I haven't been to knit night in a long while. Usually I'm driving back from Cape BFE on Wednesday evenings, so I've been absent. I went into Knitorious last Sunday for the anniversary sale, and was literally astounded by how many people asked me where I'd been and if I'd been doing OK. Sometimes I forget that I'm in other people's viewfinders they same way they are in mine. Weird, tres spinsterish, but true.

So last night I went, toting along my freshly begun Hexagon Blanket and the Debbie Bliss Rialto that I'd purchased on Sunday for it. I'd done two hexagons so far, and was already concerned. I really liked the first one (on the far right) but the second wasn't doing it for me. Two more hexagons later and I knew that it just wasn't turning out like I'd hoped.

The pattern, from this book:

is designed around 7 colors, like this:

I wanted to follow Moonstitches' example and use more colors, rotating them, and create a larger blanket. I liked the color palette I'd chosen:

but it just wasn't right. It was looking way too ... granny. Like it had been assembled from scraps rather then a carefully chosen group of colors. So I thought going back to 7 colors might be a good idea, but which 7? This is where a knit night is the greatest thing in the world. Mindy and Kara and Deborah and Kathy and Ann and Fiona and Kim and the new Sarahs (do they have blogs? Why didn't I ask?) and everyone else offered opinions and suggestions. Here are the final options:

All pretty, all do-able. I couldn't decide. I declared that I'd put the pictures up on the blog and let the internet pick for me. (Not really thinking at the time that pretty much everyone who reads my blog was already there.)

So I took a little ramble around the store, sipping the coffee that Tammy (bless you!) had offered me, and thought about it. Eyed the Malabrigo Aquarella that I ended going back for today. Spotted Rachel's amazing new yarn which I won't tell you about because I want it all. Seriously. I'll tell you when I've got mine. (Alpaca Lips! Hah! OK, that was a hint. But that's all you get.)

By the time I finished the coffee I had scooped up this Elsebeth Lavold Cotton Patine and when I held the balls together and walked back into the room, the collective sounds of approval convinced me.

This was much better:

Thanks to everyone for your help, and hopefully I'll see you next week! (That is, if I don't get on the bus with the Black Crowes tomorrow night. It could happen.)

*Yes, the post title is a song title, which I don't often do, but which is in honor of Kara who bravely endured the Lane Bryant jeans sizing adventure before me, and inspired me to endure it to buy a friggin' pair of jeans so I could look nice at the above-mentioned Black Crowes concert.