Ten On Tuesday

Look at that, I'm posting my 10 on Tuesday actually on Tuesday. Weird.


Anyway, this week the subject is Ten Things On Your "To Do" List. This Spring has swollen my to do list a bit. Here it is:

1. Plant seeds for this year's garden. I always forget to do this and wind up going and getting the veggie plants at the nursery. Not this year.
2. Overhaul the garden area. I have an ambitious plan that involves terracing and stone work. It's a good thing that I have a built in labor force at home to help me implement my big ideas. It's going to be fab!
3. Get a composter. I really want a composter so tha I can turn all that kitchen waste into nice, rich soil for my garden. Good for the environment and good for us.
4. Weed and mulch all the flower beds and fertilize what needs fertilizing.
5. Get new windows for the house. This is a biggie finanacially and practically. We've spoken to so many folks about our windows and it's way past time for us to make a decision. I can't wait to see our 40+ year old windows go. No more condensation inside of them. No more draftiness. No more nastiness in general. Yay!
6. Get moving on our deck. My fingers are crossed that a new deck will follow shortly after the windows. I've wanted it and envisioned it since we bought the house 10 years ago. I'm so ready to get it done.
7. Get my bicycle out. I need to get it checked out and make sure it's ready to ride. I'm not big on walking but I can see myself using my bike to exercise. At least that's the idea.
8. Investigate the stash. Lately stuff has disappeared into my stash and I really need to get a better handle on it. What have I got and where the hell is it all?
9. Finish all those lingering UFO's. This is a reall obsession right now but I'll save that to discuss another day.
10. Firm up our Summer plans. Last year there was no big family vacation but we've got one semi-planned for this year and It's going to be a good one - if I can pull it all together. I really have to get moving on this.

So there's my list. As you might expect it's rather heavy on the Spring stuff. What's on your list?

Riley's Summer Ensemble

I finished another lingering project this weekend.

This is made from a Drops pattern that goes by the thoroughly unimaginative name of B13-17 Dress, bonnet, socks and duck. Thank goodness I wasn't looking to the title to tell me much about the pattern. I would've missed out on a really good one.

The pattern isn't perfect but it wasn't hard to follow at all. My biggest problem with it was that the skirt was deadly dull and boring to knit. It was just a big tube of 3x3 rib with a bit of lace thrown in. Can you imagine how boring it would be without the lace? Oooo I shudder to think.

Anyway, the payoff for all that 3/3 rib knitting was a really sweetly draping skirt that looks pleated thanks to the decreases at the top of the skirt. It flared very gently at the bottom before the crochet edge was added and now, with the edge it's wonderful. This is going to my 4 month old niece who's still not mobile but I imagine that this dress would be great for a toddler who could twirl around in it.

I knit this pattern mostly as written but I deviated in a few details. None of then were major but they do make it mine. The first was that I used more colors. DQ and I chose these three shades of Katia Mississippi 3 and I was a little worried that this would be too patriotic looking but despite the stripiness of the skirt and the eyelets in the top that could be interpreted as stars, I don't get a flag-like feel from this at all. It looks like a tennis dress to me or perhaps the perfect frock for lunch at the country club. My S-I-L is lucky that this won't fit anyone in my house because if it did, I'd keep it for myself and make something else for her. I love this dress just that much.


I intentionally did some of the color changes on purl rows. I really love the way it adds that skinny line of color. It makes the transition from one color to the next a little softer and more fun, like overstitching.

Another change i made was in the crochet edging. On the bottom of the skirt I used the edge specified in the pattern (although I added a foundation row) and it adds a lovely, lacey, finish to the swingy skirt. On the edges of the bodice I elected to deviate from the pattern and used a simple instead. It just seemed like a better fit.

To complete this gift I made a pair of booties. For these I used the same yarn and the pattern for Blue Steps Baby Booties by Regina Willer. To me this pattern was a little unclear in spots but I was able to use the picture and my knitting experience to fill in the blanks. They're very simple and sweet and I just hope they fit.

ECF - Foggy Morning Edition

This is what it looked like when I left my house this morning. The dense fog gave my bland corner of suburbia quite a bit of atmosphere.

Have a great weekend!

More Randomness

The baby dress is nearly finished and so is the first Clean Laundry sock. Yay! All very good things but since Ijust showed them to you yesterday they're not terribly bloggable. It's ok though because I'm feeling a little random today. Very random.

