I Have a QO to Show You!

Happy last Friday in August - though I realize it's not the same as most Augusts are.  But still time goes right along, and it seems only right to mark it.  Because I have a Zoom meeting at 1:00 today that I know will only make me angry, I thought I'd use this time to write a happy post.  That way, I can be in a good frame of mind before it starts, and spend the afternoon knitting away my anger and aggravation.  

And so, I wanted to share my QO with you.  You may think, "What in the ever-loving universe is a QO???"  My response to you is, that *this* is a QO:

Then you will say, "But Bridget, that looks like a hat, and like it's an FO."  Which means that yes, you are quite observant, but then again, not quite.  Because although this particular piece may be a Finished Object in and of itself, it is only 1/4 - a Quarter - of an overall planned project.  Hence, the term QO = Quarter Object.

This is a hat for Keith, who is married to my niece Julie.  I decided a couple of weeks ago that I am making the same hat for everyone in the family for Christmas, which then became the KJPO Hat Project.  Above you see the K hat.  I am using the Olmsted Hat pattern by Jaclyn Salem.  I have already used that pattern to make a hat for The Tim, which he really likes and wears a lot in the cold weather.  It uses DK weight yarn, so for me, it was a perfect chance to use some stash!  This one used two strands of sock yarn knit together.  I used some leftover Hedgehog Sock in the Construct colorway for all of it; the brim which looks gold and blue is leftover (and now completely used up - YAY - Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Spats colorway; and, the bulk of the rest is Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts sock yarn in the Grey Tabby colorway.  I like how the brim turned out, though I must admit it was as much dumb luck as anything else, because I didn't really do a lot of planning - just grabbed and started knitting.  I followed the pattern exactly as written, and again have to say, it's a great pattern and makes a nice, squishy hat.

This took me about a week to knit, though in fits and spurts.  I'd get a lot done one day, and then not knit at all the next.  So this is all definitely doable.

And now?  I'm working on the next one in the group, which is the P hat.  I've adapted the stitch count for a kid's size, based on other kid-sized hat patterns I've seen.  As you know, baby and child knits go so quickly, I'm just moving right along on that one!  I want to try and get all four of them done before I move on to any other gifts for anyone else.  That way, at least one group will have handknit gifts this year. 😉

*****

I'm feeling pleased with myself this morning because I have been able to get a few things accomplished - got a flu shot and the first part of my shingles vaccine, took a LOT of old but still in good shape towels and dropped them off at the vet's office where they were much appreciated, and I'm almost finished with the laundry.  Always a good feeling to check things off the list for the day.  We have no particular plans this weekend.  Tomorrow it is supposed to rain the entire day, pretty steadily, so it will be a day of inside projects.  Sunday promises to be lovely, and so The Tim is thinking maybe we can take Hamlet to one of the large parks nearby where we can all walk around and not have to worry about crowds.  I hope we can do that, it would be a real treat.  

And that's all of the excitement from my life.  I hope all of you have a nice weekend and get in some time to do the things you really enjoy.  See you next week!

Lately Around Here

Hello all!  Its starting to get very gloomy here, and is supposed to start pouring rain (what a surprise), so I played it smart for once and have already taken Hamlet out for his morning walk, where he found someone who would pet him, so his day started out well ... and The Tim just returned from a trip to the grocery store, so we are set for a while.  Now we can just stay inside for the time being.

Our weekend was fine, if somewhat uninteresting.  The highlight was Saturday evening, when we did a Zoom happy hour with my niece Amanda and her husband Patrick.  Even their cat Clancy joined in!  We had so much fun, catching up, laughing, and just generally being silly.  It felt good.  Also, I don't know if any of you watch the TV show "Ozark," but I freaked out Pat with my impersonations of two of the characters (Ruth Langmore and Darlene, for those familiar with the series).  The two of them are doing well, and we traded suggestions for things to watch on TV while we're all home, so it was beneficial as well as just plain fun.

Also on Saturday morning, The Tim cut my hair for me!  I had told him that if he was willing to try, I would appreciate it - and that if it looked awful, no problem, since I'm not going anywhere in public anytime soon.  He was bothered because we didn't have hair trimming tools, but took out his beard trimmer and used that.  It was a huge success!  I told him that he'd better be careful, or he'd have a permanent job.  When we were talking to Amanda and Pat, they were complimenting him.  I said I assumed the back looked fine, but also wasn't too worried, since I don't see the back of my head, and then he said, "I figured that, so I just carved in the message 'F*** you.'"  We all got a good laugh out of that!

Towards the end of last week, I managed a HO:

This is the first Easter Egg Scrappy Shortie Sock, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out!  I've got the second sock going, and am ready to pick up for the gusset and then knit the foot, so it's well on its way.  I was seeing lots of scrappy sock projects on Instagram and on podcasts, and they looked so nice, I decided to give them a try.  This is just a plain vanilla sock pattern, and I chose some scraps and minis that I figured would have enough for a pair, and got started.  It's fun, because it's one of those "just let me do one more color" projects. 😊

(See that smiley face?  I've been using Blogger forever, and just realized they had emojis.  Sigh.)

I've decided that Friday will probably be the day that I post the answers to the questions you asked me here.  So for anyone who still wants to ask me anything, there's still time!  Just remember the questions have to be posted as comments on that post.

That's about it for today.  We are still fortunate, in that we and all of our loved ones are still well and able to stay safe; I hope that is the case for you too.