2007 Austin Knit Out and Crochet

Today I attended the 2007 Austin Knit Out and Crochet, sponsered by the Lone Star State Knitters. I attended this event last year, when I was still puzzling out the mysteries of thread crochet and had not yet touched a pair of knitting needles, so it was neat to reflect on just how far I’ve progressed since then. Last year, I did not know how to knit at all and had never seen anyone spin outside of a historical re-enactment. This year, I had many women come over to ogle at my lace, and I was the one spinning for others who had never seen it done!

 This year I also got to see a women working with a knitting machine, which I had not seen in action before.

A few days ago, my husband found out that an old friend of his is now a father. I hadn’t even known that his partner was pregnant! We talked about sending them a little something, so a few days later I borrowed a pattern and made up a little pumpkin hat. I had seen a pumpkin hat that someone made about a year ago, and always thought that it would be neat to make for a fall baby. I finished it last night and took it to the Knit Out today, in hopes of finding a fun place to photograph it. Sure enough, a cardboard cutout of Stephen Colbert, who has apparently just released a new book (I tend to be oblivious to these things) provided a fun photo opportunity.

Aw, so cute and cuddly!

Pattern: Fibertrends Patrick’s Pumpkin

Materials: Mission Falls 1824 Wool, 1 skein each colors 533 (orange) and 532 (dark green)

Needles: DPNs, sizes 4 and 6

Cast on: October 11, 2007

Finished: October 12, 2007

The pattern is unbearably cute, and the yarn is just awesome - soft and fluffy, with great stitch definition The only thing I didn’t like about the yarn was that it did not fare well when I had to rip back.

I had a fun day, except for the weird incident involving an older man who came up behind me, grabbed my hair, and started rambling on about how he used to have red hair just like mine, but is bald now, and lifted up his cowboy hat to show me, all while maintaining a death grip on my bun. I extracted my head from his grasp, smiled and muttered a few inanities, and finally he went away. Personal space, anyone?