Confession

Not mine, I hasten to add - because I never do anything wrong so never have anything to confess. Except that one time when I was dating DH and admitted to squeezing the toothpaste tube from the middle ....on purpose. Our relationship survived even though I still do that.

But I was speaking with Uber-Cool Brother yesterday. If you are psychic like what I am and have a memory, like what I do not, you may remember that this year he was the recipient of two, yes, count' em, TWO, hand-knitted scarves, for his birthday.And you will already know where this story is going.

Number One was this one:

Flame Chevron stitch, using BFL 4ply from Abstract Cat in the colorway 'Sunday'.

This shade was not quite in Uber-Cool Brother's personal color wheel; so I was happy to make another in a color he himself selected:

German Herringbone Rib stitch, using Skein Queen's 'Squash' 100% merino 4ply, in the colorway 'Aunt Betty's Pond'. This was apparently perfect: the right color, the right stitch, the right length ....everything.

You need no tarot cards to know that he wore it once and then lost it. The poor old reprobate is having to make do with the first scarf. So seeing as how I wuvs him, and I have a lovely friend who will order from the bizarrely random Drops website for me (their byzantine ordering/purchasing methods brought me to a hissing point non-plus this week) so I can have some delicious - and discounted - alpaca ....he may have yet another scarf. Although it certainly won't be in time for Christmas ... there is a skull & crossbones sweater with that deadline nailed to it ....

What I had been trying to order from Drops was their light cotton DK, to make a sweater for my youngest nephew - who will be 2 years old in February. I found the pattern in the Woman's Weekly Knitting & Crochet Special of January 2011. I can't believe I just put that right out there in the public domain: me, and the Woman's Weekly ..... the only reason that my life isn't over is because I didn't have one in the first place ....

 But anyway. The recommended yarn was Rowan Denim. I just laughed out loud when I saw that - and worked out the cost as approx. £40 ($63). For a toddler's sweater. Like that was gonna happen. Having been defeated by the Drops ordering process, eventually I found a good substitute in James Brett's Kool Kotton from Texere, delivered this morning for the comparatively measly cost of £14.30 ($22.45). Far more affordable, and practical too - the dye doesn't bleed as it does with the Rowan Denim. This will be one of my only two 'must' projects for next year .... more about that theory another time.