A good Monday

Today was a Good Monday. Those are a pretty rare thing, Mondays being what they are, but this was a good one. I got things accomplished at work (the "to-do" list shrinks daily - woohoo!), I had a lovely BBQ dinner with Peter, I had a good chat with Gloria on the phone (my daughter - she's 14 today. My heavens, time flies!) AND - I got presents!

This was in the mailbox today from my Secret Pal (who, I know now, is in Ohio. Ohio rocks!) A really pretty stripey purple card with a nice note in it, some absofreakinglutely decadent chocolate - Lindt Excellence "Extreme Mint" dark chocolate - I broke my "no chocolate after noon" rule for a square (!). And, be still my heart, Socks that Rock sock yarn. In a stunning colourway called "Puck's Mischief." Here's a close-up:

I had to laugh when I saw the name - I had a roommate many moons ago who went by the nickname Puck, and she was indeed full of mischief. And I think some good medication. ;p Anyway, the yarn is GORGEOUS and I can't decide if I should cast it on right away or save it to knit on my birthday or some auspicious occasion. Because odds are good, this will be the only Socks that Rock that I ever get, since it's hard to come by. And golly-dang, it's PRETTY! So, many many thanks to my lovely Ohio Secret Pal - you totally made my Monday. But wait - there's more!

I finished the first pair of Patons Classic stripey-socks, the "Forest" colourway. Look at my socks!
They're kind of camo-coloured without being camo-patterened. Definite stripage happening, and they are SO comfy. The camera angle makes my feet look huge and Peter's (bare) feet look small, but that's strictly a camera thing. Here's a close-up:

The ribbing is stretchy and just snug enough. Super comfort. And I love the way the stripes widen as you go over the heel flap - can you see it? Maybe try this pic:

You know, it's not easy to take pictures of the bottom of your own foot. I need to do more yoga, apparently! Sock #1 of the blue pair is past the heel turn and gusset, ready to "zoom down the foot" as the ladies say (or I said, and they thought was cute - don't remember, it was a knitgroup thing). Will probably cast on the first pink sock tonight during the game to keep the momentum rolling.

So, tonight is Game 3 of the Ottawa/New Jersey series and while I'm not a raving Sens fan, they are my "#3 team" after Detroit and Montreal, so we'll listen to the game. I am a raving "Dean and Gord" fan - they're the guys who do the game broadcasts on the Team 1200 (Ottawa sports radio) and they are IMO the best play-by-play and colour-man combo working in hockey today. Really, they're awesome. We usually watch the game on CBC but mute the sound and listen to the good broadcast. :)

But first, I have to assemble my class notes for tomorrow night. So looking forward to it - and hoping I can actually successfully communicate how to knit to more than one person at a time. Although at present there are only 2 students (my peeps!) so it shouldn't be too difficult. Gloria wants to learn too when she comes up for the wedding, so that will be good training for my teaching kids to knit class later this summer.

Wow, what a great Monday. OH! Almost forgot, Peter's eye is much better. He took the patch off this morning and had a quiet day at home and it's much better, though still a little bloodshot at the corner and with an odd yellow tinge that I think is from the dye the doctor dropped in to find the "foreign matter." Vaguely jaundiced-looking, makes him look all mean and stuff. Which is funny, because when I told the guys at work about having to take Peter to the hospital for his eye, one of them said, "why, what happened to his eye?" And I replied (JOKING!) "Well, you know, he just wouldn't listen to me...(!)" That's a joke, people, I do not abuse my soon-to-be hubby. Fun and games. And now, responsibility time. Got to make up my handouts! Wish me luck for tomorrow night, even with a friendly class I'm a bit nervous still.

(Can you believe it? Socks that Rock! For me!)

In three weeks...

In three weeks from now (8:26 p.m. Eastern time), I'll be a married person, halfway through the "dance" part of the reception, possibly eating chicken wings and veggie sticks. That is the coolest thought I've had today. The rest of the day was Sunday stuff - laundry, John Wayne movies, knit on a sock, take Peter to the hospital... oh, right... that's not NORMAL Sunday stuff!

