A Surprise FO!

Between the scarf that's practically as tall as I am, and the stockinette vest that won't end, I was ready this weekend for a QUICK KNIT. A little stash diving and a few hours of knitting on the porch yielded the following:

(Click to see the hat on my head.)

This hat is also entry #2 on my list of ridiculous hats I've made. (The kittyville hat, in barbie-pink acrylic, was the first.) This is from the book Hip to Knit, and it marks at least the fourth pattern I've made from this book. My sister was flipping through the book when I was home last and asked me to make her one, in a periwinkle to match her coat. I think she'll get a real kick out of it.

The pattern calls for Weekend Waterspun, but I rejiggered the pattern so I could use 3 balls of Schoeller Esslinger Sunshine, which is 80% virgin wool with 20% polyamid to give it some shimmer. Color 08-Morning Blue. I bought it from elann.com several months ago, and this hat cost about $10 in materials. Woohoo!

This hat also reaffirmed for me that I really like doing cables. I love the way that you can see your progress chug-chug along! I'm going to have to investigate more cable-y options.

I also finished 6 more repeats on the neckband for Audrey. I'm now up to 20, and it looks like I may need 2 or 3 more. Most of the other people have used 19 or 20, so I'll wait until I actually do the seaming to finish.

Finally - a mystery! I went to pull out Latifa yesterday afternoon, and one of the needles has gone missing! I even cleaned out the entire stitching basket to look for it (no small feat). Please, if you see a bamboo US3 wandering the streets, looking lonely and askance, sent it home. Its mate is very sad and forlorn.