A Couple of Hats (Adriana)

For Christmas last year I'd made Swell from Knitty for my brother. I noticed recently that despite the earflaps, it's not actually that warm a hat; it stops at the hairline leaving the neck and forehead bare. I promised Neil a better, warmer hat at an unspecified date. Last week I ran into his girlfriend, Courtney, at a local downtown eatery and she mentioned that they're off to Montreal and then skiing at Mont Tremblant during Reading Week (the last week of February). Clearly my brother needs a handknit hat to keep him warm on the slopes.
I quickly churned out this:

Pattern: Norweigan Star Hat
Yarn: Grey Jo Sharp Classic Wool dk (bought on sale. $2 a ball!) and blue Patons Classic Merino leftover from Dad's socks.
Modifications: 2x2 ribbing for the brim. I think I started the decreases for the top sooner and more rapidly than the pattern called fo which resulted in it looking kind of funny (hopefully just to my perfectionist eyes).

Since Neil was going to have a nice warm head I decided that Courtney deserves one too.

I went with the same main colour yarn (Jo Sharp Classic Wool dk) and my overdyed sock yarn held doubled.
I used the fair isle pattern from the Fake Isle Hat (I LOVE this pattern!). I didn't have enough orange yarn to do the whole pattern, so I just did the main fair isle motif and I added in the little rosettes at the top for interest.
Since I was using dk weight yarn I lined both hats with fleece for additional warmth.

Neil had requested a grey hat so I felt that subtle was the way to go. For Courtney I wanted to do something with more pizzazz and I feel that the orange accomplished that. I hope they and their hats have a great time on vacation, and hopefully they'll send me pictures :)

Cute (Adriana)

So I've developed a bad blogging habit lately. I have been wanting my posts have themes to them (Christmas, family presents, etc). This is all fine and well except that sometimes I don't end up with pictures for a while after I knit something which will then ruin the whole theme. Also, I've gotten out of the habit of blogging about WIPs which is ok for smaller projects that I whip up in a day or two but it has also contributed to my slowdown in blogging. I'm going to try to be a better blogger.

I have two finished objects to show off right now and you'll have to bear with me as I talk a bit about the recipients. They are both people I care a lot about so I tend to go on.
The first is a Fake Isle Hat I knit for my friend Calli. Calli has been my friend since I was eight (she was 7). We first met when my mom was considering homeschooling my brother and I, and so we were introduced to Calli and her family who were homeschooled. At the time I thought Calli was a boy. (She's not, nor has she ever been one). We used to spend the day with Calli and her family every two weeks for many years while growing up. Most of my favourite childhood memories involved her and her siblings. Those were the days; we did such crazy stuff. Calli and I went to the same high school and she went to university a few hours away from me so we were still able to see each other at least a few times a year. Now she lives in Montreal and, with my parents' move away from my hometown, we weren't able to have our customary Christmas visit. Knowing that I would not be seeing her I knit this hat in the summer to give to my mommy to give to her mommy when they saw each other in the fall. (I'm so sneaky) I made the hat to match a scarf I'd given her last year and to keep her warm in Montreal winters. (Calli actually sent me this picture at the end of December. See above re bad blogger)

Check out how cute she is! That's such a classic Calli expression :)
The yarn is Knit Picks Andean Silk in Slate and Silk Garden 205 and a purple colourway.

While on the subject of cute, I finally succumb to the lure of the Calorimetry. (Awesome pattern, by the way. A very fast knit) I'd tried to resist but it was the perfect present for classmate extraordinaire, Kristy. Early in our program we discovered that we're the kind of people that everyone hates, the kind who kill themselves to finish a project a week early, the kind who are done all the reading halfway through the semester, the kind who are disappointed when a test is postponed because it ruins our carefully planned schedule (told you that you hate people like us). Doing partner work in school is usually a drag but working with Kristy made everything so much easier. She has a white think-and-thin ribbed scarf that she loves and I decided that she needed a head covering that matched.

Isn't she cute too?
The yarn is Frog Tree Merino Worsted in natural (this stuff is just like Malabrigo)

Ok, that's enough sappiness for one post. I promise I'll be back soon with more pictures of FOs and WIPs. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm going shopping with Kristy!