Huh.

[camwyn]

I am: 34% Republican.

"You're probably one of those chicken-littles who thinks maybe we should worry a little bit, occasionally, about the fate of the planet that our lives all depend on."

Are You A Republican?

Eh, it's a nine-question quiz, big whoop.

On another note, after some counting I have determined that the Elder Sign mittens have a vertical gauge of ten rows = about an inch. At the size I'm knitting these, they're to be nine and a half to ten inches long. Two and a half inches of that is the ribbing on the cuff. So- say seven inches of actual handspace on this mitten. I want the Elder Sign pattern square in the centre of the palm. My fingers constitute three inches of length. I've got one inch of palm work done so far; that leaves three more inches of palm to go. The Sign is a 19x19 grid in terms of stitches, so I'd say... oh, about another two or three rows and then I start the 'padding rows', where the salt-and-pepper stitching I've done so far gives way to about two or three stitches' work of dark color to set off the Sign properly. That should allow for proper palm centering.

I'll be using the star pattern, even though I prefer the tree design on the grounds that Lovecraft himself drew it in a letter to a friend and the star is August Derleth's creation. The star is just a better graphic. The tree will make a nice pattern for a headband, though. Or for the brim of a triple-patterned watch cap, same as I originally intended when I designed it.

Comments

[derien.livejournal.com]

How much does your watch cap pattern resemble an actual, traditional navy watch cap? Because I'm damned sick and tired of the crap the gov't is selling these days as 'navy watch caps' - they're ghetto tukes and they both pinch my head and slide themselves right off. So I'm thinking it's past time I took up some knitting needles. And the tree design sounds cool, too.

[camwyn]

I have about four different watch cap patterns, each of which comes in three or four different sizes depending on the circumference of the head I have to work with. The yarn weights recommended are worsted, DK or aran. The most basic of the patterns is essentially single colour 1x1 ribbing all 'round, done for long enough that you would have around three or four inches of folded-up brim on the outside. I did one of those for my dad a few years ago, although since I used needles a little too large for the pattern it wound up just a smidge loose on him.

I can do you up one of these hats in the colour of your choice if you like. One colour's simplest; multi-colours can be done but would take a bit longer. The triple-patterned watch cap I mentioned is... rats, I haven't got a photo. That one only resembles a Navy watch cap in that it has about four inches of folded-up band and ends without coming to a point, and has no pompom.

[derien.livejournal.com]

I can do you up one of these hats in the colour of your choice if you like.

Do me up...? You mean setting up a pattern for me or something? I know nothing about knitting terms.

[camwyn]

I mean I have these needles right here, see, and access to craft shops. Yrs. truly's been playing too many Brits and it's affecting my dialect choices. *sigh*

[derien.livejournal.com]

I didn't dare interpret it that way, because... I wouldn't want to be getting my hopes up that you might actually be considering making a hat for me.

Um. I guess. Yeah. I'd be all kinds of delighted to have a hat made by you. I'm torn between the "What I need for work is a traditional watch cap" and "Make something cool in black, greys, greens, blues! Indigo! Rusty dried-blood red! Yay!"

No, wait, I'm not really all that torn at all. Go to town or do something basic, whatever you like. I've already got a gov't issue watch cap that I can use for work, and I'd be super-humungously-amazed-delighted to have something made by you.

Shall I measure around my head just above the knobby points in the back and just above my eyebrows in the front? Catching my ears in or leaving them out? Snugly? I've got a size 7&1/4 Tilly hat, but I don't know if that tells you anything. They say to buy them a little big, and I can actually wear my headset under it.

[camwyn]

Right now I've got a hat to do for my aunt and two pair of mittens to do for someone else- plus a Dominic Deegan scarf to finish and another one to do up, but that's on size 19 needles and I've got about half of it done. I'd say measure without the ears getting involved. D'you prefer dark colours or lighter, and are there any particular motifs that would be wanted if I went with something other than plain? I have a lot of graph paper to work with.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Oh, you've got a lot to do! I don't want to tax you. If you don't get to it I'll certainly understand. I feel guilty even having this conversation.

I like darker colors (black, greys, greens, blues, indigo, a little purple in moderation is not bad, earthtone reds and rich browns), though bits of lighter colors are not bad. Touches of earthtone orangy or sunshine/marigold yellow are good for contrast.

I very much dislike pinks. Lavender, mauve and baby blue are NOT me, and the blue/brown color combination which is so popular these days is, to my eyes, hideous.

Motifs... hm. I'm partial to Celtic knot patterns. I haven't seen your tree design, but I like the sound of it.

After a couple of tries, I think my head is about 21&3/4 inches.

[camwyn]

It's not really a proper tree. It's the branch version of the Elder Sign, which is described as looking a bit like a tree branch. Check one of my earlier posts with links to the Elder Sign patterns and you'll see what I mean.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. If you linked it through that could make a nice-looking continuous twiney/viney thing, but I don't know how hard that is of course.

[janewt.livejournal.com]

...I am 1% Republican!