• Did you watch Idol last night? I did and I have to say that I don't get Megan Joy at all. The stylings she does with her voice are just weird to me. Last week the judges seemed to go for her brand of weird which made me wonder if it was just me. I was way happier last night.
• I watch DWTS too. I may be a reality TeeVee junkie. I think that show was much improved this week when they sent Denise Richards home. I just don't like her at all. No good reason - she just irritates me.
• What is up with discourteous drivers? Twice this week I've had to use a parking garage and I think that they're all hiding out there. They go whipping around blind corners as if the garage is empty and give you dirty looks when they see you - stopped properly before rounding the corner - as they come right at you.
• The telephone drivers are out in force too. I know they think that they can do it all if they just slow down but they can't. They just irritate the other drivers on the road by going too slow for conditions. Especially the guy who stopped at the green light. Hello - green means go dude! Just hang up and drive ... please!
• I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night. It's movie night at my LYS and this week it's Northanger Abbey. Yay for Jane Austen. I just need to decide what knitting to bring with me and hope that DQ doesn't get a better offer. I really love going with her. I am such a lucky mom to have kids who like hanging out with me.

Baby Things and Simple Socks

My displeasure with the endless ribbing required for the Francie socks was probably exacerbated by working simultaneously on the skirt of a baby dress I'm knitting as a gift. It was essentially a 3x3 rib with lacy bits every 4th row. No fun at all but I pushed through ut and now I love the result.

The yarn is Katia Mississippi 3 which has never let me down and it'll be a winner this time too. The color is really hard to photograph but it's kind of a cool red that plays well with the blue edge. It's a really soft cotton that's totally machine washable which makes it perfect for baby gifts.

I've gotten quite a bit further since I took this picture and I've now finished knitting the top and I'm in the process of seaming it and putting the finishing touches on. I expect that this will be finished and in the mail by the weekend.

Because all that ribbing was getting to me, I cast on for a nice simple sock as soon as Francie was off the needles. This is Regia Cotton Surf in no particular pattern at all which is making me very happy right now. I cast on at the toe, increased 'till it fit and now I'll just follow where the sock takes me (making notes for the second sock along the way). It's perfect for commuter knitting and the cotton will be lovely in the spring & summer on those rare occasions where I wear socks.

It's not the only sock on my needles right now but it is the only one I can share so it'll have to do for now. The only bummer about using cotton yarn is that I'll really have to add ribbing before I finish but I hope to have recovered from my ribbing aversion by the time I get there.

Francie Socks At Last

Here's a pair of socks that really kicked my butt. I wanted them madly as soon as I saw them on the Yarn Harlot's site and bought the pattern and the suggested yarn right away. I cast on, completed the first repeat and then... nothing. the copious amount of ribbing just made me want to throw them at someone.



It says a lot about the design of these socks and the nifty looking sole in particular that I ever finished them. I picked them up and put them down countless times but in the end I really wanted these socks on my feet so I persevered.

I still think that these socks look very weird off the foot. All socks look different without a foot inside but these are weirder than most. I think it's all the ribbing and the foot shaping that does it. Just weird.

The yarn I used is DIC Smooshy in Lipstick Lava and it's really lovely. I'm not sure it's the softest yarn I've ever felt but it's nice. It's got a good hand and it knit up without any problems. The thing that makes this yarn a keeper is the color. I adore yarns with subtle shifts in color and that's exactly what DIC is all about.

The only tricky part of this pattern for me was when it got to the toe. My socks were starting to look a little long for my feet so I elected to stop the shaping and move on to the toes early. I read and re-read the instructions and I'm pretty sure that I followed the instructions exactly but as I knit those toes I had the uncomfortable feeling that I was doing it wrong. I cannot tell you how I agonized over those toes. I counted the stitches over and over and examined the pictures and pondered the instructions endlessly. I'm still not sure I got them right but they look fine hen they're on the feet so maybe I'm just paranoid.



Because these socks are really all about the nifty foot shaping, I had my favorite foot model do the honors with these so that I could get good angles. They also fit DQ's feet better than mine because they're still a bit too long for my feet. After all of the struggles and the mad desire I felt for these socks it turns out that they'll belong to DQ instead of me. Oh well!

Seeing Blue

This past weekend started with me chaperoning DQ and a friend to the midnight release party of the Twilight DVD at a local bookstore. It ended with me going to bed early yesterday evening with a wicked migraine. Coincidence? You be the judge.



Seriouly, it was a pretty good weekend up till the migraine hit although I could feel it coming on for a day or 2. I took my Girl Scout Troop to do a clay badge, did a little bit of shoppping, and a whole lot of knitting.



