knitted hat

Happy Sunday YOPers! Hope you all are doing well and if you’re in Texas and are affected by the apocalyptic snowstorm that you’re at the very least, warm, dry, fed and safe today.

While I had snow in my area the week past, it was what us East Coasters are used to this time of year. The snowfall, some tea, soup and Girl Scout cookie treats made the perfect backdrop on the snowy days for cozy knitting after work. I’m still continuing to go through the Hope Holders hat knitting portion of my Sigma 21 list. The current project is for my friend TJ. She’s another person who I could not have made it through 2020 without so my current project is a token of thanks. Her favorite color is green and as a Baylor University grad, green has an even firmer place in her heart (the school’s colors are green and gold). It took me some time to find the perfect shade of green for her coloring but it was worth the search. I faked her out in a text conversation — talked ad nauseam about my “friend” who loved green and wondered if she would like the shade. She totally verified that any green loving person would love the shade because in her words, the colorway is “exquisite”. I can’t wait for her reaction when she gets the hat in the mail.

The pattern I picked for her is Gather from Tincan Knits. The word gather means — “to come together; assemble or accumulate”. By itself, as a meaning, it doesn’t say as much as it could but in the context of 2020 and my experiences in that year, she was one of the people who came together, assembled themselves to provide me with a level of support I had no idea I’d get but absolutely needed. This project is being made with love and immense gratitude for who she is as a friend, a colleague who helped me stay afloat, the Shawn to my Gus (for all you Psych fans out there) and my faith sister.

The pic shows the project after the ribbing then the first two of an 8 row repeat. Her hat size recommends five repeats but I’m not sure yet if it’s necessary to do all five. I finished two more repeats while virtual “knit nighting” with my friend A from NightOwl Handcrafts yesterday so all that’s left is to measure it to see if I need to do another repeat or if it’s time to start the decreases. This should be finished today, then a slight wet block then mailed on Wednesday.

Project Details:

Pattern: Gather (this link leads to Ravelry. Please note that the new interface has caused accessibility issues for some users).
Designer: Tincan Knits
Yarn: MadelineTosh Vintage in Malmo (This link leads to the Jimmy Beans website. I’m not an affiliate or ambassador, this is just where I bought the colorway from.)

After I’m done with this project today, I’m taking a bit of a hat break to crank out this beauty for my friend Laurie who’s birthday is on the 27th. With 90 yds of Malabrigo Rasta on size 13 needles, I’ll absolutely finish this today for mailing on Wednesday too.

Cheers for a great week for all of you. ❤

This is a quick post today because I’m commuting to the city for work then racing back to get home before noon so I can run payroll — I need to pay myself … right?!!!! LOL!

Crafting:

My crochet throw/blanket is in timeout for now. It didn’t do anything wrong but I’m on a hat knitting binge right now. Three members of my executive team and a senior director really had my back in 2020 when I needed some extra support. I thought of buying them gifts but decided that some handmade love would be so much better. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, it’ll be hats, hats and more hats for the next couple of weeks because I gave myself until February 23rd to get them done so I can mail them all on the 24th. I’m using scrummy yarn so you’ll have something pretty to look at while I overload you with hats! LOL!

One of my coworkers gifted me some wine (you can read the story of that person here) so as a thank you, I made him a hat. I’ll be dropping it off at work today, I hope he likes it.

Project Details:

Pattern: Ribbed Watchman’s Hat (this link leads to Ravelry. Please note that the new interface has caused accessibility issues for some users).
Yarn: MadelineTosh Chunky in colorway Tart (yarn base discontinued)

Reading:

I’m still reading The Water Dancer (blogged here). I’m used to Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ non-fiction style so his fiction voice is throwing me off a bit. The story is an interesting read so I’m taking my time with it before I decide if I like it or not.

As a sort of palette cleanser, I read one of my favourite books — Maya Angelou’s “Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now”. My oldest copy I got in 1995 from a friend and I read this book EVERY YEAR since! My absolute favourite story in this book of shorts is “New Directions”. It’s a story of resilience and starting from where you are, no matter your age. It focuses on the aged old premise that its not how you start but how you finish. My copy of this book is well loved and once again, it hit the spot where content was concerned and an extra boost of inspiration welcomed.