Gryffindor hats

After taking way too long to finish them, here are the two hats I have knit for the Charmed Knits KAL. The one on the left is a beret, the other one a beanie. I used leftover Encore that I had from making a Gryffindor scarf a couple of Christmases ago for Sebastian. Of course, I was very nearly finished with the beret, which I knit second, and ran out of the burgundy yarn ...

I'm pleased with the way they turned out, and the pattern was very well written, and easy to follow. If I had been working on just knitting these, and hadn't needed to get more yarn, I could have easily done both within a week.

Here they are again, just hanging out on the top of the couch:

(I'm pretty sure the beanie is mocking the beret here, because the end that I hadn't woven in yet shows slightly. However, in this next picture, you can see that the beret had a chance for revenge!)

This shot is an "overhead" one, which makes the beanie (this time on the left) look more square than it is. But you get the idea at least ...

Anyway, I wove in all of the ends this morning, and got them into a mailing envelope, which I then took to the post office, so they are on their way to Wiley & Sons, to be later sent to the people who run the recipient charity, Warm Woolies. In theory, I would like to make a couple more, but since these were finished, I decided to send them now.

What's in a name?

So I was watching one of the morning news shows today, and there was a segment about a judge in New Zealand, who told a couple they could not name their baby the name they had chosen. Which was "4 Real." Said couple had chosen the name because the first time they viewed the ultrasound image, they realized that their baby was "for real." Far be it from me to say whether or not the judge/government should be able to make such a decision, but as far as I'm concerned, the parents are eejits in the first place. 4 Real.

The report also mentioned naming conventions in different countries, and pointed out that currently, "Nevaeh" is the most popular name for girls in the world! (For those of you wondering, it's "Heaven" spelled backwards.)

And while we're on the subject - Carol - the Garden Kitty was originally called that because he turned up in our garden one day, looking very forlorn. So he was the "garden kitty" to differentiate him from the inside cats. Then once we adopted him, we spent way too much time trying to think of a good name for him, and thought up so many, we couldn't choose just one. By that time, he responded to being called Garden Kitty, so that's what became his actual name. Which The Tim always points out is too bad, because "it's more of a title, rather than a name." There's one vet technician who said she thinks it's the best name ever, except after he is at the cat hospital, she always needs to go get a garden salad!

Though now that I think of it, I guess we could have named him Lleh ...