Dear Knitting Blog,

Yesterday, my work friend and I went to the craft fair at Bryant Park during our lunch break. There are so many awesome things there for sale. Not only did it challenge my ability to resist the temptation to buy things, it made me itch to make things and it also made me itch to design things to sell. Many of the artists had used very bulky yarns, which would make knitting hats more cost effective (as far as production time). This would be especially for me, because I am a pretty slow knitter.

Last night, I finally gave Sam the hat I knit him for Hanukka. The thing took me forever, because I redid it when I was almost half way through, and then when I got to the top, I feared that it was too short. I kept trying it on myself, dpns sticking out of the top, over and over, until I finally decided to rip it out to where I started my decreases. The result was a hat that is a teeny tiny bit too wide and a teeny tiny bit too long, but that still works. In both cases, I really should have left what I had (for once!) But the hat works. It has ribbing, and I designed it myself. I made it out of alpaca, which I bought after Sam told me that he loved the alpaca that I bought for my dad's scarf. Overall, he's happy with it and so am I. I promise I will post a picture of Sam in his new hat, but he's not here for me to take a picture now, and I don't have the pictures that his parents took (of us on Hanukka) yet.

Speaking of my dad's scarf, the 12th as a finish date is looking bleak, considering the fact that I have yet to start the thing. But at least I thought of a pattern. It's actually the pattern from one of his cotton sweaters, and will use that. (My dad's wool allergy gives him such an interesting winter wardrobe!) It's a really easy pattern that actually works out in a really cool way! It's simply:

k(kkpkkkpk), repeating the bracketed section until desired width.

The pattern is the same for rs and ws. It's not ribbing or seed stitch, but sort of a hybrid of both. If all goes according to plan, this will turn out to look like stripes of knit, purl, and garter stitches.

Love,
Adina