Yeah, the Boy got some crud in his eye (either melamine dust from a cabinet or insulation from an attic, or both - joys of contracting!) and it was all scratchy and red yesterday. So we flushed it with drops and bottled water and it felt a little better but not great. So off we went this morning to the hospital where, after a blessedly short wait (about 1-2" of worsted-weight sock) the doctor dug out the crud with a Q-tip, put in some drops to "Freeze the pupil" (eek!), and put a gauze patch on it for 24 hours. So Peter's a pirate for a day - cranky pirate because he can't play video games even though he'll be home all day tomorrow. He can watch tv as long as he doesn't move his head around, but mostly he's been napping and listening to podcasts of "Texas gun nut radio". Whatever floats your boat, sez me - it keeps him entertained.

So that made today less-than-productive for me, but I did get a few things done: three loads of washing, breakfast, lunch, and dinner cooked (or at least reheated!), wedding guest list and budget finalized (woohoo! under budget!), vows/ceremony revised and sent to the officiant, and even a few inches of sock. Was planning to do up my class notes for Tuesday night but they'll have to wait for tomorrow - I'm wiped out. Mostly because last night was GIRLS' NIGHT OUT!

Yes, I had a "bachelorette" party last night - me and Yumi and Amanda and Lyndsey had girly drinks and listened to The Crowd and made fun of weird people and were generally silly and fun. I think I only mentioned Peter two or three times, so that's pretty successful right? Although it was very VERY weird being out at a Crowd show without him. But it was a warm-up for the wedding, they've got the setlist nailed down and are sounding fab (sadly, the key Obnoxious Dancing Horn will not be at the wedding, but I'm sure they'll manage to be wonderful anyway!) Yumi dropped me off home again about 12:30, which for me is about two hours past bedtime. Then Yumi was naughty and went and did something massively unsafe and silly for which she shall be scolded (ok, this is the scolding). But we did have fun fun fun and I thank my girls for that. Also for the Starbucks gift card. Mm. Soy Latte!

In knitting, well, things have been all about socks this week. Sample socks for the store (very cute, but not totally done yet so no photo). Worsted-weight socks for me in Patons Classic wool, as follows:"Forest" - one done, one almost at the toe decrease.
"Wedgewood" - one at the heel, ready to turn.
"Rosewood" - still in the ball, will be casting on once "Forest" are done. All three pair are standard sock recipe (cast on 40 stitches on 4mm needles, 2x2 rib for 2", knit plain for 4", turn heel, plain foot to base of toes, toe decrease, kitchener, done). I can't wait to show pictures but I want a complete pair before I do. You know how variegated yarns can be with knitting socks - pooling, weird stuff, etc. These are so very cool. They are (oh, crap, I'll just tell you) - very very nearly self-striping. And look awesome. And so SO comfy.

I honestly think I could knit socks of this wool in every colour and wear nothing else (although I do love the eeny-weeny sock yarns, they're so pretty - but these are SO FAST!). And, I get a whole pair out of one ball of yarn (with some left over, so I'm going to accumulate some variegateds and some solids and have some fun with mix-n-match, eventually. Heck, I might even knit a couple pair for Peter, although his feet are bigger and he likes his socks longer. He's been hinting a wee bit this week whenever I make him admire MY socks. So once these three pair (and the store samples) are done, I will knit him some socks. Because by then, if my math is correct, he'll be my HUSBAND!

Me - married to Peter. Still loving the sound of that. You should see the silly-ass grin on my face as I even type it. *sigh* Ok, must go put away all that clean laundry and help my temporarily half-blind boy to bed. Life is Good.

Why my friends are the best...

Yumi and N8an are going to take my Knitting 101 class next week. Which is incredibly sweet of them and means that the class will indeed take place (no customers, no class!), so the store folks who want to attend can do so also. I'm figuring I'll probably have between 4 and 6 including "my peeps". (oh gods, I just imagined Yumi and N8an as little marshmallow chickens!)

