Eleanor Completed

I didn't blog much about this sweater, but then I haven't blogged much lately period. It is made out of a lovely silk and alpaca yarn...Knit Picks Andean Silk in "Merlin". The pattern is called "Aquitaine." It is by Deborah Newton and appeared in the Winter 2009 Interweave Knits issue.

The sweater was a fairly relaxing knit. The lace pattern around the yoke and sleeves was intricate enough to be interesting, but simple enough to not completely stress me out. I like the way that the sweater fits...the measurements in the pattern are dead on, which was a relief. It also didn't take very long, comparatively speaking...and speaking of comparisons, this sweater was an absolute job compared to the Clementine.

Also...this is a very very very very warm sweater. gotta be the alpaca.

Commissions and Crunches

In addition to knitting projects for my own enjoyment, I completed several commission projects this semester as well.

HeeBee Beret:
One of my Resident Assistants, HeeBee, really liked the berets that I had made for myself. She asked if I could make her one in purples and greys. Berets being nearly as fast as beanies, I agreed. I made it out of KnitPicks Imagination in Arabian Nights. She really liked it, and received a ton of compliments!

Flame Beret {Photo Pending}:
One of the people who really liked HeeBee's beret was her really good friend Flame. Flame asked if I would make her a beret as well. She picked a yarn that I had in the stash. It was a jewel tone variegated Hacho from Mirasol Peru. (The yarn has been discontinued...so I bought scads of it in various colors on clearance at Knit This Purl That...LOVE THIS YARN!!!) Flame is classically beautiful in an old Hollywood sort of way. She looked great in the beret.

Dr. and Mrs. Boss Socks:
As previously blogged, Dr. Boss commissioned a couple of pairs of socks. Things got a little hairy with both pairs because I was using a self striping yarn. I am a little uptight, and had determined that the stripes on both pairs had to match perfectly. It was a bit of a headache, but worth it in the end. Overall Mrs. Dr. Boss's socks were a breeze. Lovely football knitting. Lovely airplane knitting as well. Dr. Boss's socks, on the other hand, not as joyous.(Note to self: Man Socks take FOREVER. I thought I would never finish those boogers.) I was very concerned that I was going to run out of yarn. In the end both pairs turned out beautifully, and were appreciated by their recipients.


A Capella Beanie and Scarf {Photo Pending}:
Sister has a really good friend that I met when I was visiting out there. SNC was heading up to Chicago for a Straight No Chaser concert...I think it is about the 1000th she has gone to. Chicago = Cold. SNC knew I knit (how could she not, I was doing it constantly while I was there) and asked if I could make her a plum hat and scarf. I took a pattern that I have been developing (The Hypothetical Beanie) and converted it into a scarf pattern, and made the matching beanie. I really liked the way they turned out. Hopefully SNC did as well.

A Couple of the projects I made for others can only be called Crunches! They were last minute, looming deadline, oh no I totally need to get these done NOW!!!

Wedding Knitting {No Photo, Cause They Are Gifts}:
BFF's younger sister is getting married this next week. I had asked her months ago what her kitchen colors were so that I could knit her dishcloths. But...then I kept postponing making them. Fast forward to last week. One of my residents goes to church with BFF's parents in Houston, and had agreed to act as my own personal UPS truck. She was going to take BFF's Christmas presents home with her at the end of the semester...WHOOPS! I had less than a week to get the wedding dishcloths done! Ack! Luckily they are quick knits...I made up 2 Movie Theater Dishcloths I...finishing them the night before they had to leave town! That was cutting it a wee bit close. I hope she likes them!

Argyle Beanie:
Argyle, one of my fellow RDs, is spending part of the winter break in Washington, D.C. It gets quite cold there, and Argyle does NOT like being cold. We were standing in the main office discussing holiday plans, when he turned to me and asked me if I had any spare beanies in my gift stash, and if so how much they cost. I told him that I certainly did, and quoted him a price. He pulled out the cash and said he wanted a grey or black one. I took the cash and went back to my apartment, where to my horror I realized that the grey beanie I thought was in the stash had actually been used as an emergency birthday gift a month or so earlier. OH NO! I took money under false pretenses! Luckily for me, I had dark grey yarn languishing in my stash. I cast on a version of the Knox beanie on a Thursday afternoon, and finished it before bed that night. It was a close call though...

Completions

I have been VERY productive this semester, as mentioned previously. Here are a few of the things I have finished. (This is not a complete rundown, since some of the projects were commissions, which I will talk about tomorrow, or are Christmas gifts, which I will show you after the holiday!)

