Wanna make this hat? If you knit it, and show it off online, I'll send you pattern for the matching mitts for free (they have such a pretty thumb). Details below! I'll start with the short version, because we're all tired, but there are more details at the end if you have questions. Short version: Make sure you're on the mailing list and grab this hat when it comes out (it should be out March 1). Post a picture of the finished hat on a human head on either ravelry or instagram before the mitts come out (later in March, [...]

So last week I dragged the hat off to one of my favorite beaches to let it perch on big logs and show off its charms. Which was a great plan, save for the part where it was so windy that it was hard to walk and so cold it was hard to breathe.⁠ This was one of the few shots where the hat was laying still, not cartwheeling down the ice covered beach. And, seeing as how *I* do not much want to go cartwheeling down the ice covered beach, I called an early halt.⁠ Which worked out fine, [...]

As is traditional (since I consistently buy extra yarn), I had yarn leftover at the end of the hat.  And since I firmly believe that accessory sets are more fun than single pieces, much of this yarn is fated to become mitts. Lovely matching mitts.  With a really excellent thumb. Which I fully acknowledge you cannot actually see here!  But which I have seen, and which I therefore know is going to be absolutely charming.  Eventually.

So, um, how many hearts is too many? Asking for a me. ⁠⁠ To be fair, I'm pretty sure I've mailed off or handed out about as many as I have here over the years. And they seem to be generally well received (that, or a lot of folks are secretly real damn mad at me, so hopefully I've not gotten that one wrong). So I like to have a small supply on hand for when someone seems like they might be in need of one.⁠ ⁠ Lately I find myself especially drawn to the tiny ones, which take about [...]

Ok, check this out, this is what different fuzzy yarns can do to the same base yarn. All three of these hearts are knit with the exact same base yarn (that little ball of single ply mystery yarn down there at the bottom, alas label-less and from deep in the leftovers bin, so I have no idea what it is) held with three different strands of fluffy laceweight. The pink heart is the base yarn held double with Molly Girl Yarn's Motown Lace Weight in the color Alive For The First Time (yes, yes it really is that delightfully bright [...]

A quick stash toss. A bit of knitting. A bit more. And soon all manner of nonsense is afoot.

This remains both deeply deeply impractical, and unspeakably satisfying. ⁠ ⁠At this point in the proceedings, I'm just embracing the fact that both are true. Turns out I do not only like practical things any more than I only like healthy food or always pick reasonable bedtimes. ⁠ We'll simply have to live with our failings.⁠ At least this one is fuzzy.

Look, I've been good. Or rather, I've shown uncharacteristic restraint. No need to bring good and bad into it. But I've shown uncharacteristic restraint and made Two More Or Less Practical Things In A Row.⁠ I mean yeah, sure, fine, we can debate how practical a hat is for me because goodness knows I have enough of them already. But at least a hat, fundamentally, as an object, has some shot at a practical purpose in this world. ⁠ This, I assure you, does not. ⁠ It's also not terribly cute just yet. But hang on, that will change at [...]

See, I told you there would be a more subdued version for any of you who don't feel like walking around with wee pointy horns on your head. Though I swear to all the woolly saints, anyone who comes along and gives me crap about teeny tiny pointy bits of fabric on my hat making me actually evil will be be mercilessly and publicly mocked before being summarily blocked. I can think of quite a lot of things you might put on a hat that are a far more reliable indicator of someone being actually evil than this soft fuzzy [...]