I also took DQ to get her hair done. In addition to getting about 4 inches cut off we also had a little blue added artfully throughout. It's not as bright as we thought it would be but it's definitely blue and she loves it. If you can't do this stuff when you're 13, when can you do it?

ECF - First Day of Spring Edition

Happy first day of Spring. I took this picture of a lilac bud in my front yard last weekend. I am positively obsessed with all of the buds on the trees and the green that is shotting through the cold, brown surface of my yard. Is there any time of year that is more filled with hope and promise?

Have a great weekend!

Sock Madness 3

Can you feel it? Something big started today.

It's Sock Madness 3 and although it's quite small compared to many knitty events, don't tell that to the players. They've been busy getting ready for the madness for months.

They've reminisced over the past 2 events, convinced their friends to join this year, shuffled their schedules and talked about Sock Madness and awful lot. Truthfully it's the players who are driving this thing. Their excitement it infectious.

I couldn't do this by myself and I'm really happy that Carole is my co-host for the second year in a row. Between the two of us we've had all of the submitted patterns tested, signed up 200 players and generally served as mistresses of the madness. It's a huge job and it's so much more pleasant when you have someone great to share it with.

It's not all work though. I get a huge kick out of following the discussion in the Rav group. They go off on all kinds of tangents. There are many recipes and virtual bottles of Baileys shared. They've composed songs and discussed literature and travel and movies. In short, this is way more than just competitive sock knitting. It's knitty community at it's best.


All of the pictures in this post are teasers that we've released over the ast week to give the players a peek at the patterns in our queue. Some knitters are excited by what they see and others are nervous because some of these patterns will use techniques that are new to them. You can be sure that there will be lot's of tips and tutorials shared in the rav group because even though this is a competition this group is, first and foremost, supportive of each other. It makes a knitter proud.

The first year of SM I worried that nobody would want to play... but they did and I was happy. Last year I stressed it again but then the madness started and agin it was all good. This year was the hardest because I had so many other things on my plate. I just couldn't seem to get focused on SM3. But then I started seeing discussion in the rav group about how happy they all are that it's time for Sock Madness again and how could I not feel happy about that? One of my favorite comments so far is was this one: "then I remember this must mean that Sock Madness is soon! And my personal sunshine comes out." What more can I say!

Ten on... Any Day

It's supposed to be Ten on Tuesday but it turns out that Tuesday is usually one of the few days in a given week that I have something else to say so here's my Ten on Tuesday Any Day I Like.

This week the subject is songs I hate which is a topic I have unreasonably strong feelings about although it's mostly artists in general and types of songs rather than specific songs. You're probably going to think these are nuts and I'm totally prepared for this.

1. Daughters by John Mayer - I actually hate most of John Mayers music and I almost always change the station when it comes on. It's kind of a thing in our house and my girls get a kick out of trying to see how long it takes me to turn him off. I even told the DJ at our recent event not to play any JM if he wanted to be paid. Yeah, I have really strong feelings on this. Above all of his other stuff, this song really sets my teeth on edge though for some reason.
2. Radio edits - I understand that many parents want to protect their children from bad language but I think this is a slippery slope. Many stations just bleep out the word or 2 that offends and I'm ok with that but when you start changing the lyrics to sanitize them and you remove not just the 4-letter words but references to drug use or other offensive behavior it gets out of hand. Take the lyrics to 1985 by Bowling For Soup. The original went "Debbie just hit the wall; She never had it all; One Prozac a day; Husband's a CPA" and it got changes to "Debbie just hit the wall; She never had it all; one workout a day; Husband's a CPA". Not quite the same is it?
3. Sappy songs - You’re Having My Baby, Longer... I can't think of them right now but there are dozens of them. One word - ick.
4. Songs with electronically altered voices - Again - Ick.

Ok, that's enough for now.

Bruce's Noro Scarf

Last fall I made an Entrelac Scarf (Rav link) for my brother and my DH coveted it madly so I got more Noro and made one for him. Now I am officially a Noro convert. I adore this stuff and, as you can see, my husband loves it too. When it got cold again after a few days of warm weather he cheered because it gave him a reason to wear his new scarf.



For the second scarf I used Silk Garden and it's even better than the Kureyon. It has the same fabulous colors that shift from pink, to peach, to green, to black and way too many colors to list. It is a joy to watch the gradual shifts and appreciate the depth that the color variation gives to each square. The thing that makes Silk Garden even more fun than the Kureyon is that after a good soak this scarf is so soft. It still looks rustic but it feels so good.