So now I have to put together my "why knitting is fun and you should do it every day" intro speech and some kind of a basic learn-to-knit lesson plan. You'd think I would do this before actually offering the class, but apparently I am bass-ackwards in this regard. Is anyone surprised?

I also have 24 hours to prepare my June class offerings and about a week and a half to knit up the samples for those. Which will be (drumroll please... socks!). I'm taking an idea I saw in a sock pattern and knitting the sample socks in several colours, one colour for each "step" of the sock so the students can see how it breaks down. And for teaching purposes we're going to use worsted-weight (or maybe chunky!) because knitting your very first sock in actual sock yarn I think would make a person lose faith... they take a really long time on the wee needles.

I'm looking forward to the classes - hoping for some sign-ups for the hat and coffee cozy still, but I won't sweat it too much if there's no interest for the first month. Gotta do more promotions, that's for sure! I've also decided that in July (see, planning ahead now, good me!) I'm going to do a "Kids Can Knit Camp" on Friday afternoons. It'll be a boost in traffic for the store (I hope) and will also improve my teaching skills. Although I have been told that kids learn to knit FAR more easily than adults. We shall see.

Now, my own knitting! Finished a sock in Patons Classic Wool and cast on for the second to go with my new Earth Shoes. I want LOTS of socks to wear with these sandals, they are so so so SO comfy! Still working on the Tequila Sunrise sock #1. Still avoiding seaming up Peter's sweater (gotta be done for the wedding!). And 3/4 done on the Wedding Afghan, which I confirmed last night is going to look PERFECT in the boys' living room. Yay! AND - I'm into the body of my Rumor cardigan, which is looking more and more like a weird alien and less like a sweater with every row. I am persevering with optimism.

Oh, and Sunday we cleaned up the backyard and garden. We have grandiose plans for that - it was such a lovely day to be outdoors and we started thinking what we wanted to do and what we could afford to do (time and money), and I think once we get rolling it's going to be lovely. I already have a comfy outdoor chair under a tree for shady knitting time. :)

And now, back to work. I've been super-busy lately (what else is new?) so I'm blogging at lunchtime because I'm just too dang tired in the evenings to sit in front of the computer. But I just finished my chicken tikka masala and now must do a few more things before my meeting in 45 minutes. Have a terrific day all!

And the week flies by...

Work has been busy this week and even though today was gloriously, truly, springlike, I'm still mighty-tired. However - good news! Saw the doc for the annual physical and she pronounced me in "very good" health. Two caveats: (1) I "should" lose about 10 lbs. (2) I "shouldn't" eat chocolate after noon if I want to fall asleep easily at night.

You know, these are manageable bits of advice. Yay! To celebrate, I bought me a new mauvey-pink t-shirt to wear to work tomorrow (because Fridays are ALL about good boobie t-shirts) and some Patons Classic Wool to make socks. Socks to wear with sandals, because it's now short pants season, and I got the most CUSHY sandals at Wal-Mart - they're called "Earth Shoes" and they are super, super comfy. Plus they show off handknit socks well. So I need more socks. Now.

And, even as I type this, the Sens are locking up their Round One playoff victory, so everyone should be happy at the office tomorrow. Woohoo!

Each one teach... several?

Ok, I really need to start using Peter's camera for blog-photos. Mine just doesn't like any kind of artificial lighting, flash or no flash. This slightly (ok, very) fuzzy photo is my second "class project" for my Michael's classes - the Cabled Coffee Cozy.

The idea is to introduce two concepts - knitting in the round on double-pointed needles AND knitting cables - in one manageable project. It took me about an hour and a half to knit, so 2 x 2 hour classes should be okay for teaching it, I think.

I picked up my schedule and it looks like I'll be teaching weekly on Tuesday evenings - the coordinator suggested it would be good for me to have a set time for my classes so I can build a following (ha! I'm a cult!). I'm hoping to alternate easier knits with more advanced stuff each month; I will be giving Knitting 101 every month as an intro and then a couple of project/technique classes over the rest of the weeks.

