I made a hat!

So, I finished the WebGourdKAL hat last night while watching a very good (but VERY depressing) episode of CSI. Then I cast on for the scarf. This pattern is, as Jen and I are fond of saying, fraught with peril. This is the Brioche Rib Scarf from Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting. All in all, a lovely book with some reat patterns. This is the second hat I have made from the pattern, and I love it. Once you get past the cast-on, the brioche rib stitch really zooms along, and it's nice and cushy and warm when it is done. This is the first time I have made the scarf, and I got very cranky with it last night. The pattern calls for a provisional cast on of 3 stitches, followed by 27 rows of i-cord, alternating colors with each row, starting and ending with the light color. Then, you slip the last 3 stitches, pick up and knit (with the light color) in each row of the i-cord except the first and last dark rows, and pick up the 3 cast-on stitches, removing the waste yarn from the provisional cast-on. Sounds fine, right? Except that they tell you that you should have 31 stitches - 6 from the ends, and 25 across the i-cord. OK, one for each row...that's 27 rows... minus the two at the ends...that's 25... and the first and last dark rows... hey, that's only 23! So, I pull out the picked up stitches, work two more rows of i-cord, and try again. 31 stitches - check. Next row - work with dark yarn in the set-up pattern. Slide stitches back to first end of needle (this is done on dpns), and work brioche stitch pattern in light yarn. One small problem - the light yarn is at the OTHER END OF THE NEEDLE FROM PICKING UP STITCHES. AAARGH! Finally, I ended up ripping it out (for the 4th time) and just picking up the loops of the i-cord, not knitting them with the light yarn. Finally, it worked - the light and dark yarns are at the same end of the row when the pattern says they should be. And yes, the pattern specifically says "pick up and knit using light yarn", so it wasn't me making an assumption, for once. So, once I got that figured out, and the stitch counts fixed, I got cruising on the pattern: Can I just say that I really like brioche rib? There was a pattern in the Winter 04 Interweave Knits for a sideways-knit brioche rib pullover that I have GOT to make for myself. As soon as I get through the million other projects I want to make, of course. I'm trying to keep at least one project on my needles at any given time for me, and at least one for someone else. At the moment, I've got 3 and 3, so I'm doing ok. Kris asked me to make something for his grandmother, and we decided that I would do the Retro Throw from KnitPicks. We ordered the yarn the other night (Crayon in Blue, Light Blue, and Purple), so once that gets here, I'll be casting on for another project. I'm hoping it will be ready for Christmas. Also, when we were in Pittsburgh, Dad saw Kris's Satchel, and hinted (none too subtly) that he would like one as well. So, I'll be doing a second one of those. And ever-so creatively, he also wants a gray and black one. Dad, you wild man! He wants to be able to carry his wireless keyboard and mouse with his laptop, and his current laptop bag won't hold them. It's actually cool, because I haven't knit anything for him yet, and I'm already working on the Clapotis for Mom. Ok, off to work some more on the scarf. ETA: I've been adding some links in the sidebar, so now there are pictures of my WIP's and the yarn that I have for the Waiting in the Wings projects, as well as of my FO's. There are also links to my three patterns, and the stash organization spreadsheet, which I plan to update at some point, since I have added a few things to mine since that one was posted.