FO #4 & 5

Well, just a quick post to wrap up this unfortunately brief three day weekend. On Thursday, I was able to finally give my assistant his Christmas present. It usually takes me a while to finish his gift, since I'm usually rushing to get everything done by the end of the year for work, but thankfully, he doesn't mind too much, and it gives me a little extra time.

Last year, I made him the Interlocking Balloons scarf from Scarf Style, so this year I wanted to make him a hat. I settled on the Koolhaas hat:



Pattern: Koolhaas hat from IK Gifts 2007--this pattern was fantastic. I made the "man" size hat, although I thought it was a tiny bit too big. Matthew assured me that he was really glad it was longer, since he wanted something that completely covered his ears. I used a cable cast on for a stretchy edge, and the pattern was just so squishy!



Yarn: Cascade 220 in a black heathery color. It was LOVELY. I don't know why some colors of 220 seem softer than others, but this black was great, and I even went back and bought more to make myself a vest later. I also want to make my own Koolhaas hat someday. It looks really good. Don't tell Matthew I tried it on before I gave it to him! :)



Needles: Boye circular size 7US, and size 7US Clover DPNs



All in all, a success! I'm going to make him matching hand warmers for his birthday in March.

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Most of this weekend was taken up with a family obligation. My cousin's wife is pregnant with their first baby (she lost two pregnancies previous--they've been trying a while!), and they had this big baby shower at their house. I made a sweater a while ago, and last week, I finished some cute little booties to match.



Pattern: T-strap booties, by Claire Montgomerie from Easy Baby Knits--the pattern for the booties themselves was very easy, but the part of the pattern that described how to do the straps was really strangely written. I was able to figure it out and/or fudge it a little, but the result was pretty cool. Everyone at the shower was impressed that the buttons actually worked on the shoes.



Yarn: I held together two strands of the Lane Cervinia Calzetteria I used for the sweater I made earlier.

Needles: US 5 Susan Bates aluminum straights

It was nice to celebrate with them and to hang out with my cousins and my extended family. I don't get to do that very often, so the fact that I had to do 5 loads of laundry on MLK day and clean up the house and do all those other chores that you usually do over the course of a weekend on that last (extra) day was a small price to pay for seeing them and doing what I could to help make the party a success (mostly staying out of the way!). I'll leave you all with a shot of their snowy house. I have two more baby gifts to finish, and then I'll be back to regularly scheduled knitting for myself! YAY.