So after making two of these scarves you may wonder if I'm over the pattern or even entrelac in general. Nope! Not one bit. Actually I think that for the next round of entrelac I'll go big and make a Lady Eleanor Stole for me. That'll have to wait for the fall when it gets cold again (and I have a Noro budget again).

Makes Me Wonder

You've seen this face here many times before. It's my younger daughter Stinkerbelle. Because I'm her Mom I think that she's gorgeous. Unmistakably a beautiful little girl. I know that I'm very biased but there was a moment this weekend that had me (and everyone else present) scratching their heads.

Stinkette was wearing her pretty blue earrings, a hot pink hoody with a big pink jacket over it and standing at a booth selling GS cookies when someone called her a boy for the zillionth time. Thankfully she wasn't bothered at all but the other parents and I all laughed because we were there selling Girl Scout cookies. It just made no sense. Is the short haircut really all they see?

Just a quick thought on a somewhat busy day. I'll have a real post tomorrow.

ECF - Orange Splash Edition

These flowers have been greeting me each morning when I arrive at my office building. They're very springy. I'm quite drawn to the splash of orange on the yellow petals.

Have a great weekend!

Spinning Again

It's a very good day in this knitty neighborhood. I've gotten calls from hubbo telling me that he's really enjoying the debut of his new scarf and my grandfather telling me that he's wearing his new socks and they fit great. Of course I have no pictures of either of these things in use. Bah!

What I can show you is proof that my wheels are once again seeing a bit of action. Hooray!

First is a yarn that I'm calling Golden Tiger because that's what it reminded me of as I was plying it the other day. The yellow-orange ply is merino/silk from Cloverleaf Farm that I bought at MDS&W last year. It was such gorgeous stuff that looked golden and coppery and just wowed me. I love it so much that I left some of it as singles (seen below). I think it may just stay like that forever because I just adore it.

The darker ply in the Golden Tiger yarn is a natural colored wool that I can't identify. I think that it's one of the purchases I made last year in Ottawa. Australian or African something or other. I really wish I knew what it was because it's nice and soft and it spun well for me.

The only problem I have with this yarn is that the yardage is pretty short - 124 yards of the plyed stuff. It could be and accent on something or it could stay as is. When I'm spinning the yarn itself is the product and it pleases my just as is most of the time.

Most of my bobbins were full so I'm still in plying mode. Charlotte and I are working on the Creatively Dyed fiber I spun a while back and it's going to take a little while because I spun it much thinner so there will be quite a bit of yardage. Yay!

I really can't wait for more warm weekends because with 2 wheels, a drum carder, and a decent sized fiber stash - I could have some wonderful fun. I'd rather use the drum carder outside where the mess won't bother me as much and, as a plus, I can do my thing while watching stinkette and Hubbo play with the new basketball hoop. Bring on the spring!

Sock Story

It seems like maybe my sock mojo has returned. I finished another sock last week. This is the first of my Francie socks in DIC Smooshy. I got this pattern immediately after I first saw it on the Harlot's blog. It looked so great on the foot and I just had to have a pair.

Now that I've finished the first of mine I'm noticing that all of the pictures I've seen of these socks to date are modeled shots. I think there's a really good reason for that. Off the foot they look kind of weird. The words that leap to mind really aren't the sort usually applied to socks, unless they're being worn by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Words like flaccid and phallic. * shakes the thought off *

Anyway, I think it's the abundance of ribbing combined with the unusual shaping of the foot that's weird. On the foot it looks great. It's just that... oh nevermind. It's a great sock and it's timely too because last week I had my first sock casualty and by coincidence those were red socks too.

Here is one of the Jaywalkers that I made in January of 2006. It was my first sock knitting experience and I used STR in a color called Ruby Slippers. At the time I was so proud of these socks. They were just so cool and I've really enjoyed wearing them.


I was so sad when Stinkette noticed the hole in the sole of the foot which she called to my attention by sticking a finger in it. I was even sadder when I noticed the other hole which is right on the front seam of the sock. I really can't imagine how that happened. Is it the result of normal wear? Yarn failure? I don't know and I'm not sure what I'll do about it dince the rest of that yarn is long gone. Right now it's just a bummer.

My Girl's Shawl

This past weekend was fabulous no matter how you look at it. The weather was grand and our schedule was clear which allowed for lot's of fiber play and even a bit of picture taking. Sadly, my model was a little giddy. I got her and the shawl outside for pictures but I couldn't get her to stand still...



or stop being silly.



