Knitting In Mind

Koolhaas for Alaska

February 24, 2008 at 7:47 pm 3 comments

After Madrona on Thursday and Friday, with my head stuffed full of new knitting design concepts and ideas I headed to this place.

Mount Hood.

The weather was incredible weather, clear blue skies. Skiing, sunshine, friends, food, drink. I got to see another great WPA lodge, Timberline. I am always amazed by the big logs in these places. The stair rail finials were all different carved animals, impressive stonework, fireplaces, ironwork, and great light fixtures.

It weirds me out to look out the window and see snow, not snow falling or snow on the ground, just snow, like “we’re buried in snow”. I had just walked into the place and knew there was an open exit, so I didn’t have to go all REDRUM, but I don’t think I would like to wake up, think, hmmmm, what am I going to do today?, look out the window and see that.

I brought my current portable knitting project, my notes and pattern from class with Jean Wong to review, and a new hank of Blue Moon STR along.

After class my head, though not quite spinning, was certainly wobbly. I decided I need to do some fancy thinking about tailoring my sweater pattern before I get started.
Set that aside.
Picked up the current portable project, fingerless mittens in Koigu P529, decided I didn’t like the pattern I was using and would prefer another pattern.
That I had back at home.
Sigh.
Set that aside.
Good thing I brought the STR Mediumweight Braun’s Woods.

I started a swatch.

Yuck! Stripes. Hmmpf. I am still trying to learn how to look at a hank and predict how it will knit up.
Set that aside.

While in Oregon, we hit the Portland REI to do some sales-tax-free shopping. DD is going on a school trip to Alaska and needs ‘a few’ things. By the time we got to “Hats, wool or polyfleece – QTY 2 minimum” I was in no mood to ‘buy’ a hat. Though I had nothing to knit on the three hour ride home, I had a plan: Koolhaas. I even had a stash yarn in mind.
I took a nap
As soon as we got home I pulled up brooklyntweed and the Koolhaas Hat, showed it to the DD-in-need-of-at-least-2-wool-or-polyfleece-hats and she declared it: Cool.
The yarn, Debbie Bliss Merino Aran was OK’d. Cast on:

I have wanted to knit this hat since I first saw it and I have had this odd bit of yarn for a long time. Someone gave it to me as a birthday present. Someone who knew that I knit, but is not, nor has ever been, a knitter. Risky. At last, the yarn has a project.

Entry filed under: New Project. Tags: Koolhaas, Mt Hood, STR, Timberline.