Transportation on a Tuesday

I must be missing some essential civic logic that connects the department of Transportation to manhole covers and hoses but whatever the logic or lack thereof, there is a rather noisy connection that has made my day much more special than I could have hoped.

Three department of Transportation trucks and at least four guys in stunning safety orange attire have been right outside my office window most of the day. Because my place is on the corner of the street and the alley the noise has not been isolated to the office. It's a good thing that my reason for working from home today isn't a headache or I'd be so screwed.

The noise has been disturbing and distracting enough to inspire that ever never helpful kitty help response from Kali ko opo who has gone from sulking to sleeping now that the boys and their trucks have gone away and quiet has been restored.

The MIA earring surfaced from the blackhole on Sunday evening. Longer term inhabitants of the blackhole are still in that other dimension so clearly my blackhole has a LIFO accounting scheme going.

I'm feeling a bit LIFO myself as the STFU and other recent projects near completion while more long standing, long lingering, long suffering projects sit stalled in their designated project bags. Well, there are more than a few not so long lingering in that mix too.

So what's a STFU project? In my case the initialism is a bit rude and there's a "Shut The" involved, but the underlying principle involves working on a project that feels a bit like an albatross that you'll be glad to be shot of.

I started with a Head Hugger by Michele Wyman in Lang Time (55% Merino and 45% Acrylic). There were problems with fit (recipient has a big head!), the yarn and with some elements of the design itself (at least for me).

The latter problem involves working the icord edging where you will later pick up stitches to work the scarf/tie portion. I can't achieve a happy pick up line and I think that were I to do this again I'd use a slip stitch selvedge or other treatment rather than the icord. I still haven't frogged it but I have given up on loving the look of the pick up line of stitches.

As to the yarn, I love the colour, love the texture, hate the small amount of yardage (62m per 50g) and the knottage factor (way too many per ball). Perhaps the latter is why the stuff is at elann which is often a home for wayward yarns

Before I even knew that the fit was going to be a problem I started in on and completed a scarf (own design from a few years back) in the same yarn and then I started on a hat with morphing pentagons. The scarf's done and wonderful.

The hat's design works (morphing without short rows this time) but it has some sizing issues that keep it on the needles and in a bit of limbo. More on hats and head sizes in a future post.

In the ever recurring theme of walkabout, all these projects became less than ideal for walkabout knitting which, of course, put another project into the mix so a mohair might be a moebius hit the needles.
Originally I thought this would be winging its way to Cleveburg but I'm not confident that the colour choice suits the intended recipient. A bit more research on that might be in order while yet another walkabout friendly project jumps onto the needles.