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...