It's a little daunting (me? teach knitting? I'm still "intermediate" myself!) but I'm pretty psyched about it. The hitch is going to be coming up with new classes every month, and I need to have them ready five weeks in advance - so I need to be planning for June... NOW! And, honestly, one little "eek" - I have to knit samples of everything for the classes. And because I "sell" these classes on the strength of the samples, they have to be PERFECT and interesting and only use yarns from the store (of course!).

If anyone has suggestions for what might make good summertime knitting projects that would be teachable in a 3 or 4-hour class, please let me know! I've got a few ideas - how do these sound?

1. Summer camp set of washcloth and soap bag (one 3-hour class)
   
2. Summer "sock series" where each step (ha ha) is taught weekly, (four 2-hour classes)
3. Introduction to lace (probably a washcloth or scarf, one 3-hour class)
4. Knitting 201 - "thinking outside the square" - shaping techniques (I need a project for that, or could swatches work?)

More ideas would be cool. The funny thing is, in order to teach these things in some cases I will need to learn them myself! Which is all to the good, really... anything that improves my skills is a Good Thing.

And now, I have samples to knit. For tomorrow. Hey, there's another class: "How to knit to a deadline!"

Not so good, Al...

So today was exam day, and well... I choked. Not from lack of study as I'd feared but more from overstudying... everything ran together in my head and I couldn't make any sense of it. Damn. Not how I wanted to end the semester but I'm not going to beat myself up over it - it's only school after all, which is supposed to be for my own edification and enjoyment. C'est la vie. And now I can give Yumi back her books. *grin*

The day wasn't a total loss however - I finished mom's second sock and dug my Tequila Sunrise socks out of the WIP bin - first TS sock now past the heel:

I also made two chocolate cakes and a batch of black-forest-style cupcakes (I took a picture of one cake, but it came out blurry, so no cake pictures). Tonight we had Dad's birthday party - he's 60, I still can't wrap my head around that one! Food and fun and I bring the dessert. I'm sensing a pattern to our social life, lately... ah well. The girls (cats) were not at all impressed that we were going out AGAIN for the evening. Squeeky was most annoyed at having to interrupt her nap so I could sit on the bed to get dressed:

And poor old Moosh was just confused because her dinner schedule was screwed up:
You'll notice the girls are messy eaters. Keeping up with cat-food crumbs is a daily chore, I'm afraid. Ah well, they give back in love. Have I mentioned that I never liked cats much before we inherited these two? It's true. But - when someone needs you, you gain an inexplicable affection for them. Or at least the urge to keep them quiet. ;p

Tomorrow is Sunday - JOY!. We have a few minor house-chores planned and then I need to do some knitting for work (how cool is that? I'm loving that concept!) and general get-ready-for-the-week-ahead stuff. It's going to be a busy one in the evenings so I need to get the house / food in order tomorrow so we can keep things running smoothly. Plus, there's a rumour of THREE back-to-back playoff hockey games tomorrow. I don't even care who's playing, that's a helluvalot of knitting time!

Procrastiknitting

Or, how I nearly completed a sock today when I should have been studying (*cringe*). I slept late, made a mountain of pancakes (Peter was home today, too), and dove into the rest of the Roman satires I had to read for my class. You know, I always thought satire was - funny. These, not so much. In fact I fell asleep several times reading Juvenal. But I did finish them all... although in honesty I doubt I will retain a word of it. Fortunately that's only a small part of the exam.

Then, after a deep-fried lunch (Peter really REALLY loves the deep fryer I got him for his birthday), we watched "Patton" on tv. That's a 3.5 hour movie on the AMC channel. That's a LOT of knitting time. Got to within half an inch of the toe decrease on mom's second sock, and put another foot or so on the Wedding Afghan. Also noodling around with my next design (!) for class, because I talked to the coordinator last night and I need to provide samples within the next week. I know what I want it to look like, I just have to figure out how to do it. That will be Sunday, probably most of the day between laundry loads.

