The Behavior of Organisms

- book by B.F. Skinner, 1938

Did you know that even pigeons procrastinate? This fact comforts me, in as much as at least procrastination is a natural behavioral tendency. Even still, it's annoying to always be scrambling getting things done at the last minute. That's my explanation for the less frequent blogging. If you procrastinate grading 30 research papers it will eventually catch up with you. I've also missed my weekly knitting group these past few weeks. Thankfully, I have been actually knitting, so all is not lost.

Anyway, I've noticed in blogland that everyone is abuzz about holiday gifts. This weekend the hubby and I had a wonderful visit from Theresa from Knitting Underway. Aside from the usual fun we always have with Theresa, watching her knit away at holiday prezzies reminded me that I need to actually start some of these gifts if I am to have any hope of finishing them. I am not a pigeon! No more procrastination!

So, without further ado, the latest project. I am using Bouton d'Or "Eskimo", which is thick/thin yarn made of 70% wool, 14% nylon, 8% cotton and 8% acrylic. It is an ice blue, with a hint of green, and a silver thread running through it. Really beautiful stuff! I wanted to make a nice, chunky scarf out of it. First I attempted diagonal rib, but I started making it too wide (this stuff only comes in 43 yd balls, and I only have three), and the diagonal rib was impossible to see with the thick/thin nature of the yarn. Below is my second attempt at a diagonal garter stitch design. The pattern just didn't seem to show off the yarn well. Finally, below is my third attempt. This time I just tried a simple 2X2 rib on size 11 needles. The photo isn't great, but it looks much better than the previous two versions, really showing off how beautiful the yarn is. Also, the knitting is going a lot faster (a bonus since it needs to be done very soon).