Halloweeknits and Ravelry

First off, Happy Halloween! I'm feeling chatty tonight, so a reasonably long post is forthcoming...

This is how halloween went at the Parallel house:
Knit 4, Purl 4, Knit 4, Purl 2... ding-dong! Trick'or'treat! "You can take 3 candies"... "How many have you got there? You can take three" (to small boy, old enough to count I'm pretty sure, clutching big handful. Response: "tree!"). "Really, how many do you have?" ("tree!"). "Can you show your dad (standing at the end of the walk) how many three is?" (boy turns around displays handful of 6 or 7 candies to waiting father, who grins and shakes his head)... "OK, happy halloween, give some of those to your dad :D".

So. Cute.! (and yeah, maybe he was old enough to count but not to interpret). We had relatively few surly teenagers, though we did have one group of ~16 year olds dressed in far less clothing than I would have ever considered wearing at that age, including some kind of "sexy gypsy" type thing with massive cleavage and even a couple of beads shoved in there for decoration. But at least they were polite!

Anyway, in between answering the door (Andy and I alternate the primary candy-wrangling duties, but usually both open it to see the costumes), I would knit some. The previous example would probably end up: "sit down... Purl 4, Knit 4, Purl 4, wait, this doesn't look right, dangit!". I'm working a diagonal rib in the round which is all K4P4, but each round is staggered. Takes a little more concentration than "K the Ks and P the Ps".

And what am I knitting? My latest WIP, the Peekaboo Cloche from Lace Style (pic is a FO by someone else; book is linked on the sidebar since the blog is a KAL (got that acronym, mom?)). It's a stockinette inner layer with a lace outer layer in contrasting color. I picked up some gorgeous Misti Alpaca Suri Silk in Phoenix: Peridot (bright green) for the inner layer, Amethyst (bright purple) for the lace top. And since the pattern calls for yarn that has more yards/skein, 1 skein for each inner and outer, I grabbed a 3rd, sapphire (medium blue) for extras just in case.

I've now exhausted the green and had to use a bit of blue for the last inch of the inner layer. I'm halfway through the brim (aforementioned K4P4 diagonal rib) and should get to start the lace tomorrow! My row gauge is off, so the hat is a bit longer than the pattern - but that's OK, I prefer a hat to pull down over my ears rather than the really tight cloche style anyway.

Here's the inner lining in progress a few days ago:


and the current status, in the spirit of the evening. I've just joined the purple for the outside of the brim. I can't wait to get the lace started.
And oh, the yarn is so very soft! Just like baby alpacas! Andy and I petted a couple of those last weekend (real live baby alpacas) and they are so so so soft - softer than their mommies. We visited Cascade Alpacas in Hood River, and they have a little vending machine with alpaca food and the 'pacas come running. They're awfully skittish though...

Anyway, I have pictures of the yarn and other bits up at Ravelry now, too. Don't know Ravelry? If you're a knitter (or crocheter), add yourself to the invite list yesterday! Even if you're not into cataloging your stash, tracking your projects and posting them to the searchable database, or chatting in forums, you'll find the searchable pattern and yarn database, with tons of user-uploaded pictures, irresistable (if a teeny bit clunky sometimes - but it's still in Beta). My handle over there is Parallel :)