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Ok, so I’m knitting again, at least taking baby steps in the right direction. I promised my cousin Diane a felted brimmed hat like this one: Genny’s Hat. Diane has requested a teal hat, so I’m combining two strands of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, combining one strand of the color “Stream” and one strand of “Winter Night”. It’s making a lovely deep teal. At first I was concerned that the color wouldn’t be right at all, but now I’m loving it! Let’s hope that Diane does, too. It feels good to be kniting again.

More later…

Hi all… I’m starting my new year’s entry on a sad note. The reason why I haven’t posted since Thanksgiving is that, less than a week later, I experienced the loss of my father, Bryan Humphrey, after a bout with invasive sqaemous cell carcinoma. To those of us who loved him, the loss occurred very quickly, but for him, each day was painful and torturous, so though I am very sad, I am glad he is relieved of his suffering. Suffer, he did. A lot.

And so my knitting has suffered as well. Not that my father would have wanted me to stop knitting. But during the last weeks and months of his life, I made several long trips in the car to visit with him, and always had my knitting with me. I knitted, too, by his bedside as we talked, or while he slept, or while he listened to me yammer on about my kids, my job, just about anything. But at the moment, since his passing, I am finding it hard to knit. I hope to be back among the bloggers with news of my projects again soon, but until then, thanks, as always, for your love and support.

This photo is of Dad and I dancing at my brother Michael’s wedding in October of 2000. This was a good day. I love you, Dad, and may you be at peace.

Well, here it is… Diana’s felted hat completed. It has a zigzag cabled hat band and a butterfly pin that I found at Gracemate Jewelry. I hope Diana likes it! She’s at my mom’s house, helping with preparations for the Thanksgiving feast, so I’m planning to bring it over and surprise her with it. I may even cast on for my next hat before leaving for my mom’s house, so I’ll have a project to work on while there. Can’t decide whether it’s going to be another felted hat (I have a long list of family and friends who now want one) or the KnitPicks Long Winter’s Nap hat for me. Guess I’d better decide quickly, as we’ll be leaving pretty soon! Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate, and may you have many things to be thankful for.

Well, hello all… sorry I haven’t written in weeks but I vowed this morning not to let a whole month go by, so here I am! Let’s see if I can get caught up on all that is happening in my knitting world.

First, as you can see, I did finish the scarf for my friend Carrie, and in the nick of time! I think I wove in the last end just an hour prior to her arrival. It’s made from purple shades of Lion Brand Suede and Lion Brand Color Waves, and overall, I’m happy with the results! I’m still not a fluffy-scarf-on-big-needles girl, but once in a while, a quick project is a good thing!

The Best Bag Ever

A few weeks ago there was a lovely woman setting up a vending table in the lobby of my office building and she was setting out purses galore. I had my eye on a hot pink handbag for some reason, and was sorely tempted for a brief few minutes. (Who, me? I don’t carry a purse, really.) And then she brought out… THIS… BAG. Since I happened to be carrying along a big project that day, jammed into a too-small tote, I saw the possibilities immediately. It’s leather, lined on the inside, and unbelievably roomy!! My projects fit in it very nicely! It even has zippered pockets on the sides for smaller doo-dads so they don’t get lost, and a zippered closure at the top, which is good since I’m prone to dumping my project bag on a regular basis. And the price was great too! Yes, this is bag nirvana.

Diana’s New Hat

My lovely daughter, Diana, decided last year that she wanted a “grown up” hat made from my favorite pattern, Fiber Trends AC-1. I love this pattern because it goes quickly and looks like a lot of work when it isn’t!! I’m making it with KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, which I’ve never done before, so I guess I’ll find out soon how well it felts! When finished I will also add a light pink hat band and finish it off with a lovely multi-colored butterfly pin. Yes, I’m hoping this will be a thing of beauty. It was Diana’s idea, by the way, to “model” the hat for the picture… I’m glad she’s getting our own warped sense of humor at such an early age!

And here is a photo of the hat in progress as of this morning. I have futzed with the size and numbers of stitches called for in the pattern since the full-sized adult hat is a wee bit big for Diana yet. So far I think the shaping is nice and I’m hopeful that if it does felt well, we’ll have a lovely new hat! Wish me luck!

By the way, for those of you who might be wondering, I decided not to post a photo of the poncho in progress this time, because despite the fact that I am still busily working on it, it still looks very much the same in all of its pictures. Maybe by the end of the week there will be enough of a difference to post about.

This is Genny! She’s my cousin from “Heidy-Ho,” as she calls it. Almost two years ago I showed her a picture of my purple hat, and she asked me to make her one. Well, it was about 9 or 10 months later before she actually had it, but I did it! And I finally got the photo in the mail today. And doesn’t she look lovely? You can’t see it in the photo, but the hat has a plaited cable hat band made with ivory colored lopi. (Here’s a photo of the hat band in progress.) So pretty! This is my most favorite hat I’ve made to date. I used Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride in two shades of medium brown, and the Fiber Trends AC-1 hat pattern. I love this pattern because it’s super-easy and the hats are versatile and easy to embellish and folks think it’s very fussy and fancy! My next one will be a bright pink smaller version for my daughter, with a garter stitch hat band and rainbow butterfly pin. Sweet!

Will I Be Done in Time?

Ok, the purple scarf is getting longer, but time is getting short! I decided since the last time I wrote that this scarf would go to my buddy Carrie, who is as passionate about purple as I am. Carrie lives in Denver, but this week, she’s HERE! And we’re getting together at my house on Saturday. Yay! I am knitting as fast as I can so the scarf will be done in time!

Poncho Update

Here’s the latest pic:

Round and Round and Round she goes… where she stops… sigh. It is a bit bigger, isn’t it? Some weeks it doesn’t feel like it. I can’t wait until the day when it is finally done and Alison can wear this beautiful poncho. Til then, I am knitting away! This week I demonstrated the technique of cabling without a cable needle to a coworker who was watching me knit at lunch time. She said she had no idea something that looks so hard could really be so easy. She’s a brand new knitter and I will have loads of fun showing her the world of knitting during our wintertime lunch hour in the conference room.