In which I cast-on for the January Almanac-Along

I hadn't intended to 'do' January for the alamacalong, but I really wanted to see what the fishtrap pattern would look like knitted up, so I've cast on for a baby/toddler hat. This picture betrays my ineptitude with the camera (there's got to be a way to force it to focus on, say, the knitting instead of the curtains), but it's the best I could do:


I'm doing 2 fishtraps and 2 ribbed cables, separated by one purl stitch. I'm a little concerned that the 28 rows required for the fishtrap pattern will make the hat too long, but in that case I'll simply buy more yarn and turn it into a scarf. Or something.

I'm not sure I understand EZ's method for making a right twist (rt) -- she writes to knit two stitches together, w/o taking them off the needle, then re-knit the second stitch. I use Barbara Walker's baby cable pattern, which calls for knitting two together, then re-knitting the first stitch. Could EZ, by 'second stitch' really mean the first one on the needle? It could be, since the first stitch on the left needle is actually the second stitch your right needle passes through when you knit the two together. Otherwise, try as I might, I can't make the EZ method work for me. It resembles a rt, except that the crossing stitch is very prominent. I'm going to knit up a swatch with both methods done side by side so I can compare, as soon as I'm finished with the hat/scarf. I have another hank of the same yarn, but that is reserved for the gull-pattern baby sweater, to be done next month.

I haven't ridden in the car for several weeks, so my car-knitting is languishing in the glove box. (n.b. I picked a much nicer color for my pair!!) Before the current hiatus, I had to stop work on them for about a month, because I lost the other needle, and I don't have any more 3.25mm needles anywhere. Lorraine, the very kind owner of my lys, gave me a pr when I went in to buy the wool for the knitalong. I'm on the 2nd mitt, and the sewing-up is minimal, so I could be finished these in a day or two, but I'm too absorbed in the swatch cap to think of anything else, including poor Wren's hat. I think I'll cast on for her hat in the next day or two, and make that my car knitting or the child will never get her hat.

The house smells of chile, which I'm going to serve tonight with minced red onion, sour cream, and grated cheddar. Justin will put obscene amounts of cayenne in his bowl and the children will put in obscene amounts of cheese in theirs and not one of them will detect that I happened to be out of bay leaves when I made it, or that I switched to ancho chilis this time around. But they'll eat lots of it and proclaim it delicious and ask why we don't have it more often (because beef is unhealthy and expensive my dears) and I'll feel gratified.

Dinner tonight: Chili con carne