Three Towers:
A few months ago I was ordering yarn from KnitPicks and needed to spend another $3 in order to get free shipping...so I ordered a ball of Swish DK Yarn in Merriwether...a color they don't seem to have anymore. When it arrived, I realized that it was almost the same color as Sister's eyes, and decided use it to make a beret for her. I had come across a stitch pattern that looked like the Eiffel Tower. Since Sister and I visited Paris together, I thought it would be fun to try and incorporate that into my standard beret. The result? The Three Towers.

Grimm Scarf:
I had initially hoped to submit the pattern for my blood and shadows scarf to KnitPicks. Who knows? I still might. In order to do so, I needed to knit a version of it out of one of their yarns. I bought a skein of the Imagination Hand Painted Sock Yarn in Wicked Witch. I also decided that the scarf pattern needed a new name. Since the original scarf was made as an homage to vampire literature, I knew I wanted a name that was dark. At the same time, I wanted to tie the name into the fantasy nature of the yarn colourways. How handy that some of the best fairy tales were written by the Brothers Grimm. I finished the scarf while I was in Kentucky a few weeks ago.

Shrug:
I made myself a shrug out of KnitPicks Shamrock yarn in Campbell. I LOVED working with this yarn. The color changes in it kept the knitting interesting, even though the pattern was the single most brainless project I think I have ever done! The pattern was the free Lion Brand Stockinette Shrug. I've linked to it, but it may require a membership to view. It is a REALLY easy pattern. You knit a really long rectangle with ribbing at each end, and then seam up the sides. It is crazy. And I think it is very flattering. (Also, it is very warm...being Shetland wool and all...)

Clementine Cardi:
I sort of almost finished this one. But I am still mad at it. No pictures until I get to Washington.

Colton Scarf:
After I finished the Baby^3 Blanket, I had odd amounts of the various yarns left over. What to do? What to do? And then it hit me...make a version of the scarf that goes with everything! I did a 2x2 ribbed scarf, changing yarns at random points throughout. It came out beautifully. I'm giving it to BFF for Christmas so that she can match the baby! (I'm pretty sure she doesn't read the blog, so I feel perfectly safe posting it here...)I think that this is a really great way to use up the stash as well. I have lots of little teeny tiny scrap balls that are just begging to be scarfed up!

Clementine Cardigan: The Continuing Saga

Previously in posts about the Clementine Cardigan: I found a typo in the pattern, after reknitting the collar SEVERAL times. Then, I discovered that the pattern didn't call for enough yarn, and had a mini panic attack before ordering 450 more yards from KnitPicks...

And now, the rest of the story...thus far...

After ordering the supplemental yarn, I set the offending cardigan aside, and worked on something far less frustrating. A week or so later the yarn arrived, but I was still mad at the sweater, so I put the yarn on the shelf and ignored it for a while. (Which was actually kind of sad. It wasn't the sweater's fault, after all. It was the pattern designer's.)

Eventually I did pick it back up. I joined my new yarn on, and finished the body and the button bands. I picked up the stitches for the right sleeve. I knit down the sleeve. I completed the sleeve and looked at the amount of yarn I had left.

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!! I AM NOT GOING TO HAVE ENOUGH YARN TO FINISH THE SECOND SLEEVE!!!! WHAT IS THIS THING? THE BLACK HOLE OF YARN??!!!???

At this point the entire sweater and needles and pattern went flying across the living room, and I burst into tears. I would have cursed at the sweater designer had I not been a good Christian girl. (As it is, I may have wished some horrible yarn tangles on her...)

Once again I called KnitPicks. Once again they shipped me more yarn. (Bless you KnitPicks telephone operators. You are little rays of light in a dark hole of knitting despair!)

I ordered 3 more skeins, since that is how many it would take to finish the second sleeve.

The new yarn came, and the second sleeve was finished. (By the way, please note that the pattern called for 950 yards of yarn. By the time I was finished with it I had ordered a total of 1650 yards of the Shine Worsted...and I have, exactly, 23 yards left over.)

And yet, that is not the last frustration with the sweater from...ahem...well, you know where...

I live in such a podunk little town in West Texas now, that I cannot find a single store that has 12 matching buttons to sew to this stupid thing!

Seriously?

I guess I will go button shopping when I am in WA at Christmas. Until then, I see no earthly reason why I should weave in my ends. The sweater doesn't deserve to have its ends woven in. It can just wear the tails in shame. The stinking ends can stinking wait till I'm stinking home.