And now it's nearly 8 and to be honest, I'm tired. Sit-on-butt days which should be restorative somehow leave me more drained than active days. The upside is, I'm still in my pyjamas from this morning so I can just fall back into bed. And the exam isn't until 2 tomorrow afternoon so I can sleep in again. :) Because really, if I don't know it by now, cramming in the morning isn't going to help. I just have to rely on my combined powers of recall and bulls*** to get me through.

Even the internet gives me an A-

Just found this on someone's blog, so tried it out. A-minus. Crap. Got an A-minus on my first semester paper too. Dunno about 2nd semester. A-minus on exam would be good, all things considered. Ok, stop blogging and go to bed.

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Better late than never...

Ok, so I didn't get to this on Monday. I was studying! I've been studying all week to prepare for my Greek/Roman lit. exam on Saturday, but tonight I'm taking a sanity break and catching up on knitblogging.

Remember I told you Peter found a llama farm/wool shop? He took me there on Saturday. This is what I got:It's called "Mainly Mohair", and is a 70% Mohair/30% Merino wool blend in a luscious pale green that does not show up well in this picture at all. (I really REALLY need a better camera). 380 yards, comes with a pattern for a rib scarf on 6mm needles, the weight is about a worsted. Slick and soft. I'm thinking something lacy... dunno. Maybe one of Alison's patterns, once I get her book this summer.

The farm/shop is called Hidden Touch Natural Yarns. They have gorgeous natural alpaca yarn in a variety of weights, mohair, blends, kits, hand-dyed, and also sell hand-knit socks and mitts and things. I met the handknitter, absolutely charming lady who was making thrummed mitts. I will have to get a thrummed mit kit in the future. I will also have to get some of the alpaca sock yarn in the yummy natural dark brown appropriately called "truffle." We did not visit with the fuzzies (they have llamas, goats and alpacas on the farm) because we were heading to my parents' place but I was absolutely stunned at the selection of goodies. And considering the size of the operation and quality of product, the prices are reasonable - that ball of "Mainly Mohair" was $34 (CDN). Not at all out of line, to my way of thinking.

Anyway, that was our little adventure. I am planning to go back soon to get a small something to send to my Secret Pal - I'm making up a package for her of all-Canadian goodies, since she's in another country. Have to make a good impression, right?

Ok, now I need to go have a bath and then to bed. Much MUCH reading to do tomorrow and I need to bake a cake for Dad's birthday party on Saturday. Goodnight, good people!

Monday midday mini-post: movie review

Happy Easter Monday!

I'm back in the office today and needed a little brain break, so here's a quick review of The Pursuit of Happyness, which we watched last night. In short: didn't like it. Depressing, sad, morose movie. And though you know that things will get better (you saw the commercial, right?), they don't until about the last three minutes of the movie. And then, it feels so artificial and predictable. Bleah.

Now, normally I like Will Smith as an actor, but here he is playing essentially himself - a man who works hard to provide for his son, whom he loves. The love for the son is the core of the movie - and sorry, it ain't acting! It's just him and his son. Meh. Not impressive, really. And the whole thing just sucks you lower and lower into despair along with him... it's emotionally manipulative, and I don't care for that in movies. Sandy cried through half of it. I just felt angry.

One bright point though - the real Chris Gardner makes a cameo and I spotted him correctly. Yay me. But overall, unless you feel the need to feel either (A) better about yourself, or (B) guilty as hell for the joy in your life by witnessing someone else's misery, I'd pass on this movie.

Review of the llama-farm-store tonight. Have a good rest of the day!

Easter Sunday WIPs

No knitting today - no time! This weekend has been crazy-busy but very pleasant too. Here's a recap:

Friday - up early and tore into the walk-in closet. Everything out, about 1/2 of it (and some other things) back in. Closet is actually walk-in-able now - heck, we could comfortably seat four around a small table in there. Nice! And, contents are 90% clothing or clothing-related items. This is Good. Of course, that means that the Other Stuff that came out is strewn around the living room, dining room, etc. but we're working away on that. Oh, and baked a batch of Amish bread rolls, a carrot cake, and gingersnaps. Closet took most of the day, quick shower and then over to Bundy & Kid's for...

