02/22/2011 - Cast this on last night while watching Ghost Adventures on Netflix. Realized I got off track - ripped it out and started over.

Am really enjoying this yarn. I bought it with my hubby when he took me to What in Yarnation?!? in Cannon Falls not long after they opened. It was fun to poke around the shop and I LOVE that they carry yarn from an Alpaca Farm right in town. Pretty awesome.

There is enough variation in the color as I work it to keep me interested - and the pattern is so easy. I ended up attaching a knitting marker (the plastic safety pin kind) to the front so I would be able to keep track better of where I was. The yarn weighed in at 105 grams - so I will knit till about 52 grams and then start the decrease.

Happy to be working on this!

~As for the picture of the Kool-Aid Guy - I was searching for an image of The Kool-aid Guy on Google Images and this popped up and I just could not resist it.

03/01/2011 - Weighed it last night before I started knitting again and I accidentally went past the halfway mark! Oh nose! My ball weighted in at 50grams - so my first half is around 52 or 55 grams and my second half will be 50 grams. Will throw in an extra decrease or in hopes of a somewhat more even look - hopefully that will not muck it up even more.

Am really enjoying this pattern. It’s an easy pattern to memorize and perfect for lunchtime and bedtime knitting while watching tv or whatnot. Am already looking toward my next one - think this will be a staple in my knitting. :)

03/04/2011 - Finished knitting this last night in bed. Just need to weave in the ends, soak it and block it out. Love how it looks. Had no yarn left over - so my decrease trick worked perfectly - Will post my details when my brains are not so angry with a cold.

03/06/2011 - Yesterday I took the time to take a few pictures of my Baktus pre-soaking, then I found a giant mixing bowl, filled it with cold water and added one packet of Soak and let it sit for 15 minutes per instructions. I came back and gently squished the water out - no wringing! and then I rolled it in a towel and pressed down on it to try and get more water out. Then I pulled out my blocks and pinned it down. Probably I should have done that part in the basement since carrying this pinned down the stairwell was not fun.

Happy I soaked it - there was enough dye in the water that I could not see my hand at the bottom of the bowl - and I prefer it be in the bowl than on my neck or on my clothing. Also I think the fibers bloomed a little when I soaked it and I think my baktus will be fuller looking once it is dry. Hopefully that is today!

Later
Pulled the pins out and am very happy with the end result. The end size ended up being Four feet long and the peak measures about ten and a half inches in length. The alpaca is slightly scratchy but it makes me purr to wear it anyway. Love the color. There is slight variations in the red. The soak helped chase away the wet dog smell I usually get when I rinse an item and block it - very nice. :)

I will try and get a photo of me modeling this at a later date - when I am not all zombie girl with a head cold - in the meantime my trusty sidekick Emma let me tie this around her and snap a few shots. The length is so awesome - I can wrap it around my head like a 50’s glam queen or go ascot around my neck. Very versitile. Very awesome.

As for the modification I had to make - I knit past the half way point by several grams - so every sixth pattern repeat I knit row one and two and skipped row three and four. This was a subtle enough decrease that you could not really see it in the end product - but I had just enough yarn to get through to the end. And I only had a few inches yarn left over at the very end. It ended up being perfect.