Not Yet, I Want to Knit Like Jane Austen

What happened to Not Yet a Circus Scarf?, you might ask. Well, there was this yarn clearance and there was yarn with wooly fiber content that was bright and cheery, and my son proclaimed that this bright, cheery yarn must become a big fluffy scarf to keep him warm this winter. I love my son. My son is this tiny, growing person who has ideas and dreams. He's so smart and fragile, and I want to be able to protect him all the time, even though I know it's impossible. What better way to attempt the impossible than with this scarf he wants so much?

The problem is two-fold.

1. I really don't like the cheery yarn. It's loud and vibrant and it makes me wish my horrible nearsightedness didn't restrict my ability to wear sunglasses and see more than two feet in front of me at the same time. I hate this yarn. I want to throw this yarn in the dumpster out back and never look at it again. However, I can't do that, because my son loves this yarn and is expecting a bright, cheery scarf to unintentionally lose on the playground after the first snowfall.
2. It's been a ridiculously hot summer, and sitting on the couch with an extra-wide wool scarf draped across my lap is not going to help me not get heat stroke.

What this amounts to: I've put the scarf in a time-out. It's in its project bag with its required needles and all the remaining balls of yarn necessary to complete it. That bag will not be opened until the weather drops to consistently below 80 degrees, and I'm not going to apologize for it. Oh, I'll finish it and my son will either wrap it proudly around his neck or refuse to wear it's hated, hideous uncoolness. Just not now.

While I'm not working on said scarf, however, I do need a project to work on. Lately, that's been the multigenerational blanket. As I've been doing an extensive amount of lace knitting lately, it was a pleasant change of pace to mindlessly double crochet, with a slight pattern change every row. The pattern involves a four row repeat.

Row 1: Double crochet into every other chain, with a chain one in between each double crochet.

Row 2: Double crochet into every chain for seven chains, chain one, skip one chain, and repeat.

Row 3: Double crochet into every chain for three chains, chain one, skip one chain, and repeat.

Row 4: Double crochet into every chain for seven chains, chain one, skip one chain, and repeat.

I've just about finished up one of the two balls of yarn that were in the bag with the start of this blanket. After one ball is gone, I'll measure the length of the blanket thus far to determine if the one other ball will get it long enough. If not, I'll have to add a stripe of another color to the center.

That will not necessary be the next yarny endeavor I tackle, however. I don't count this blanket as my work in progress. It's someone else's and I'm just finishing it up for her when I have the time. The next project I'm planning is for the baby one of my coworkers is in the process of adopting. I'm thinking about the Beloved Baby Bonnet from the Jane Austen Knits Summer 2012 issue.

Jane Austen Knits, by the way, is a knitting English major's dream. This issue combines articles about the life and times of the late, great Jane Austen with knitting patterns inspired by the time period in which she wrote. There are bonnets, reticules, all manner of Victorian finery, all for your knitting pleasure. In particular, I'm taken with the Margaret Dashwood Shawl, the Middleton Waistcoat, Miss Jane's Hat, and the far more impractical A Book Cover for Edmund. If they just allowed yearly subscriptions to this particular publication, my order would already be in the mail. I want to make everything. I know this is a really unrealistic want.