last dulaan 07 post

Very happily, life did slow down this weekend. I decided to make it a four day weekend, and I'm still not ready to start the work week. I accomplished a major goal, which was to wash, dry, and pack up my Dulaan items to mail off. Good news about the Patons SWS hats in the lower right corner: after a bath, the stitches firmed up a bit, and got a lovely halo of fuzz, that will help ward off the winds of Mongolia. (Now I'll happily do something with the six-pack I've got stashed away.)

I also started a summer sweater project for me, but it's not feeling very photogenic right now. We went to the TKTS line yesterday morning, and I knit away on it while we stood. The group of four women behind us in line kept trading places, and they said that as long as I kept knitting, they'd know where to slip in. They were very funny.

a dulaan dulaan a dulaan dulaan

(Are those flowers plastic? They just keep going and going...)

Saturday morning, I'm about to head into the city for class and a potentially confrontational meeting. This is not the time to pack knitting that requires a short-row heel. This is a time for big-ish needles, no pattern, and knitting in the round. A quick look at Ann Budd, a guess at gauge and needles, and the skein of SWS from the Yarn Harlot Represents is all it takes. At the end of the weekend, the Dulaan hat is complete. It's sized for the 18 months-4 year old head, which wasn't well represented in my Dulaan collection thus far.

I'm not sure how I feel about the SWS, though. The colors have a lovely sheen, and self-striping yarns are a lot of fun... but. There are places with hardly any twist, and I often found myself jabbing a needle right through the yarn. I think it will look better after a wash, but I'm not sure that I would want to do a whole sweater with it. (Yikes: I have a six-pack of a different colorway in the stash.) One final thing: the label recommends a size 9 needle. I know that I knit loose, but on a size 7, the stockinette is quite loosy-goosey. I'm hoping that disappears in the wash too.

Two more hats for the Dulaan box! I was able to use up the remaining yarn from the drop-stitch sweater. By the time I finish Dulaaning I might need a bigger box. A few days ago, a guy on the train started talking to me about knitting. He proudly sports a garter stitch scarf from Lion Brand Suede. He said that his daughter started the knitting club at the local high school, and that they do a lot of charity knitting for a nearby hospital. I suggested that if they'd like to include a little international flavor, they should consider Dulaan. He didn't seem that excited about Mongolia, but a couple of days later he told me that his daughter was very interested. I passed my card along, and hope that I'll hear from her soon. So great!

And speaking of great, when can I call Claire to offer more coherent congratulations? This time zone thing is very challenging!