Mon Chapeau

Well, the purple Molly hat is all finished. I've never had a hat named for a sheep before. All in all, I love my new cap, for all its hearty, wooly goodness. And I realized with this project that hats are fabulously cinchy -- what took me so long to make one?

The handspun yarn I used charmed me to no end. I love its unique little imperfections, which I think give the hat character. There are a few rows of stitches where the dye is rather striated in the yarn and it creates a coolio effect. Then, the top of the hat is slightly a different color because the second ball of yarn I used was a bit more grapey.

I can't wait to take it up to the Lamby Locks store in Harrisville, Michigan, where I bought it so I can show the owner. And maybe I'll just have to buy more yarn that came from her sheep Molly.

I'm going to start on a little baby sweater for my friend, who just had her little guy this week. But that's for another post.

Straight to the Hips

Thanks to a post I read last week on LJC, I dashed off to Starbucks last Friday to try their new Chantico beverage. It's chocolate heaven, and I seriously had to keep myself in check lest I show the strength of my adoration for its sensual pleasures and embarass myself.

I liked it so much that when Scott set his cup down on the table and got all chit-chatty with the friend we were hanging out with, I stole his cup and surreptitiously finished his, too. He took it in good grace, assuring me that he wasn't yet finished with it but was still sipping it. I say, who can sip when gulping such deliciousness is ever so much more satisfactory?

On Saturday night, we went to dinner with Scott's family. Afterward, I suggested another jaunt to Starbucks, where I enjoyed another Chantico. I'm definitely going to have to watch myself on that.

Good news! I finished my cousin's scarf and posted it to her earlier this week. The lovely mademoiselle sent me a picture of herself modeling it, which I share here.

My First Hat

Last summer when Scott and I were up at his family's cottage on Lake Huron, I visited the little yarn shop I had discovered the summer before. The first time I visited, I was too shy about buying some of the owner's handspun and hand-dyed yarn, but not the second time.

The two skeins of purple wool I bought (that the shop owner had harvested from her own Tunis sheep named Molly) were just lovely, but I didn't know how I was going to use only two skeins. Enter a really cinchy hat pattern from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits.

I started the hat last weekend while taking the train to Chicago. I finished the ribbing, and only just started the stockinette this week. It should fly once I settle in and work on it. I'm just wishing now I had finished it sooner, what with all the single-digit and below-zero temps we've had around here lately.