Friday night - dinner (BundyBundles, aka chicken cordon bleu) with Yumi's Sunshine Carrots and rice and my homemade bread rolls and carrot cake, with gingersnaps for snacking. Watched Trailer Park Boys: the Movie - freaking hilarious but, well, full of profanity and sex and drugs and drinking... well, we loved it, it was entertaining. "Bacon, bacon, bacon!" Knit on mom's sock and the wedding afghan.

Saturday - up early again, finished off (most) of the closet stuff and some other tidying, then over to Mom & Dad's for tv-golf, Eragon movie, and the Habs vs. Leafs game. Eragon was a fun little fantasy-type movie, dragons and heroes and bad guys, etc. A pretty blatant Star Wars rip-off in terms of plotline, actually, but the reliable evilness of John Malkovich as the king and Robert Carlyle as his wizard-henchman made it fun. And, of course, Jeremy Irons in the Obi-Wan Kenobi/mentor role. Jeremy Irons, wow I love him.

Chicken wraps and salad for dinner, along with more of my gingersnaps and carrot cake (hint: if you're spending the weekend visiting people, make stuff in big batches that divide easily!) The hockey game was a nailbiter from start to finish - sadly, our Habs couldn't pull out the win and are now out of the playoffs. Boo. Knit on the wedding afghan and the Wednesday's Cardigan. Got home VERY late and fell into bed with excruciating backache - combination of all that cleaning/lugging of stuff and a less-than-optimal tv-watching couch at the folks' place.

Sunday - slept in to (woohoo!) 8:30 and then over to Sandy & Dan's for Easter Dim Sum breakfast. Everyone's feeding us this weekend! Back still aching so home for a chair-nap after breakfast; caught Amadeus on the History channel and dozed off and on through that whilst Peter went back to B&K's to pick up the futon and install the taps we didn't get to on Friday. Then more baking, which lead to:
On the left: raspberry-ginger chocolate tarts. On the right: from-scratch lemon meringue pie. Both favourites of Sandy & Dan, who are feeding us dinner in about an hour. Turkey with all the fixin's. Mmm. Then after an early dinner we're coming back home to watch The Pursuit of Happyness and fall into bed, because I have to work tomorrow, unfortunately. But it's been a really great weekend!

EDIT: Forgot to tell you about the side-trip to the llama farm and wool shop on Saturday. But, it deserves its own post and I left my goodies in the car so - tomorrow, ok?

Easter Weekend WIPs

Why on earth, you may well wonder, am I up and blogging at 7:43 a.m. on Good Friday morning? Well, I had planned to get up eight-ish and do some spring cleaning and baking but Squeeky decided I needed to wake up earlier. She decided this by using my face as a launching pad to jump up on the headboard - ever been woken by a cat's back nails dragging across your (closed) eyes? Not fun. Fortunately no damage other than a first-skin-layer scratch (yes, I cleaned it and put Polysporin on it right away). But since I was up anyway... here's what I'm working on (other than housecleaning and visits) this weekend:

You could call this the small, medium, large, extra large approach to knitting! First up, Mom's mother's day socks (#2 woohoo!), in Fleece Artist Nova Sock, on 2.25 mm needles. Cast this one on Wednesday night and got nearly to end of the ribbing, then got a couple inches of leg done whilst at the Yarn Forward sit'n'knit yesterday afternoon/evening. Hi Yvonne! Yvonne was there, also making Fleece Artist socks, using Magic Loop - it looks neat, I may have to learn that eventually.
Then we have Crunchy Granola Hat - child size prototype - in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton on 6mm needles. The pattern does seem to work as well in cotton as it does in acrylic and wool and hemp - of course, I don't like knitting cotton as much but because this is a loose gauge it's not too hard on the hands. To make it kid-size I've cut the cast-on stitches by half and am reducing the pattern repeats by half before starting the decreases. I think that should work. Cute in pink, no?
Third, I finally - finally! - got the ribbing/increase figured out for the Wednesday's Cardigan. Here's about 1/3 of a sleeve (which, incidentally, is most of a ball of yarn). Patons Rumor on 7mm needles. This is going to be SO warm and soft to wear in the office over t-shirts and golf shirts this summer. And not just on Wednesday, either!


