Finally

Here we go. I've promised Irene's hat and I will deliver.



This is the hat itself, and boy, what a fiasco. This puppy really morphed from the original plans so very much. To date, this is probably the project that I changed and frogged the most ever. That is, of projects that actually exist. Meaning, of course, that there could be others that gave me as much trouble but they never truly achieved completion, if you know what I mean. Good example: I frogged back four times and then never cast back on again. That type of thing. Clearly, Irene really wanted this hat, or I would have succumbed to the almost inevitable. Frustration, frogging--repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Frog again. Cut up into teeny, tiny pieces with my Food Chopper. Flush down toilet. Luckily, it was only almost inevitable. And Irene really wanted that hat.

Here's the set, mittens & hat:



I really wanted to add some ear flaps, but Irene does not want them at all, all of a sudden. Poor little flapless hat. The deal is that as long as her ears are covered and stay warm (and the hat stays ON) she can have it without flaps. Is six too early to stop wearing things your mom makes you because they're too dorky? Please, no. Please, please, no. Plus, what's wrong with ear flaps?

I even think that she's striking an evil-looking pose to spite me. As in, "Mom, don't make me pose for another knitting blog picture...it's so em-BARR-assing". Really, she's only six. I may not survive the teen years at all...

Yesterday I tried out the Harlot's Unoriginal Hat pattern with Rowan Big Wool, and I'm liking it. Not sure it will have the give that I'm looking for, though. It's a bit stiff. Boy, it's quick. She was not kidding a bit.



Oh, and here's my yarn news:

I was looking online at WEBS and feeling just overwhelmed by the selection (and prices--they're great!) and wishing so badly that I could see what was there. Virtual shopping for yarn is tough, unless you've had experience with a particular yarn. I mean, how can you tell how it'll feel, how thick or thin it really is, or what the colors truly look like? And I don't have much around here to go and actually touch, so I feel lost on the Webs website. It's tough.

So I'm looking around and trying to process all the brands and the costs and the gauges and recommended needle sizes. Wow. I'm about to give up and I'm cursing the lucky bastards who live near this store and could go and see it all in person. Seriously, how lucky are they?! Before I just logout of my computer, I decide to see where the place is, because then I can actually mutter under my breath about a particular area. And that's really much more gratifying, wouldn't you agree?

Well, turns out Webs is in New England. Yeah. It's in Massachusetts. Um...what's that? It's only two hours away. Oh, yeah. I peek at a map and discover that if I go and visit my parents, I'd be just about an hour away. I let this news sink in.

And then I start to scheme. (insert maniacal laughter here)

Long story short, I end up there a handful of days after I discover it's location. And I really enjoyed it. Sadly, I was with my sister and my mom (which in and of it self--NOT sad--we had fun), and they are not really of the fiber-minded, if you will. Much of the magic of the words "Rowan" or "Cashmerino" combined with the word "clearance" was lost on them. As for me, the magic was not lost. Like a kid in a candy store, my friends. A very BIG candy store. And it was awesome.

I set my sister Ann up in the pattern book/magazine section to look for a sweater she'd like for my niece. Mom helps her. I start to drool wander around. Of course I'm touching and fondling all the pretty yarns that I've never seen before in real life, and there's just so much of it. There's a little sale section in the back, and I'm thinking that it looked like a lot more on sale online, and it doesn't really make sense. I sadly realize that it must have sold out or whatever, and I am still thrilled, because the place rocks.

Ann finds a whole other section next to the books (like more than I've ever seen anywhere but Borders) and it's all huge binders filled with patterns to buy separately. I didn't know this existed, and clearly I need to find more LYS's because I am hurting, people. She chooses a pullover pattern, finally, and goes to get someone to give her a copy of the pattern she wants. Actually, in all honestly, she chose TWO. Really. One for Christmas, and one for next year. Laughing my butt off about that one, but I love it. So this sweet gal comes over to tell us that all we have to do is go into the like 13 file cabinets over here and help ourselves to the patterns! I hadn't even wandered over to that side of the store yet, but I'm getting excited to keep movin'.

I talk with our helper elf for a little bit about yarn substitutions, and that's when Ann and Mom start to glaze over a bit. They're telling her how they have no idea about gauge, plies, needle sizes, swatching "any of that stuff", and how I'm the one who knits. Then about how we've never been here and I'm coming from Rhode Island, etc. She gets excited and asks if I'd like...a tour. Would I? Um, yuh. She tell me about the different areas, where the books are, sock world, and all of that. And she points out that little sale area I saw before. We ask about the Big Wool, because we saw it online. Did it sell out? "Oh no," she says,"--that's in the back". The back? "Oh," she says, "you don't know about the warehouse?" (eyes bug out a little, pulse starts to race...) My voice gets all serious, "Can I go back there?" Our sweet elf helper laughs.

So the warehouse in the back isn't just stock for the store. Oh, no. It's a whole other store in and of itself. Yeah. Take that one in. So she shows us to the back and it's like aisle and aisles of candy beautiful yarn on mega-clearance. She explains how it works, where stuff is, etc. She offers one last word of warning, that we should keep an eye on our watches, because it's a bit of a time warp back here (in the warehouse). And they close at five. Oh! It must be later than I thought! What time is it? She says, "It's about three". Now I laugh, not realizing of course, how incredibly fast the two hours will go by while we poke around back here.

All right, warning given, she heads back to the storefront. I say, "Oh my God, I'm SO excited!" Well, sort of.

I actually start clapping my hands like a child in a candy store. And I begin jumping up and down like a...well, let's face it, a crazy person. And THEN I say that I'm so excited. Yeah. Mom and Ann kind of wigged. But I had a lot of fun. And I found so much stuff that I really wanted, but I didn't need. I tried my best to be reasonable and resist. We were on a mission to get yarn for a sweater for my niece Holli, and that's what I had to focus on.

Here's what I returned with:



Ann bought the pattern she wanted for next year, and the book with the pattern for this year's sweater. How nice is she? Isn't that awesome! So I bought the yarn for the sweater...Valley Farms Sugarloaf in pink and green.



I chose some Regia Silk sock yarn from the warehouse.



I was kind of thinking the Regia was for me. Ann and my Mom sort of figured it was for Bri, though, and I felt like a schmuck to say I wanted it for myself. So we'll SAY it's for Brian's socks.

And then we were only $10 away from the discount, because the clearance stuff doesn't count toward the $60, which I knew. It turns out that the books and patterns don't, either, so...



...I HAD to buy this Shibui Knits sock yarn, too. To get the discount, of course!

Gosh, did I have fun. The store was so much more amazing that I'd even considered hoping. When I got home, I told Brian all about it, and he was really pretty excited. He wants to go, too. Ahh, job done. Plus, I told him about all the Big Wool (one of my faves) and how cheap it was and how I wanted to just scoop it all up and take it home, just in case... And he said, "Oh, why didn't you?! That is SO cheap!" And that's why I love him.