I'm not even going to dignify it with a photo at this point.

Garfunkel in Green

I just finished a beta-tested Garfunkel scarf.

This time I used Knit One, Crochet Too's Ty-Dy Socks yarn in Panama, which I purchased while visiting Sister. I lengthened the design significantly, and changed the number and width of the ridges.

Actually, I probably made enough changes to warrant it being a new design.

I really like it. I like how the yarn knitted up. I like the ease/portability/brainlessness of the design. I like the color. I like the way it looks with my new haircut...

With the adjustments I made, Garfunkel Green can be worn like an elongated cowl...

Or it can easily be wrapped around the neck for added warmth...

Now I just need to decide if I want to write it up as a free pattern. It isn't really innovative/difficult enough to justify trying to publish it with anyone...but if I'm going to free pattern it, I really need to write up both versions, and that will take time.

If anyone REALLY wants to know the pattern before I get around to typing or formatting, just let me know. I can abbreviate/off-the-cuff it to you in an email.

It Fits!!!!

I finished the German Herringbone skirt from Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits! (I never named this project...strange...it was just the skirt...) The best part is...it fits PERFECTLY!!!!! This is the first full garment (meaning non-accessory item) that actually fits exactly the way I had envisioned in my head! Now I just need to find a cute top to wear with it.

It wasn't a simple project knit, but it wasn't difficult either. The stitch pattern required attention and counting, so I couldn't just brainlessly go at it. But it was very straightforward and well written. I made a few adjustments to the pattern, which just goes to show that I can be taught! Check gauge. Measure often. Try things on. And, despite the fact that I added several repeats of the herringbone to the skirt, I actually ended up with one entire skein of yarn leftover at the end. (Not sure what I'll do with it...I'm sure I'll think of something.)

The only truly disconcerting moment during construction occurred a couple of days ago. I had just finished the reverse stockinette rows, and moved onto the stockinette yoke. I was sitting sideways on my couch. It just so happened that I was wearing shorts, and the skirt was laying over my legs...so I got a pretty good idea of what it was going to look like on. That's when I realized the horrible truth:

The color of the yarn (harbour) was the exact same shade of teal as the veins in my legs! That's right, folks, the skirt brought out the lovely color of my circulatory system running beneath my extremely pale and translucent skin.

Not cool.

Definitely not something I ever thought I would need to worry about when selecting yarn colors though. (I think if I wear stockings though, it won't be at all noticeable...or I could just attempt to actually tan...)

Despite the color foible, it is a GREAT skirt. I am THRILLED with it...and will take more photo-shooty pictures once I find an appropriate top.

War Games

Every summer a lot of the kids from church go to the Northern California Florida College Camp for a week.

Every year the camp holds War Games...a version of capture the flag played with flour bombs.

Last year every person on my team, Omega, died...except for Champ. (Champ is Ark, Fish, and Blossom's 14 year old brother.)

Champ lived until the end of every round. It was amazing. He would climb trees, hide behind boulders, and just survive. He also took out more of the opposition than I think the rest of Omega combined. (And that is saying a lot, because we had some extremely athletic senior guy campers on the team.)

A while ago I promised Champ that I would knit him something, since I had knit hats for all the other boys at church. I asked him if he wanted a beanie. After some discussion we settled on something even cooler...

I made him a ski mask to wear to war games.

I think he likes it.

(I did make him promise not to hold up any 7-11's in it though.)

FYI

It takes me approximately 1.5 episodes of NCIS (on DVD/commercial free) to knit a coffee cup cozy.

A Few Needles Short of a Commission

On Wednesday night, Perky asked me if I could make her another (Fort) Knox beanie. This time she wanted it in black.

I thought about it, for maybe a millisecond, and agreed. They are fairly quick knits, they make for good movie/social knitting, and I had plenty of good black wool in the stash. In an impetuous moment (so out of character for me...), I told her I would have it Sunday morning.

Then I got home.

I found the yarn.

I could not find the needles.

I went through my entire bag of needles.

Then I saw them. My 16" US size 6 circular needles.

They were attached to half of a rust (Fort) Knox beanie that I had cast on a couple of weeks ago.

I had two options:

1. I could move the rust beanie over to waste yarn and recover the needles.
2. I could finish the rust beanie, and then cast on the black one.

Option 1 was probably the smarter and more practical choice.

So of course I chose option 2! (I knew in my heart of hearts that once that rust beanie was on waste yarn, it would languish in the stash...never to be heard from again.)

