A quick hat

My daughter the rocket scientist decided to wash her old hat in the washing machine, which turned it into a felted mess. "Mom, I need a new hat!" This just as we're supposed to get another cold front moving down from Canada in the next couple of days. So I knit up a super-quick Mostly Knit-Round Hat -- the third one I've made. So cute! The pattern is from the first Knitting Experience book, the yarn is Dream In Color Classy in the luscious Blue Lagoon colorway. I actually knit the garter brim in the round as well, so there's no "mostly" in the mostly knit-round -- but it's still a fabulously easy hat.

Dishcloth Swap

Just for fun, Cowgirl & I put together a little dishcloth swap on the Missouri group in Ravelry. Here's my two dishcloths that I received from my lovely swapmates! Cotton dishcloths are fabulously useful -- I already have half a dozen or so in my towel drawer that I use all the time. And after I use 'em I just toss 'em in the washing machine. I'm always looking for ways to reduce what I'm putting into landfills, part of my green ethos. Reuse, recycle, renew.

A quick recap of yesterday's MU game:

Frostbite shrug

In addition to the aforementioned mystery socks, I've started working on another project, a dressy little beaded shrug from This Kitten Knits. I'm using KnitPicks' Elegance, a DK-weight alpaca/silk blend. The beading is really a pain in the derrière -- I have to pre-string hundreds of beads on each skein -- but it really makes the piece. The crystal beads flicker and wink against the subtle gray sheen of the yarn, demonstrating why it is named Frostbite.

First Snow of '07

The temperature's been dropping steadily all day with a cold front moving in from the north. Around three o'clock in the afternoon, I was futzing around in the kitchen (making pie crusts for tomorrow's feast, actually) and glanced out the window to see big fat flakes drifting down. When the weatherman said there were snow flurries in the forecast, I thought he meant a few little flakes mixed with the rain -- not this! It won't stay long, but it's enough to dust rooftops & cars with a nice white coat. Winter is here.

World's Best Sit n Sip n Bitch n Stitch n Knit

I chose the right weekend to drop by the Lee's Summit Sit & Knit... almost everybody was there yesterday! I only make it out there about once a month or less, what with the need to take out a second mortgage to fill one's gas tank these days, and the kids' sports schedules, and the nine zillion other things that take up the weekends. But it was so cool to see faces & projects that I haven't seen for a while. I got to show off some of my (still rather rough) handspun, which was oohed and aahed over in a most gratifying way. Carol was working on a monstrous gift sock... poor thing, her brother apparently wears size 14s. Jen had new stash, a skein of hand-dyed Claudia silk, which is the most incredible stuff -- I've never seen it in person before, and I instantly fell in love. We passed the skein around & petted it & tried not to drool too much. (Jen's going to make a Juno Regina stole with it, and it will look goddess-like, I am sure.) Laura had plenty of Lucky stories, and her finished Hemlock Ring, unblocked and therefore not yet in its full glory, but still an amazingly beautiful throw. Blogless Mary had a pretty baby blanket that she apparently didn't like much (don't know why) and Lorenia had a huge poncho out of Lion Brand T&Q that probably would have kept a whole family of sherpas warm. We even had a newcomer to our little group, Tracy -- she was working on an Irish Hiking scarf in a tweedy brown -- hope she wasn't scared off by our silliness. And just as I was thinking I ought to get on the road home, Chelle dropped by for the last 20 minutes or so! She was making a little ruffled cuff to match her beautiful Ruffled Roses scarf. (I resisted the bandwagon on that scarf when everyone was knitting it last year, but now that I've seen it, I just might have to succumb.) Cool women, hot chai latte, gorgeous yarn, conversation & laughter: this is the very reason for stitch n bitch groups.

Mystery socks

My sister announced out of the blue the other day that she loved the socks that I made for her a couple years back & she would be pleased to get another pair from me any time I cared to make her some. Well, a knitter doesn't need much more prodding than that. She now knows that she is getting a new pair for Yule, since I quizzed her thoroughly on color preferences and whatnot. The following can be revealed:
1. They will be in a colorway that she has said that she likes.
2. They will be a little larger than I usually make for myself, since she wears about a size and a half larger shoe than I do.
3. As she specifically requested, they will not be "bumply" (which rules out a lot of lace).

I'm not going to say any more than that here, since she reads my blog and I want to have at least some surprise attached to the gift. Ravelry users can learn more if they wish (hint, hint.)

To make up for the lack of yarny pictures in this blog, I present a gratuitous kitty shot. I bought one of those multi-tiered flat drying racks, since I always have plenty of hand-knits to wash & dry. It's great for socks. I stuck it on top of the dryer where it doesn't get in the way... Friday thinks it makes a fine hammock.

Psst... wanna see the world's most boring pair of socks?

It's a sort of riff on the Almost Argyle pattern, but I foolishly chose a dark color, so the pattern is barely visible. Oh well, at least they are finished.