Ok, this was fun last time, let's do it again.⁠ One chilly Tuesday morning, a week before the pattern came out, I went off on a little field trip. I needed to a nearby town to pick something up. I needed to get hat pictures. And I very much wanted to get out of the house (we're still pretty locked down thank you very much and we are not letting up when the end is in sight). So I figured I could do all three things at once.⁠ The route between home and my destination is well supplied with lovely, [...]

You know that thing where something is absurdly easy but it looks impressive to folks who don't know the trick of it? Like how making caramel sauce or hot fudge sauce for ice cream is absolutely dead simple, but people lose their ever living minds if you stride calmly into the kitchen and just bang out a batch as you're getting ready to serve dessert? ⁠ Yeah, this hat is like that.⁠ It looks all fancy and impressive. It looks like you've done something tricky with a cable needle...maybe even employed a crochet hook for some nefarious purpose.⁠ But in [...]

This is Wucka. He'd be happy to come over and supervise you while you organize your stash. ⁠ He has excellent yarn manners (no chewing, very little claw involvement), but he may occasionally settle in for a little nap if your yarn is particularly appealing.⁠ These things happen.

Ok, we're juuuuuuuust about there. By which I mean it's at that point where I could stop if I wanted. It would look like a hat. You'd never know the difference just looking at the pictures.  But I know myself, and I know if I stop now it will be a hat that never gets worn.  Because a too short hat is a dreadful thing and not to be suffered through if at all avoidable. So we'll carry on for just a few more rows... As always (seriously, I feel like if you're here, you already know this, but if [...]

There...there's just not a ton to show you about this part of a hat. You get the pattern started, and then? Then you just sort of cruise. And don't get me wrong, it's very enjoyable to do. And it goes quickly because of the aforementioned super bulky yarn/relatively few stitches situation.  But it does not make for the most scintillating of blog fodder. But hold on, because I think it will make for an awfully lovely hat.

And now we shall blast through a hat in near record time... Fairly sure this will actually take a smidge of yarn from the second ball, but we'll start with just one (mad tosh's A.S.A.P. in No Farewell, just because someone out there is wondering). Casting on over two needles is absolutely and completely fine, see previous rant on this here or here or here...they're all basically the same. And this brim is lovely, but there is a limit to how much excitement one can wring out of an inch of plain ribbing. But never fear, actual things will start [...]

Ok, let's do the absurd behind the scenes thing. This is the destruction wrought upon my living room in the process of taking those ridiculous photos.⁠ That's my barrister bookcase, with the top lifted off and the glass door removed (you can see the door resting on the dining room chair I dragged in to hold something or other at some point in the process).⁠ Getting the door off requires emptying out the shelf so you can flip it over and take a screwdriver to it, hence the stacks of books and plants everywhere.⁠ Once you've got the door off, [...]

When I first had the idea for this pattern, I knew that I wanted to have pictures of a tiny tray holding a collection of lovely knitting notions. There was just one problem. I didn't actually have a collection of lovely knitting notions. I have the sort of knitting notions that can be best described as very functional. Which is fine! You might even say they're lovely in their own way. But wow is there something special about fancy tools. So I asked for help! I put the call out on instagram to see if there were any notions makers [...]

I am a person with some very well defined weaknesses. I like strong, black tea (with unholy amounts of cream and honey). I like shiny rocks and mossy sticks (yes, I have a pet furry stick that I water and treat as a house plant).  I am completely susceptible to sarcastic notepads. And I love anything that promises to wrangle other objects into some semblance of order for me.  Cute jars, tiny tins, little trays...they're all irresistible. Which is why it should surprise no one that I've finally given in and knitted a whole bunch of tiny trays.  In fact, [...]