Luckily I knit FAST!

I finished the rust beanie Thursday night at Preach and Psych's house.

I cast on the black one Friday night.

I finished the black one Saturday night.

I even wove in the ends!

Proud Moment

One of the retirees from the library branch took my Get Knittin'@ The Library: Felted Purse Edition class. Well, she finished her felted purse, and brought it by the library so that I could see it.

I am so proud. It is beautiful.

Now, in all honesty and fairness, she already knew how to knit...so I can't take a lot of credit for her creation.

However, I do like to think that I inspired and encouraged her to try something new!

I love it when students/class attendees show me what they have made!

D(one). C(omplete). Socks

I finished the Gotham socks while I was stuck at home sick on Wednesday...seeing as how I didn't have the right size needle to finish the Tilney sweater.

I think they are great!

I had never used this yarn before (Crystal Palace's Panda Superwash), and it is very cushy. I also used my new knitpicks sock needles, which were a delight as well.

The only slight issue was that the needles are very slick, and the yarn was a bit slippery. If I knit with this yarn again, I will most likely use my Susan Boyle needles which are coated with something. But, the new needles will be amazing with some of my wool sock yarns that tended to stick to the old needles.

A Scarf That Wants To Stroll

When Sister and I were in Paris I, like so many before me, was fascinated by the French women's apparent obsession with scarves and shawls. This translated itself into my obsessively collecting pashminas and wearing lots and lots and lots of scarves. (To the point that you may recall I now have a whole TUB-o-scarves.)

Stylistically speaking, I prefer wearing the pashminas to the skinny scarves. Pashminas seem to translate better into the spring and summer. So, I thought to myself, why not knit a pashmina style scarf/shawl? I could knit something out of a lighter weight/breathable yarn, make it wider, and perhaps attempt to make it look woven. (I was even insane enough to momentarily consider using lace-weight yarn...luckily I didn't get on that crazy train!)

I ended up going with a cotton yarn, and spring-like colors. (The whole yarn dye lot debacle has been previously blogged...) I decided to name the scarf after one of my favorite places in Paris...Les Tuileries. I used the linen stitch from my stitch-a-day calender, which gave the woven look I was hoping for. (I also switched skeins every other row so that the dye lots would blend.)

It has taken me a long time to finish this project. Not because it was difficult, but because other things with deadlines got in the way. (Also, this is knit on 16" long needles, and since I was alternating skeins I couldn't very well take it in my purse.)

The scarf ended up a lot shorter than I had originally envisioned, and due to the previously mentioned issues, I was not going to even attempt to get more. When I ran out of yarn, and saw the finished length, I made a spur of the moment adjustment to the pattern. Instead of having a skimpy shorty scarf, I seamed the ends together to have a generous deep cowl. This also gave me an added bonus...if a sudden spring shower should hit, Les Tuileries can double as a stylish hood!

I finished it while visiting Sister this weekend, which was appropriate since the trip I took with her was my inspiration.

Now if we could only get to Paris to show it off...

The Naming of a Cowl

I have always been fond of naming things.

Just ask my mother. One of my favorite books to read as a child was a name meaning book called The Name Game.

I named:

• All of my dolls (Soup Can Macaroni, Annabelle, Sasha...)


• All of my stuffed animals (Coco, Gunther, Sigfried, Melville...)


• Plants (Roy, Fairfax, Bertram...)


• Imaginary friends (Zonya Pasgetti...which was how I said Lasagne Spaghetti)


• Pets (Saxon, Cleopatra, Kanini, Duchess)


• EVERYTHING!!!

Yes. I am strange.

So when I knit this cowl, I knew it needed a killer name.



I looked at it. It had ridges.

Ridges was not a great name.

The ridges reminded me of ruts in a road.

Ruts is DEFINITELY not a good name.

The synonyms for ruts included grooves.

Grooves was getting closer.

Grooves morphed into groovy.

Thinking about groovy got the classic rock song "Feelin' Groovy" stuck in my head.

"Feelin' Groovy" is sung by Simon and Garfunkel.

Simon is a boring name for a handknit.

Thus...the cowl is named the Garfunkel.

Cable Car

Wednesday was Furlough Fun Day! (All the county libraries were closed due to budgeting...) And so, as usual, my friends and I celebrated our lack of being paid by spending money.

We met at the San Francisco Public Library to get library cards, walked over to the Asian Art Museum and its Shanghai exhibit, and then ate lunch at Francis Ford Coppolla's Cafe Zoetrope. (Which is, by the way, the COOLEST restaurant ever!)

