My Mysterious Baktus

It must've been the that bit of crisp cool air those couple nights (before the latest heat wave), well, I dunno, but whatever it was, it got me casting on another scarf. This time, a Lacy Backtus, a sweet and simple scarf. Or is it a narrow shawl? Or, was the blonde knitter right when she asked me 'would that make it a scrawl?'

I've always liked the scarf as an accessory. I have a couple woven cotton ones with fringes, from Global Village, that I used to practically live in- I'd tie up my dreads in funky ways, or maybe I just told myself it was funky, and so were the colors I used to dye them. That was then (my early 20s), this is now (mid 30s), my hair is no longer dreaded, (nor dyed candy apple red, granny smith apple green, nor never seen an apple that color teal)- though it threatens to return to such a state if I don't keep working a brush through it, high-maintenance hair, that's what I have, but I never meant to mention my hair, I was talking about scarves...

There's my teen, who I can't believe just turned 16 on Saturday...!?! Should that be whom? I forget...

Back to my Baktus. I've had this bag of mystery yarn for a while. I don't know what it is, there are no labels/ball bands, but I like the color, and I have a lot of it, so, hey, time to make a scarf. I adore the pic of the original one, and this one, this one, this one, and this one- love her tassels.

*Distraction #7, I could just eat him up all day... very hard to knit when he's around...

I cast on last Thursday, while waiting for a soccer game to begin, and got off to a running start. How could I not? Cast on 4 sts, the 1st rows go pretty fast... the 8 row repeat is pretty easy to memorize, and the only thing fiddly for me has been doing my k2togs on that garter stitch (always a bit more fiddly than a k2tog on stockinette) with what has turned out to be a rather splitty, though bright and lively in color, yarn. I have a slight dread of every Row 3, especially now that I have 50 sts on my scarf. I realize that I am nearing the halfway point, and soon each row 3 will have 1 k2tog less than the one before, but I'm still ordering a new addi turbo lace needle and hoping it gets here before I finish this baby. I'm thinking that pointed tip will do wonders in this particular situation.

*Distraction #6, I wish I had her hair...

I mentioned that I cast on before a soccer game. I'd also like to mention that I cannot knit much during actual games, as I am manning the camera much more these days. I do get to knit a bit more during practice, though I am often quite *distracted by my sweet children, in most cases a welcome distraction. This scarf is my current grab-n-go project, getting only snippets of time here and there, time that I am glad to be doing something with my hands while my mind is racing along processing way more than I could ever journal if I wanted to.

4 & 8 yr olds playing checkers, except that the 4 yr old doesn't actually know how to play checkers yet...

And with that, it's time for me to process some to-do lists for tomorrow and the rest of the week. We start our homeschool coop tomorrow, which I am very excited about, then it's off to a soccer (away) game, Wednesday is violin lessons, Thursday should be a 'normal' school day, and Friday we're headed on another historic fort field trip, before another soccer (away) game. I think this week will fly by, and we'll just have to wait and see if there's a finished Baktus at the end of it...

Teenager playing gourd banjo at Fort Snelling recently

Nice hats, eh? They're supposed to make you look taller...

Happy knitting-
ali