The Purly Gate (a knitters cult)

Even though it took four days to completely dry, I was finally able to give Joe his vest on Sunday. I thought it looked really great on him. The yarn I used is Rowan Summer Tweed and the pattern came from Interweave Knits, the Winter 2004 issue. It was a real struggle to get all of the edging sewn on so that it looked good, but I think in the end it came out looking pretty good. I can't say that I really like working with this yarn, although it is beautiful when it is knit up. It's not very soft, though. In fact, it feels remarkably like a burlap sack. I've heard that Rowan is coming out with a cotton/silk blend yarn this spring that is perhaps designed to replace this yarn. I know that it isn't selling at all at the Grove. It's kind of an expensive yarn, so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

I didn't have much time to knit yesterday due to family obligations and problems registering for school, but in the evening, I did cast on for the Cabled Skull Cap from MenKnit magazine for Joe. I have always liked the looks of this pa

ttern and I had some gorgeous Manos on hand in a colorway that reminds me of a cobblestone path, perfect man colors, so I tried it out. The entire pattern is completely full of errors. The entire pattern is pretty much one big error in fact. I completely changed the first half to come out how I thought it should to match the photo, and that part came out OK. For the second half, I followed the pattern, and it came out completely screwy. The pattern doesn't include any instructions for the second cable. So tonight, after work, I'm going to frog back to the part where I began following the pattern and rewrite it. I even have to add rows to get it to come out right I think. Considering it didn't even come down to my ears, I think that will be OK. It's frustrating though because it means I didn't make any progress on Clapotis yesterday which, at this point, stands half completed. Here it is so far:

Here's a closeup of the dropped stitches:

This project is clearly going to need some blocking. Finally, last but not least, a photo of my beautiful cat, Princess, taken as she was posing for her favorite person in the world, her daddy: