Proof of Life

Now this is supposed to be a knitting blog.  And yes, while real life is going to creep in here a fair bit, there hasn't been hardly any actual knitting news on this blog in years.  (ok, yes, I realize that the 3 year gap in posting also does not help, but even then the last bunch were about renovations and life... sorry...)

So I present to you: Proof of Knitted Life! Or why my hands hurt after New Years. 

As is customary for New Year's day, Andre and I spent it just kicking back with champagne/wine/martinis (thanks Louis)/beer and TV watching.  This gave me ample knitting time.  The results:

These WIP boot socks

Have now become these:

Recipient TBD.  Too big for me, but not by a lot.

For the last couple of years I've been harassing politely asking Andre if there was anything I could knit for him.  Then he lost his hat.  The request: new hat.  Simple.  Nothing fancy.  Ribbing apparently is fancy.  Black.  And must be soft.  And warm.

So, step 1 find wool.  A quick New Year's Eve yarn shopping excursion with my beloved sister-in-law found this at Yarn Forward on Bank St. 

Manos del Uraguay Silk blend.  70% merino 30% silk.  Soft? Check.  Warm?  Double check.  Black?  Well, very deep kettle dyed charcoal almost black.  But close enough to black to be Andre approved. 

And now for a pattern.  This was going to be tricky.  Poking through Ravelry I found Exeter.  It was perfect.  Ribbed to be stretchy and keep it snug.  And the decreasing at the crown was so clever.  And options for fold up brim.  But I wasn't sure it would pass Andre inspection.  There was fancy ribbing.  I wasn't sure if it was the desperate hopeful look in my eyes as I showed him the pattern, or just the fact that it's January in Ottawa and it's freezing cold and he really wants a hat now, but the pattern too became Andre approved. 

I printed the pattern, wound up the yarn, and after 2 movies I had a beautiful 6 inches or so done.  Lots to have Andre try it on. 




















And this is what it looks like now. 

It appears to be a combination of me getting something that might be considered gauge albeit not the gauge recommended for this project, with a large-ish sized pattern, and a husband with a far smaller head circumference than an average large-ish pattern, which resulted in a piece of knitting that would be better suited to keep warm the over-inflated egos of the local politicians rather than the ears of my beloved.

Switching the wine I was savoring to a stiff martini, it was off to the frog pond with the "hat".  

Once I've recovered from pulling out almost 3 hours of work it'll be down one needle size, and taking out 16 stitches, and starting over.  If that pair of mittens doesn't tempt me away first...