Well, I can photograph it. That doesn’t take brilliance—point the camera and push the button. But the color? Beyond me. It’s a dusty blue, but rich. If I knew more about color, I’m sure I’d be able to fix it in Photoshop, but no. I know enough about color to really mess it up. But photography aside, I love this yarn! As a reminder, it’s Fresco from Classic Elite. Between the alpaca and the touch of angora it has a soft, lovely, fuzzy haze to it, but it (so far) doesn’t seem to shed. It knits up like a dream. I want a sweater out of this stuff. Something cozy, slightly over-sized, below the hips, good for curling up in with a book in front of the fire. Something simple. Maybe a lazy cable going up and over one shoulder.

The new Knitty is here, and things have calmed down enough that I was able to get to their site.

You should all know by now that I’m not exactly into hats. First off, I live in southern California and I just don’t have a need to wear them—usually. Thinking about it, I believe the last time I wore a hat for warmth (as opposed to a bill-cap to keep the sun out of my eyes when the sunroof is open) was the last time I went skiing, which was a year or two before I met Dave, which puts it around 1989 or 1990, and I’m not convinced I wore one then. I’ve never knit a hat in my life. Since it’s winter, Knitty naturally has a nice selection of hats to keep your head warm in this issue. On the whimsical side, I love the Fish Hat by Thelma Egberts. The bottom photo is my favorite. The center child is clearly about to lose it, having a terrible time maintaining the straight face required for the shot. And how could you, with a fish on your head?

I like the Therapi cardigan by Stefanie Japel. Love the texture and the wide shawl collar. The outfit Therapi’s model is wearing, though, is a little… Well, not for me. I personally abhor belted cardigans, coats, pretty much anything. Don’t get me wrong. They look great. I just hate the way the feel. The end result is that even if I made the Greyscale cardigan by Chrissy Flanagan, I’d forgo the whole belt thing entirely, put buttons on it instead. P.S. I love the waist shaping in this sweater! Jordana Paige’s new pullover, Amused, is nice. My favorite part is those cables. I’d make the sleeves longer, though, and I’d do a lot less ribbing. I love the collar and cuff texture on Norah Gaughan’s Surface cardigan, though overall the sweater does nothing for me—especially when the optional wrap is added. I’d like it better with the texture only on the collar, keeping everything else simple. What is it with all the wide collars in this issue? Are they suddenly in style, and I missed it? (I wouldn’t be surprised.) Kieran Foley’s Latvian vest has so many color and stitch pattern changes in it that it makes me dizzy to look at it. Sorry, dude.

These baby Miitens by Michelle Hotchin look more than a little like traditional glass balls for the Christmas tree. Or is it just me? My favorite sock pattern in this issue is Blackrose by Suzi Anvin. Though I’m all for the pets having something cumfy to rest on, I’d never make a bed for them out of 100% wool. How in the world would you launder it—certainly not in the washing machine, which is where I like to clean Ricki’s beds. It’d be a pain, that’s for sure. That said, the Bark-a-lounger by Champagne Maker is pretty, and could be used for a large toss pillow or floor pillow for a human.

The Gwynedd scarf by Lucia Hicks is cables, lots and lots of glorious, beautiful cables. I love it. Lace maven Anne Hanson has a lovely neck warmer called Poinsettia. It’s shaped to hug your neck, and widens out to comfortably rest on your shoulders.

As usual there are a lot of patterns in this issue of Knitty that I didn’t specifically talk about here. That’s either because they didn’t strike me one way or the other, or I simply thought them too strange for words.

P.S. I’ve (temporarily?) disabled the anti-spam plug-in I’ve been using. Akismet seems to be catching everything, but since I turned it off yesterday afternoon it’s had to catch 22 spam comments. I might turn it back on. Or, I’ll see if there’s something else easy to use to help cut that down, yet not making posting comments too inconvenient for you guys.