A casting error and associated knitting

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, but it's been a near thing. You see, in addition to enough work and school to keep two normal, sane people busy, my life has had far more excitement recently than I would have liked. Allow me to explain:

I am a fan of Jane Austen. In what is a testament to her genius (and a demonstration of my geeky ways), I very frequently use Miss Austen's stories as allegories for my own life. I look at the people I know and the situations that I see them and me in, and I amuse myself by matching them up to characters and situations from Miss Austen's books. To that end (and as has been previously mentioned on this blog), there was a man in my life who I had cast in the role of Mr. Darcy, but I erred in my casting. This man, it turns out, was not at all fit for the role of Mr. Darcy and has shown himself to be perfectly fit for the role of Mr. Willoughby. Fortunately for me, I have the temper of Elinor rather than Marianne Dashwood, so I haven't done anything especially untoward or foolish, despite my new found appreciation for her situation. In fact, I think I've been doing pretty well, with the help of some especially good yarn and knitting.

Good yarn

Lorna's Laces produces a limited edition colorway for each month, available here. They announced their color for February just as I was discovering the true fecklessness of Willoughby. The colorway ("Simply the Blues") is good and the description was positively too perfect, so I bought enough for a hat and scarf in Shepherd Sport.


I hadn't knit with Shepherd Sport before, but I'm completely smitten. It's like Shepherd Sock, only softer. (Seriously, I hadn't thought that was possible until I got my hands on some.)

Good knitting

I wanted to do something uncomplicated with my lovely blue yarn, so I'm turning it into a Clapotis and am planning a matching beret. I haven't started the hat yet, but the scarf is coming along nicely.


Separately, I started a sweater for myself (yes, I'm aware that it's already spring in this part of the country and that it will be practically summer before I finish, but reminding me of that is like interfering with a good sulk). It's the Urban Aran from Paton's Street Smart, except that I'm doing it out of a worsted rather than a bulky, and I'm making it a cardigan instead of a pullover. What makes this particularly delightful, besides the fact that it's a beautiful pattern to start with, is that the yarn is wonderful mood therapy. It turns out that knitting cables with dark, charcoal grey yarn is like knitting with a bad mood made manifest, except that the result is beautiful, and the mood I'm left with is noticeably brighter.


So far, a sleeve and a bit in, I'm loving the sweater and feeling much better for it.

Now, if only I knit through my work and school loads so easily... I'll be back when I can, but that may not be until May, when I'll (hopefully) be done with school. Wish me luck!