The hat should have been enough.  And if knitting the hat once wasn't enough, surely knitting it twice would satisfy that itch.  But somehow, no.  No it was not.  And so I found myself with matching mitts. Now, I'm certainly not complaining.  Both the stitch and the yarn continue to be more fun than they have any right to be.  And goodness knows I wear mitts more than you might suspect.  So this is not something I'm sad about. But I am rather amazed that something so mellow managed to hold my attention for so long.  Perhaps it's the power [...]

So look. Before you go about adorning your eggs with woolly bits, you need to get the eggy bits out of there. The traditional way of doing this involves making a tiny hole on the top, a slightly larger hole on the bottom, sticking a toothpick or nail up in the egg to break apart the yolk, then using your mouth on the little hole to blow the raw egg out of the big hole. And that's totally what I did as a kid.  And I might still be able to bring myself to do that to a bright white [...]

So I already have something of a reputation for being fond of blocking.  I'll assume you already know the lecture on how it's magic and it's not that hard and your knitting is totally worth it. So instead I'll give the lecture on how it's good problem solving practice. On how it will encourage you to use the stuff you already have in new ways. On how, at the very least, it will confuse the heck out of anyone who catches sight of what you're doing.  Which really? Totally a bonus!

Once upon a time, years and years and years ago, somebody left a weird comment on a blog post or maybe a tweet. ⁠ I'd posted a picture of the second of something...second sock, second mitt, I don't even remember at this point. And they had this whole /extensive/ theory about how I hadn't actually knit two of the thing. They though I was just carefully taking extra pictures of the one single sock/mitt that I had actually knit and timing them To Fool Everyone For My Own Nefarious Reasons.⁠ It was...intense.⁠ And while Now Me would just laugh (I [...]

Look...all I can say is they're awfully quick. These are all all of an inch and a half across. They take like twenty yards for the pair. And even if they are knit on something the size of toothpicks, they don't take long at all. And they give me no end of room for absurd blocking adventures.  Which is what we'll get into here shortly.  Just as soon as I've knit a few more.

This is fine. This is totally reasonable. This is not at all cause for concern. This will not lead to some really weird field trips and strange choices.   Fine fine fine fine fine. Do not be alarmed.

It seems only fair to balance out the Absurdly Tiny Yarn with some Absurdly Giant Yarn. Something about moderation. Or balance. Or maybe unity?  I'm sure there's an inspirational quote to be had in there somewhere. You work on finding it, I'll work on these.  We'll meet back here in a bit and compare notes.

So normally I'm a sucker for texture. Give me cables. Give me lace. Give me a stitch pattern that swoops this way and that and does no end of interesting things.  But today?  Today I sort of just want to let this brim stand there and steal the show. Now I know this is uncharacteristic restraint.  And don't worry, I'm sure it won't last.  But somehow, this just works. Well, ok, I did give in and add one little flourish.  Because a bit of fancy business on a hat crown is just the natural order of things.  But otherwise, this [...]