7!

Not that long ago, a friend asked me how many hats I have. You'd think it would be a lot, wouldn't you? I mean, I make hats all the time! "About 10 to 12," I replied at the time. But I had no idea. One of my favourite thing about being a knitter is always having new fun items to keep me warm. And it's so nice to have a stash of winter gear that is always changing. Make a new hat, give a hat away. 

But I became curious about how many hats I actually have, so went and found the stash of hats. Turns out I only have seven. 7 ! (Not to be confused with 7 factorial, which would be a lot.)

And that even counts this new hat I just finished. 

Like so many, I made this pattern from an image in my head of what I wanted the end result to look like. Needless to say, it didn't turn out quite as expected. ... Not that it's ugly. Just different. I wanted it to be a slouch, and although I cast on the stitches for that, I don't think that type of hat works with this type of yarn. 

Oh well. Sometimes you just gotta go with it. And all in all, I'll probably wear it. Less than some of the others in the pile, but I'm glad I made it. And now that I know I only have seven, I feel free to make something else. 

dee-dee

Every knitter in the world has the same problem: What do you do with all your leftover yarn? I don't mean what do you do with your stash. That's easy! Look at it. Dream about what you can make with it. Hoard it. Add to it. And sometimes, even use it.
I mean, what do you do with the small remnants of yarn that you end up with when you are done with a project. That is harder. Even if it's just a few scrap pieces, there is something in me that stops me from throwing it out.
That is how when I finished making my latest shawl I ended up with this headband.

I didn't have enough for a hat, but I still wanted something that would match. As with most times when I'm just using up scraps, I had a general idea of what I wanted it to look like (in this case I wanted it to be similar to that shawl) but mostly, I made the pattern up as I went along.
Here's what I did.

Dee-Dee headband notes
CO 100sts
k2, p2 for 7 rows
m1 sts for a total of 101 sts
k2tog, YO for 8 rows
k2tog for a total of 100 sts
k2, p2 for 7 rows.

Camping like it's 4C

When I got into work today, and told some folks I used a day off to go camping, they looked at me a little weird. "Um, wasn't it... COLD?" they asked. Well, I like to think of it as being chilly. But who cares if it's a little cold? I don't mind wrapping myself up if I get to spend the weekend with one of my best friends, while taking in the colourful trees, fresh air, sand, sun...

When you know it's going to be cold, you just prepare for it. I am never happier to be a knitter than when I'm preparing for some chilly weather! I've got so many options to choose from. Like my ETTA hat I made a few years ago. (Still a favourite. Even if I think it looks a little like a beehive on my head.) I also grabbed a whole bunch of random scarves. 

The one above is my first crocheted item anywhere. I kinda loved it this weekend. It's super long, but also narrow. So depending on how cold it was, I just looped it more or less times around my neck. Done. 

Corrie and I had an awesome time. Even if we couldn't build a fire to save our lives. Don't let the picture below fool you. Sure we got a fire going. ... after about 45 matches and 20 pieces of paper and perhaps a few choice words from me. We couldn't even get the paper to stay lit most of the time! I blame the wood we bought. We had to start drying the wood before it would burn on the fire! Seriously. 

But we made some super awesome food. Cornbread in a cast iron pan. Yo. And a baked onion!

It was super great fun. A trip we will definitely do again next year!