It was still chilly and blustery in the Bay Area...but I was prepared!

I wore my new Cable Car hat!

The yarn is a DK Merino from KnitPicks, and the color is called "fog"...which I thought was perfect for a San Francisco inspired hat!

The pattern is a SuperKnits original...and is being submitted to KnitPicks for inclusion in their Independent Designer Pattern program. We'll see how that goes!

Spoken For

I was working at an after hours event at the library Friday night. Ya-Ya, Boss Lady, and I found ourselves with some down time. We were all sitting in the back taking our breaks and eating. Naturally, I pulled out some knitting. I happened to have the fatigue (Fort)Knox beanie in my purse.

Ya-Ya, my enthusiastic co-worker, has been on a roll since the Get Knittin' program she came to. She has made several afghans, more purses, and recently started in-the-round hat projects. She was intrigued by the crossed stitches/faux cables I was doing. I demonstrated how to do them, and told her I would write up the pattern for her. (I have...I will post it on Wednesday or Thursday...)

While we were engrossed in our knit-chit-chat, Boss Lady looked over. She really liked the color of the (Fort) Knox beanie. I pulled out my i-phone and showed her the blog entry with Perky's picture so she could see what the finished product would look like. Then I went back to my knitting, and she went back to her cheeseburger. A few minutes passed. Boss Lady commented again on how much she liked the beanie. I laughed and said I had been planning on selling it on my Etsy Site (coming soon...I promise!). I told her what I had charged Perky for her version, and said if she wanted it she could have it.

The break ended. We went back to work. I didn't think anymore about it.

I went in to work at the Other Branch this morning. It was Boss Lady's day up there as well. I popped my head into her office to say hello, and let her know I was there to cover lapsit storytime. She asked if I had finished the beanie yet. I said, yes. She said, great. Bring it to work tomorrow, and I will bring you the money.

Go Figure! I guess she was serious about buying it.

So there goes another one of my meant-to-be-etsy items...

...but never fear, I cast on a replacement on my lunch break!

What do Berets and Breasts Have in Common?

I finished the Avignon beret last night...sort of.

I was watching Project Runway again last week, and inspiration hit. So rather than work on the plethora of started or planned projects I have piling up, I decided to freelance through my stash!

Unfortunately, once I had cast off, I noticed that the beret had developed a bit of...well...a nipple. Where the ribbing joined in the decreases, a lovely little peak had formed. Not exactly an attractive feature in a hat.

Frustrated, I set it aside. I have often found it helpful to sleep on this sort of problem rather than immediately starting to freak out. (Freaking out seems to be my first and natural inclination! Dreaming Me came up with two solutions:

• frog it back to where the bulge begins and tinker with the decreases
• try to block it out

Blocking wins. Blocking is, ostensibly, an easier solution. I tried to use a dinner plate...but that wasn't working, so I switched the beret over to an upside down mixing bowl. Now I am waiting for it to dry. If this doesn't work, we'll move on to the more work intensive and obnoxious solution of frogging. Ugh.

(On the plus side, I used up the rest of the yarn from Twilight's birthday beret. I feel a little twinge of satisfaction every time I use stash yarn instead of making a purchase. Its like my own personal Knitters' DARE program...just say no to non-essential yarn shopping!)

A Veritable Factory

I am on a roll!

I would say I wam becoming a veritable handknit factory...except for the fact that I am the machine...so maybe a handknit sweat shop is actually more accurate...

On my day off yesterday I completed:

Cable Car Beret
2 Coffee Cup Cozies

And cast on/started designing:

Avignon Beret

I also made significant progress on:

Fatigue Green Knox Beanie
Les Tuileries
Gotham Socks
Tilney Sweater

(Pictures to follow as they are taken...it was my day off...no makeup...hair in a pony...I was not going to model anything...)

Knox

There is a very nice lady at my church, Perky, who likes to walk in the mornings.

When she walks her ears get cold.

A properly knit cap could solve this issue, so she commissioned me to make one. She wanted, in her words, a "sunshine yellow" toque. (She is married to a Canadian. She says toque, I say beanie...to-may-to, to-mah-to.)

The dilemma here was in the definition of "sunshine yellow". Yellows cover a broad range...so, I asked her to go through her son's crayon box, find a crayon that was the yellow she wanted, and tell me the color name. (I have a gazillion crayola crayons...out of childhood habit, I buy a new box of 64 or 96 every fall...) However, it seems her son's crayons were not Crayolas. She solved this by sending the actual crayon to bible study, care of her husband, the Canadian.

