Hats!

Now let me just preface this post by saying that I love Ben but something he's just plain wrong.  Like when he tells me that a day playing in the snow is not the perfect opportunity to break out all our new hand knit items.

Um, snow days in the mountains are made for hand knits, am I right?

First up, C's new cat hat.  Now we all know that C has a long-standing cat obsession.  Over the years I've made her not one, but two cat dresses.  She's had cat jewelry, cat shoes, cat tights and now she can add a cat hat to the mix.  The pattern is free and is really the simplest pattern to knit.  It's written for an adult, but can be easily customized for a smaller head.  I think I cast on 84 stitches (instead of 88) and knit until the hat was about 7 inches long.  The hat essentially a square that is given shape by a small stitch on each "ear" and by the top of  your head filling out the top of the hat.  Because of that, be sure not to knit the hat too big because it's shape is less cat-like without your head filling out the top (I learned this the hard way).  The yarn is Amherst merino and is leftover from my Bloomsbury sweater.  I ended up with two leftover balls of yarn, which of course means that O also got a matching cat hat.

And if the kids each get a new hat, well, it's only fair that I get one too.  Mine is the extra-slouchy version of the Sixteen Cable Hat, with an added cable thrown in at the end.  I was super-lazy in making this hat and didn't swatch when I should have, so it's a bit looser around my head than I would have preferred but I still love it and it's definitely been getting a lot of wear over the last couple of weeks.  The yarn is Broomfield, a merino and silk blend put out by Webs.  It's lovely to knit with and lovely to wear and it seems to be holding up well.

And now, folks, we are officially ready for the cold weather!