Mon Dieu!

Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages, I give you the first FO (finished object) of 2008:

Pattern: LeSlouch by Wendy Bernard
Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Merino Stripes; all but about 4 yards of one skein
Needles: US 8 and US 9 double points
Started: December 30, 2007
Finished: January 1, 2008

Who'da thunk it?? Never, ever (really not ever) have I even been close to finishing something this early in the New Year! I received two skeins of the yarn as a Christmas gift from my friend Sharrie (also a knitter), and decided I would make a hat, or mittens, or something else for cold weather over the Christmas break. Of course, best laid plans and all that - I got sick, and didn't even feel good enough to knit (mon Dieu indeed)!

A week ago today, I decided I felt good enough to at least start something, so I initially started to make mittens. I made it pretty far through the first mitten too, but I just didn't like the way it looked. So I ripped it out, and started poking around for something else. Now if you are like me, you come across free patterns, and you save them "for later" and then either don't remember you saved them in the first place, or never go back to even see what's there. I decided to see if any of my saved patterns looked appealing, and that's when I was reintroduced to Le Slouch.

Of course, I didn't have the right needles, so I had to wait to get them. Then I got sidetracked doing some things around the house, so it wasn't until Sunday evening that I even got started. I worked on the hat most of Sunday evening, a little bit during the day on Monday, and in a couple of long spurts Tuesday, weaving in the ends during the 10:00 news. I am thrilled with how it turned out, and the best part? It even fits my [apparently freakishly huge] head! I'm so proud of myself I could just spit, you know?

Here's a side view. The colors in the picture above are truer than they are here, but it gives you an idea of how much it actually slouches ...



The Garden Kitty approves, and thought it also smelled pretty good. (I'm not going to pursue that.)

The successful completion of the hat also was somewhat comforting, as also on Friday, I ended up ripping out the small amount of my Clapotis that I had already knitted. I failed to write notes to myself so that I would know what I had done, as far as twisting/not twisting the stitches in the pattern, and when I picked it up again after about a month, I could not figure it out no matter what I did. I knitted, ripped, and knitted and ripped, the same six rows on three different occasions, and they just did not in any way, shape or form match up to what was already there. Grrr!!

So I shall start again this weekend, and will definitely write notes to myself on the pattern so that I know what I was doing. (This is all particularly lame, seeing as how I'm the one who organized the KAL ...)

But enough about me and my knitting - this amuses me greatly. I think "Choking" is my favorite ...