two FOs...

a toque in late june you say? would seem a bit unseasonal, if not for exhibit b, also known as the ridiculous pouring rain and black clouds outside. it's not that it's been all that cold, just not all that warm either, for june. so here i present shedir, which i had been thinking about for some time but kept being distracted by other projects. i also some black classic merino from patons, which had been knit and half knit into a few hat incarnations for A, each time with me becoming frustrated for some reason or other and undoing the whole thing. now with the weather being not so warm, toques weren't completely off my mind, and also because A is leaving today for a summit attempt on Mt Rainier, where a toque might be useful. however, the curse of this black yarn was not completely finished. i cast on and was paying less attention than intended, not realizing into late into the project that i was using 3.5mm dpns instead of 3.25, and as such the toque was much much much too big. accepting defeat yet again, i frogged the whole thing, and dutifully went to the LYS to get smaller needles, and just to be safe i got 3mm, as the hat seemed awfully large on the whole. again to cast on. and things went pretty smoothly...sort of. while the right size width-wise, it still seemed a bit long, so i only did four repeats of the main cable pattern instead of five. but yet it was still to large, but i had finally reached my limit for working with this poor yarn (which i normally love), so i decreased much faster at the top than the pattern allowed. i think it still looks good, despite a bit of puckering, although if i do this pattern again i may try some different techniques. all i can say is, at last i don't have to stare at the black wool anymore!! (also please excuse the bad photo - trying to take a pic of one's own head is hard, especially when in the dark sheltered area trying to stay out of the rain)

in other projects, and yet another example of my inability to follow patterns faithfully, is the vestee. i think it turned out quite well, although obviously the main garter stitch and probably so many other things are not quite as stated in the pattern. having never attempted a sweater before (i just don't have the commitment for a big project i think) i decided to start small. i used freedom denim which i think will be nice and light for summer, especially with the short sleeves. now i just hope the recipient isn't growing too fast to fit it!