FO: An Annoying Hat

You should not take the following as complaint.  The pattern was easy enough (TBL's Lotus Hat: clear instructions, nice charts), I like the color of the yarn, Cascade 220 is nice to knit with.  Should have been a snap.

But no matter how closely I followed the pattern, I kept ending up with the wrong number of stitches.  No matter how many times I counted my stitches, I kept ending up with two or three extra little buggers at the end of every row (not that I let that stop me....I just fudged it and pretended like the pattern covered my laziness).  Not only that, I did an extra repeat of the pattern and it STILL ended up looking like an itty-bitty elf hat.

So instead of trekking to the North Pole to find a potential wearer, I ripped it back and tried again.

Success!

A hat.  This is right when I finished, before blocking.

This is after I gave it a bath.  Isn't it cool how different it looks?  How much prettier and well-organized?

Sent it off to its new owner last week.  Hopefully she likes the color blue...

Holiday Recap: Part 2

Almost everyone got knitted items for their gifts this year.  Mostly hats.

My mom, her friend, my sister, and Nate.

Nate's and my mom's friend's were my own basic hat pattern.  Nate's is from the same wool as My First Sweater.  My sister's hat was the best, I think.

The hat is Simpatico! by Grace Mrowicki...nice cables.  Cascade EcoWool in Black.  I added the tassels without knowing how so they are my own design

Janey is nuts.  My understanding is that this look (as well as words like "wicked" and "sick") means she likes the hat.

My mom has big hair, so I gave her a big hat to fit on top.

It's a Shroom hat like the other million I've made this year.

My mom's birthday is on the 25th, too.  I gave her My First Sweater.  She looks a heck of a lot better in it than I did.  I'm glad she will wear it more often than I would have.  The weather in Atlanta wasn't quite cold enough.

I was wearing my Never-Ending Sweater.  All kinds of wool happening this holiday.

Happy New Year!

Winner!

Hey Y'all!  I thought I would be in better touch over the weekend, but Christmas got in the way.  Just wanted to stop in to announce the winner of my hat giveaway.  The random number generator came up with the number 4.  The fourth comment on my blog post was:

Stephanie said...

Once upon a time I knit a scarf. It took me seven years.

Amen.  The only reason I ever get a scarf knit is because Civil Procedure is the most boring class on Earth.  I will be reaching out to Stephanie to see where I should be sending her hat.

My favorite poem was by Katie who said:

Hats don't suck out souls.
Unlike law school, they just
Keep souls (or brains) warm.

I might just have to make her a hat, too....

Happy Holidays!!

Hats, Hats and More Hats

Last year for Christmas, everyone and their mother (or rather, everyone including MY mother) got these slippers.

This year, I am obessessed with this hat:

It looks ridiculous when it isn't on someone's head.  And I have learned that I have to provide instructions when I gift them, or people wear it with the bottom folded up instead of like a slouchy hat.  But it looks amazing once it is on your head. 

Janna and Meg have already gotten them for their birthdays.  Janna's was the red one above.  Meg's was the blue one here.  I made one for Lisa last winter, and I, of course, have the original I made for myself.

I have enough bulky weight yarn to make about a million more and just love this pattern to death. 

Speak now or expect to get one for Christmas this year.

Hats and Cake

I have an awesome roommate named Meg.  I made her a hat for her birthday.  She decided to wear it.

She's so pretty, no?  The hat is just like one I have but in a prettier color.  I may be obsessed with this pattern.

 I also made her a cake.

She made the reasonable decision not to wear that.

The Best Hat Ever

This winter, I knit my first hat ever. 

And it was awesome (pattern here)

 Then I knit my second hat.  The request was from the lovely Lisa who requested one EXACTLY like the one I was wearing (down to the color)*. 

And now we looks like twins (or would if I didn't look completely stoned...isn't Lisa pretty?).

 *Note that will only make sense to knitters:  You can't tell in this pic, but hers isn't actually the same....I missed a row in each of the repeats and had to do an extra repeat to make it long enough before I did the decreases for the top.  Only the designer and I know that I did it wrong...well, now I guess you do, too.