up about this. The process was so enjoyable that I can overlook the fact that the result is completely unwearable. I'm not bitter. No, really. I'm not.

Anyone out there with a neck of steel who wants a scarf? I'll even pick up the shipping.