Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Exciting new developments

Yesterday I had a note from Louise at Biscotte et Cie about a hat-making contest. How can I resist a hat-making contest?

(No really, how?)

The deadline is July 1, which fits in nicely with my current deadlines of

June 30
July 15
ASAP and
July 28 (for a baker's dozen of things)

Upon sitting down with my notes about hats - yes, I have a book of notes, owing to the multitude of hat designs that keep popping into my head the way ideas for stories do, only the hats are easier to see through to completion - I got a wonderful awful idea.

So I went to get my stitch dictionaries.

And the wonderful awful idea got bigger.

So I went to my stash. Actually, I used my stash pictures in Ravelry to help, and discovered I have more of something than I thought I did, which tells you something nice (Ravelry is great!) and not so nice (I would be sunk without Ravelry!)

And then I had to wind a lot of yarn into balls from the skein, one skein of which was hopelessly tangled. I name no names. But I will say that when you use my ball-winding technique on such a skein, while standing on one of the two chairs you've set in front of the living room window to catch the last of the natural light, you will find out exactly how many of your neighbours walk dogs of an evening.

I stayed up till midnight making a swatch and blocking it - no shrinkage, no stretch, huzzah! - and I absolutely LOVE the idea.

Only this morning I discovered that in my sleep I embellished said idea a little more, and now I am torn.

Fitted hat? Fuller slouchier hat? Both would look good.

Time constraints say fitted. Rereading the contest criteria suggests slouchy. Gut instinct says try slouchy and if it's awful, go back to fitted. Time constraints tap the watch and the list of existing deadlines. Brain says, More Chocolate. Now. Gut returns stubbornly to the slouchy option. Brain says Oh be quiet everybody, the first idea is almost always the best one.

The gut won't give up though. It's muttering that I should make time for two hats, one fitted in one lot of colour, the other slouchy with the colours in a different order, and enter both.

I can't start knitting till later today - what do you guys say?

2 comments:

Minding My Own Stitches said...

With a blog named "Hugs for Your Head" this contest seems right up your alley. Can't wait to see your finished design ... and maybe add it to my queue! Good Luck!

Mary Keenan said...

Thanks for the luck! I think it is working already... the stitches are coming out so beautifully and the yarn I'm using is so springy I haven't even minded knitting outside in extreme heat. I take this as Boding Well.