I took the crayon to the yarn shop, and literally passed it in front of every Cascade 220 yellow till I found a perfect match. (It was a good thing I had the crayon, because the color was a little greenier than I had imagined.)

The beanie itself is being called the (Fort) Knox, as in Fort Knox where all the gold is kept. (Partially because the color reminded me of gold bullion...partially because I was serendipitously watching Goldfinger while I knit it.) I carried the "bullion" theme into the stitch pattern by working elongated cables into the ribbing, like little bricks! I am actually very pleased with the design, and think that I will write it up...I can see it looking very manly in a fatigue green...

I delivered the beanie on Sunday. Perky was astonished that I got the beanie finished as quickly as I did. She gladly plopped it on her head, despite having Sunday morning pretty hair, and posed for a picture.

Now when she walks in the morning, people will definitely see her coming! And hopefully her ears will be warm.

Brother Birthday Blarney

An Entry In Three Parts:

I. Today is Brother's birthday. He is THIRTY!!! So, in honor of his aged-ness, I took the day off and drove up to see him, Sis-In-Law, Nephew, and my parents. One interesting thing about Brother's birthday being St. Patrick's Day is that the photos we take always turn out so beautifully...the whole color-coordinated greens thing...

Brother has always been very supportive of, though sometimes bewildered by, my knitting proclivity. He has made some of the more clever comments about the process in general. Also, as an artist, he makes interesting observations about finished projects. He notices things that others don't.

And, no. I did not knit anything for Brother for his birthday. Not that he wouldn't have appreciated something, he will just appreciate what I did get him more.

II. In other birthday news, Gino's birthday was on Monday. Facebook didn't alert me to the fact that his birthday was on Monday until Saturday morning. (Shame on you, Facebook!) This put me in a bit of a bind time-wise. Gino definitely deserved a handknit, yet I had my Master's Portfolio and finals to finish over the weekend. Still...I muscled through...with some frantic morning break knitting, and lunch break ends weaving...and was able to complete an Oakland A's fan color beanie for him. (I was trying to name it, but the only player I know is Jose Canseco...who, as an Angel's fan, I have always referred to as Jose Can-stink-O...) I sent the beanie, his birthday card, and my camera to the other library with Ya-Ya. She delivered the goods and snagged a photo. When I called to sing to him, he seemed very pleased. (...I hope to see him WEARING it at games once the season starts...assuming I get invited after my Can-Stink-O comment!)

III. Also, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, I have decided to only knit in green today! I brought my still unfinished Rivendell sock to Brother's house. I also packed some lovely wool from KnitPicks in a shade called "Pesto" that I plan on using in my next sweater. (I am making "Skinny Empire" out of Custom Knits by the inimitable Wendy Bernard...only my version is called "Tilney." ) And, because you can never have too much knitting, I also packed a green beanie!

Project Knitter

Confession: I am slightly obsessed with Project Runway.

Aside from some of the whack-a-doo challenges, and the amusing interpersonal drama...I find that the show inspires me to be more creative with my knitting.

Last week, as I was was watching episode 7, I decided to multitask and straighten up my stash. While tidying (petting) I came across the little tiny leftover lumps of yarn from Lovely's wrist warmers.

"This is really nice yarn," I thought to myself. "It is a shame there isn't enough of either color to really do anything with."

And then the power of Project Runway took over. It was as though a light bulb had turned on above my head. (I may have even checked for one floating there like a pentecostal tongue of fire.)I could make something if I used both of them together!

And thus, a Scandanavian-esque hat was born. I didn't use a pattern, and actually improvised the stitch pattern as I went. I also used every last stinking inch of the yarn.

There was only one problem. Since there hadn't been much yarn to begin with, the hat ended up being very small. Clearly, it was a child's hat...but for what size of child? I thought it would be too big for Nephew, and it was too small for Spaz and Whiz. So, I carted it to worship this morning and started plunking it on kids' heads till I found one it fit. And even then, it was a little bit small. (Thank you Ark and Fish for being helpful!) So, I figured the hat fit a toddler...a one or two year old. [Update: I took it to Brother's house, and was pleasantly surprised to find it actually did fit Nephew!]

I really like the design, so I'm going to make an adult out of some periwinkle and white llama I also found in the stash.

(Also, I do realize that I am posting on a Monday about a show that airs on Thursday. This is because I don't have regular television, and so have to wait for the episode to be posted online before I can watch it.)