Little Hats for Little Fellas/Yarn Porn

I don't have much time for knitting these days but make good use of what I do have. This tiny cap is for my friend Leah's first grandchild born last week, a boy named Charles. I used the softest camel/wool yarn (bouton d'or Ksar) and a tiny bit of acrylic for the blue stripe. What looks like an orange stripe is straight-up camel beige! I'm pretty proud of it, and it just might be a hat to get him through this whole first winter!

Then there is the hat I knitted for a little guy named Chance, who is about to become a big brother. It's black and cream, a great stripe combo for a blondie such as this fella. The day after I gave the little packet to his father (I work with Steven) , I found in my mailbox at school a small envelope with very capital letters in that most confident yet newbie way that kids have, but even then I did not know who had given it to me. Opened it up to find . . . a thank-you card from Chance, written in that same block capital printing, saying he liked his new hat. Awwwwww! (His parents are raising a rare boy! Come to think of it, the baby about to debut is also a boy! Two of them! Imagine.)

I happened to see him and his daddy today at the Div. IV girls' volleyball state championship games (we lost :^( bummer! bum ref, more like) , and Chance smiled a huge smile and hugged me, thanking me for the hat. Awwwwww! There's a kid who knows how to ensure he gets future knitted hats! And I will always be trying most sensitively to knit something stylish, no matter the age.

On another topic . . .
I am really looking forward to the Christmas holidays when I will be able to spend long stretches talking with my girls (two of them home after a long absence!) and having a knitting fest. Two of the three girls knit but (both in college) they say they don't get any time for that when school is in session. Like mother, like daughter!

(Don't) Hide Your Eyes! YARN PORN ALERT!

First up, some Ella Rae silk I bought on the internet. Don't have a plan for it but there is probably enough for a summer shell. MMMMm!




Next is some lovely textured yarn I bought from granolayarns in beautiful Miamisburg Ohio, just over the (Heinecke) hill from my childhood home in West Carrollton. Here is some soft blue O-wool that I hope to make into a felted chapeau for someone special.













Then I fell for this Earl Grey and green tea-dyed yarn carried in the same shop, which is a lovelier light beige than this photo rendering. Granolayarns said she gets it from Spun Monkey, who also dyes wool with coffee--darker and also lovely!) but that it's not easy to get shipments because the fiber artist wants to avoid burning fossil fuels to get her products to market. Laudable. She is probably selling just fine at the local markets and craft fairs. But it's our loss! I did just check out Spun Monkey's own webpage and she'll be in San Francisco at the Bazaar Bizarre on 12/15! Enticing!