Friendship hats

As of late, I am sensing a trend in the projects I've been working on. A number of my friends have been asking me for hats and other knitwear, and I am more than happy to oblige provided that they buy the yarn (and sometimes the pattern if I don't already have one). For me there is no joy like seeing a handmade item well-received and gladly worn by the recipient. The first one started with Scott and his request for an Antarctic beanie. I made a similar one for a friend of a friend at VIMS. Next came the hat I made for Chris, and in short order there were commissions from Joel and Chiho as well.

I met Chiho while I was in Victoria as we shared a hostel room, and we quickly became friends. Right before I left, I started the Turkish patterned hat. When Chiho came to visit me here in the States, she asked to see it. It was a classic case of love at first sight, and since I hadn't made the hat for anyone in particular, it found a home with her. That's her on the left, madly working a Su Doku puzzle and wearing her new hat. She was also quite taken with my DaveSpun (TM) tasseled hat and my Lopi earflap hat and commissioned me to make her one of each. I took her to the Knitting Sisters and let her pick out some yarn for a tasseled hat, and she found some lovely shades of Foliage in the 25% off bargain bin. Amazingly enough, I had my size 10 16" circulars available, so I cast on and got to knitting right away. I knew there was no way that I would have time to finish it before she left, but since I plan to visit her in Japan sometime in the foreseeable future, I'll just bring all the finished hats along with me then. Time to get knitting on all these projects... too many WIPs is a dangerous thing!

Recent acquisition

This past weekend I went up to Chicago to celebrate the fact that my friend Joel finally graduated! While I was there, we did the usual tourist stuff like hit the Field Museum and eat deep dish pizza. But he also posed the question, in a slightly offended tone, why hadn't I knit him anything yet? Well, I just hadn't gotten around to it, frankly. (You really were on my list, Joel!) And I'm kind of glad I didn't try to start a project for him because I knew I'd never be able to pick the colors he would have wanted, me with my chromatophobia and all.

So after our visit to the Field Museum, we went to a little shop called Loopy and browsed around for a while. I think they live up to their goal of being one of the friendliest yarn shops, and they had quite a decent selection of yarns, some of which I've only seen before in Canada. Nice to know there's a place that offers stuff I can't get here in VA. Joel's assignment was to pick a pattern for whatever items he wanted, those being a hat and scarf. He picked one of Lily Chin's reversible cable patterns and we then went in search of a sufficient quantity of appropriate yarn. Or rather, I made a fool of myself while Joel had a good laugh at my expense because I haven't been in a yarn store in ages. We finally decided on a sportweight yarn with an eye-gouging palette by Lorna's Laces. The hat will be a straightforward stocking cap, but I'm curious to see how cables and color will mix. However, I'm not allowed to start Joel's stuff until I finish my lace scarf, as I've run out of needles in the appropriate size. Soon...