And last but most huge, the Wedding Afghan. (N8an if you're reading this, try to act surprised when I give it to you guys!). This is one strand Patons Shetland Chunky and two strands Patons Divine held together, knit on 15mm needles. One. Stitch. To. The. Inch. It takes four balls of each for the pattern and I'm now into the 2nd ball of each. I can say one thing, a person would never be cold with this thrown over them! Which of course makes me want to get'er done while we're still having our cold-ish spell. I don't want to be knitting this when it's more than 10 degrees (celsius) above zero!


So my plan for the weekend is to rotate among these projects and maybe get a couple of things finished. We've got double-feature movie night tonight at B&K's, then Masters golf on TV, another movie, and a hockey game at mom & dad's tomorrow afternoon/evening. Lots and lots of knitting time. Which leaves today and Sunday for chores - ample time for an attack on the walk-in closet/clothing storage area of our bedroom and a seasonal changeover on the front porch. And then next week, I have to be good and study for my Greek/Roman lit. exam in the evenings, which means limited knitting time (an hour a night, max). So I'd better get off my tuckus and get rolling here!

Have a great long weekend everyone!

Hats galore!

Wow, what a great response I've had from people who want to try knitting my silly little hippie hat. :) I've been trying to keep up with emails but so busy at work this week I'm just dead when I get home.

Tonight we watched "The Good Shepherd" - great flick, a little confusing in spots but really solid acting and good writing. I'm starting to like Matt Damon now that he does movies without that retard Ben Affleck! LONG movie though. LONG.

Sorry, hat stuff. Right! Here's the pattern in full, it seems to be bug-free enough for general consumption. Share and enjoy! If you do make it please drop me a comment so I can come see how yours looks!

"Crunchy Granola-Eating Hippie Hat"

© 2006 by Kathy Thurber

Materials:

Approx. 120m worsted weight yarn

6mm straight knitting needles

Darning needle (yarn needle)

Size/gauge:

To fit average adult head – gauge is not essential to this project.

Instructions:

Cast on 84 stitches.

Row 1: *K2, P2 (repeat from * to end of row).

Repeat Row 1 five more times (total six rows of K2P2 ribbing).

Begin Pattern Stitch:

1. Knit 4 rows garter stitch (knit every stitch).
2. Knit 1 row double-wrap garter stitch (wrap yarn twice on every stitch).
3. On following row, knit only one loop of each stitch, dropping the extra wrap.
4. Knit 3 rows garter stitch (knit every stitch).
5. Repeat steps 2-4.

Repeat Pattern Stitch 4 times (20 rows Pattern Stitch).

Knit 3 rows garter stitch.

Decrease Row #1: K4, *K2Tog, K4. (repeat from * to end of row) – 70 stitches remaining.

Repeat Pattern Stitch steps 2-4 once.

Decrease Row #2: K3, *K2Tog, K3. (repeat from * to end of row) – 56 stitches remaining.

Repeat Pattern Stitch steps 2-4 once.

Decrease Row #3: *K2, K2Tog. (repeat from * to end of row) – 42 stitches remaining.

Repeat Pattern Stitch steps 2-4 once.

Decrease Row #4: *K1, K2Tog. (repeat from * to end of row) – 28 stitches remaining.

Decrease Row #5: K2Tog across the row – 14 stitches remaining.

Break yarn, leaving long tail. Draw through remaining stitches and pull tight to close crown, then sew seam.

Note: Revised 04/01/07 to correct errors in pattern.