My Brother's Superpower

I have always known that my brother had a gift. When it comes to cooking, he doesn't need a recipe and when he has one, he often finds a way to improve it. He is a gifted cook. My mom used to make fudge at the holidays but now my brother does it because of his gift. He never seems to make a bad batch. What is a bad batch of fudge? It is dry and crumbly and gritty. This is the only kind of fudge I have ever made. This year, my brother added caramels to his repertoire and that was his mistake. The caramels are perfect, just like the fudge. I am on to him. He is alter ego is Captain Sweet Tooth and desserts are his superpower.

Vacation!!!

Right now I am on vacation and I am taking full advantage of the knitting time. I just finished another Sockhead hat. I don't know when I started the hat but it was in progress and mentioned on the blog in September so it was probably started at the end of August or the beginning of September. I'm not quite sure what derailed the project but I am guessing stockinette boredom since I was near the end of the nine inches of stockinette that I needed to finish before I started the decreases. The hat is made in the Ice Cream Sandwich colorway of Crafts Meow's Soft Serve yarn that I picked up at Stitches Midwest several years ago. My camera had a hard time focusing on the project so I had to use a sort of bad photo but it was one of the few shots of the hat that was actually in focus!


I am currently working on a Hitchhiker for The KnitGirlls SAL/KAL but it is in timeout. I have a problem with sticking to larger projects all the way to the end. I tend to get bored and I either start a new project or I pick up an old WIP to work on. Right now I have 22 or 23 of the points finished so I am a little more than halfway finished. This is obviously not a current photo, but I'd rather include an old photo than have no photo.


In non-knitting news, I went to a holiday party earlier this week and had a wonderful time. One of my coworkers hosted the party at her house and I think that everyone had a nice time. I didn't take any photos but her house was lovely and all decorated for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I managed to get my Christmas cards in the mail before Christmas this year and I have all of my Christmas shopping finished so I should be in good shape for this weekend. My brother and sister-in-law are hosting Christmas dinner this year and I am looking forward to seeing them.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Yes, I pay to get disappointed. Wait, is that not normal?

Knitter, know thyself. That is the lesson that I learned from participating in the Fall in Full Color club this year. For those of you not familiar with a knitting club, you pay a lump sum and then (at least with this club) every month you get a pattern and yarn and it is a wonderful surprise that feels you with knitterly glee. Unless...yes, unless you are a knitter like me...a picky knitter. I have often said that I wouldn't join a club because I am so picky but I somehow thought I could change that and have a grand adventure and broaden my horizons. Not so much. I have enjoyed one pattern but I didn't want to use the yarn that came with it because is was a cable and textured pattern and a highly variegated yarn that somewhat obscured all of the cable and texture. I can appreciate several of the yarns that came in the club kits but they were definitely not for me. Just to clarify, there is nothing wrong with this club for other people. It is a great club for other people, it just isn't a good fit for me. December is the last month for the club so at least when 2012 gets here I will not longer being paid to be disappointed. I'll still be paying for a gym membership that I don't use but that is a different issue. 

Enough of the grumbling, and thanks for sticking with me to the actual knitting content. Yes, there have been more hats, all of which will be given to a charity. What can I say, they are super quick to knit and I like feeling productive.

There was a Starving Artist beret made out of Malabrigo Chunky that has been floating around in my stash for several years. It took exactly one skein of yarn.


There was a 1x1 rib hat, no pattern needed that used about a half of a skein of Moda Dea Tweedle Dee that has been hanging around the stash for a couple of years.


There were two hats that I made out of one of the yarns from the Fall in Full Color club. The colors are not for me but I can appreciate that if you love fall colors, this yarn will make you happy. One of the hats is a no pattern 1x1 rib brim & the rest in stockinette. The other hat is a Twisted Rib watch cap.




Now brace yourself, there has been non-hat knitting as well. I know. Shocking!! I participated in a knitalong (KAL) of the Fresco Basket Whip cowl for The Knitabulls video podcast. I made it out of some Blue Sky Alpacas sport weight that has been kicking around in the stash for a few years.


Finally, bolstered by the success of the Knitabulls KAL, I joined The Knit Girllls spinalong/knitalong. I am not a spinner so I am just doing the KAL portion of the SAL/KAL and the knitting started today. I am knitting the Hitchhiker out of the yarn that Cloudlover dyed for the SAL/KAL. When you put the pattern name together with the fact that there are 42 pattern repeats the inspiration for the pattern seems obvious. Well, obvious if you have read the book. My progress is tiny but I like the way it is shaping up.


So what have we learned today? I'm super picky and that occasionally ruins some of the fun that I try to have and causes me to whine. I have managed to knit up some of the ridiculous amount of stash that I have. I like hats. I ramble too much.

If you made it to the end, bless you. May your day be delightful and full of laughs.