This was the best I could do. At least you can see that she likes it and it's a good size for her.



This was my second time knitting the Forest Canopy Shawl by Susan Lawrence. For the record, I like this one better. the last one was in laceweight yarn and I don't think that the gauge was right for the yarn. This time you can see the pattern much better. It also has a better feel, probably because I used Lorna's Laces. It's nice and soft but I suspect that the nylon content will held this hold up to use by my rowdy girl.



I can totally see why Susan recomends it as a first lace project. It's intuitive and, for me, fast. I started it on February 9 and finished it on the 17th. Not quite a one-week shawl but I only missed by a few hours.

It would be perfect as written so my only mod was to add beads to the edging. I used a crochet hook to add them because they show on both sides that way and it looks much more pleasing in my opinion. I also abhor math and adding the beads as I go means that I don't need to calculate the number I'll need to string.



I really enjoyed this project and Stinkerbelle loves the result. I hope that she enjoys it for many years to come.

The Danger of Handknit Socks

It's been an amusing few days. Friday was such a gorgeous day - sunny with highs near 70. It was so hard to believe that less than a week before we'd had one of the biggest snowfalls in years. It was the kind of day where it's nearly impossible to stay inside and no go for a wakl during lunch but it's equally difficult to go back inside when your lunch hour is over.

I couldn't resist and headed to a local book store. It was a good walk and along the way I enjoyed the local flavor as I always do. This guy amused me greatly. He was all dressed up and important looking, talking to the camera authoritatively about something or other. I'm sure that his public has no idea that he's standing on a suitcase. Vanity thy name is this guy.

I got to the book store and found what I went for (Cannery Row by John Steinbeck in case you're curious) and started heading back to my office with my head full of books. I was thinking about what i've read so far this year - Beloved by Toni Morrison, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, Red Knife by William Kent Kruger - and how I'm enjoying the balance between books that enrich and those that are pure pleasure.

Suddenly I was snapped out of my ponderings when someone called my name. It was my friend Phil who was on his way to a business meeting. We did one of this quick street hugs where you barely even touch and promised to talk soon before we went off in our different directions and I suddenly remembered...

My socks.

I was very distracted Friday morning as I got dressed and I didn't realize until I got to work and changed to my work shoes (instead of my sneakers) that I was wearing eye-searingly bright green socks with black jeans that were a tad bit too short (they're perfect with sneakers) and a red shirt. It's the kind of outfit that's fine if you're hiding out in your office but no good at all for anything else.

Now I'm sure that my friend didn't go home that night and tell the family "You should've seen the socks Hillary was wearing today". But still, I felt a little silly.

I guess that's the danger of handknit socks. You get sucked in by the pretty colors but they're not necessarily appropriate for all occasions. It's a price I'm prepared to pay.

ECF - Educational Flower Edition

Stinkerbelle needed a flower to dissect in class so I had to go to the supermarket and buy a small bunch. Now I have pretty flowers in my dining room. This is one sacrifice I am happy to make for the sake of my daughter's education.

Have a great weekend!

Learning From The Past

In yesterday's post I mentioned that the new beret was intended as an alternative to one I had made pre-blog. Here it is in all of it's colorful glory.

This is from Anna Zilboorg's book, 45 Fine & Fanciful Hats To Knit. I think that it's Beret #4 but as I recall I simplified it a bit and may have left out details so I'm not quite certain. The yarn is Winter Cotton from Schoeller & Stahl that I bought from Elann and by looking at my buying history there I can determine that I made this hat in 2003. I had only been knitting for about 2 years then and this was my first stranding so looking at this hat is quite a learning experience. Now I can see all of the mistakes I made.

I have worn this hat ever winter since I made it. It's quite warm and it fits well. Most of it's flaws are known only to me. From the outside the only noticeable flaw is the puckering of the stitches. I should've made my floats looser. The pattern is also not easy to read and that's probably due to the yarn choice. The yarn I used is an aran but the pattern called for worsted. I could also be that my gauge was off or my knitting was lousy. It's ok because it soesn't bother me too much.

The wrong side of the hat is more problematic. You can plainly see here that I had no idea how to do stranding. What a mess! I also never bothered to weave in the ends. Yes, I wore it with loose ends. If you tuck them up inside then nobody's the wiser. I finally wove in a few of them a few weeks ago but I've still got a few to go.

I still like this hat and now, looking back at it and contemplating the flaws I feel tempted to see if I could do a better job now. Maybe a Selbu Modern?

A side effect of searching my Elann history was seeing the listing for the yarn I bought to make hubbo a vest. It was waaaaaaayyy back in 2004 when I got that bright idea. The guilt of seeing proof of procrastination in print coupled with a certain knitter mentioning the vest she's making for her husband recently in my husband's presence made me feel like this was the time to get this particular monkey off my back. Here's the monkey.



So I started thinking about it (mostly how much I hate this project) . I considered all of the alternatives and I came up with a plan. I figured that if I found the right pattern then knitting an endless vest would suck less. Let's face it. Mistake rib looks really good. It's a bold rib that is strong and manly but when you're knitting miles of it with no relief it's monumentally boring.

With this in mind I did a little Rav-search and found Dr G's Memory Vest. This is another of Kirsten Kapur's patterns and I love it. Even better, Bruce loves it. I bought the pattern and read it through and I was all ready to go.

Then I went to my yarn containment system and pulled out the old vest in anticipation on a frog fest. I was stoked right up until I pulled it out and saw that I was nearly half way done. Yup the back of this sucker is just inches from completion. I finished the arm decreases and everything. how can I frog half a vest?

I am resigned to finishing this Damned Vest now. At least the front will be more interesting since there will be a deep "V" to contend with. If I put my mind to it I can probably bang it out with in a month or so. There's just one thing holding me back now. The needles I need to use are currently tied up with Hubbo's Entrelac scarf. I 'm sure this vest is cursed.

Risky Or Not

A friend posted this quiz earlier this week and I took it right away. It's pretty accurate. I do let loose on occasion but I've always lived by what if.

Your Risk Taking Level: Medium-Low

You'll take a risk if you have to, but you prefer to err on the side of caution. If something looks like it's going to work out, you may just go for it. But frivolous risks like gambling totally aren't your style. You prefer to have as much control over your life as possible.

Are You a Risk Taker?

What about you? Are you the type to throw caution to the wind and try anything or are you perpetually afraid to dip your foot in the pool?

Any Day Beret

Before the snow arrived it was quite the busy weekend for us. It started when DQ and I atttended movie night at my LYS on Friday night and continued with birthday parties and shopping. One of the highlights for Stinkette was going to take part of a Lego event where they got to build Yoda. This is a small version of the sculpture they were working on. Stink-o contributed to a version that will be 8 feet tall.

Now yesterday's snow has turned to ice. The girls are back in school and I'm no longer working from home. In all we got about 7 inches which may not be huge by most standards but, as Carole and Julie noted, for my area it was big. Especially when you consider that our schools have been known to close at the threat of snow... before a single flake has even hit the ground. Yes, it's pathetic. Anyway, this storm was actually worthy of the attention and we thoroughly enjoyed the snow. I didn't even mind shoveling it at all.

My shoveling enjoyment probably had as much to do with my new hat as it did with loving the snow. I finished this early last week, blocked it, and it finished drying just in time for the weekend. Naturally I had to wear it all weekend long.



At first I wore it because it was new and fun but I kept wearing it because of the hat hair. Oh the perils of wearing hats!

The pattern is the Gwen Slouch by Lauren Nell Roy which I worked in Fibranatura Oak. The pattern was really easy. It suggests using markers for the repeats but I didn't because the more lace I knit - the more I find that stitch markers just get in my way. Other than that I knit this hat exactly as written and I have no complaints at all. I really love the laciness of this. I'm sure that for real hard-core outdoorsiness I'd want a more solid hat but it was plenty warm this weekend. Light too. I mostly forgot I was wearing it.



The color I chose is called chocolate but it could easily be called milk chocolate. The color in these pictures is about right. It's not a deep rich brown but rather a soft brown. It totally works for me. I call this my Any Day Beret because the color goes with anything I wear. I have another beret (I'll show it another day) which I made pre-blog in 2003. It's very colorful so a versatile piece like this is welcome.



In the closeup shots you can also see the flecks in the yarn. The yarn is made of wool, silk, and linen and I think that the hairs are both the silk and the linen. I like them. they didn't get in the way of the knitting at all and add a little interest. Bottom line is that this yarn is very soft and knit up without any difficulty.

Kudos to DQ for taking all of these photos. I thank you very much.

Under a Blanket of White

Stinkette was here.

Thankfully she was also here, helping me shovel the driveway this morning.

I just love snow days. The world looks so pretty under a simple blanket of white.