Do you know that I've never done any stranded knitting? I don't know why, really. I suppose I thought it would be too attention-consuming for the kind of knitting that I mostly do (being that of a Mom usually doing more than two things at once). But I saw this hat on a Ravelry browse recently, and with a shawl off my needles and unfinished sweaters waiting that I just wasn't ready to dive back into, I decided to give it a go, stranded knitting and all. And after a few rows I had to laugh at myself for putting it off for so long. So straightforward, really and my hands quickly adjusted to holding two colors at once - apparently my thumb was hanging out doing nothing all this time and looking for a job! (I'm not sure what three colors would bring though.) They knit up easily enough, and using our own yarn, I began thinking that a stack of these might be just right for some holiday gifting. But apparently everyone around me caught onto the excitement I was feeling with these little hats, and they all started clamoring for their own. That photo of Harper up above? That's about thirty seconds of casting off - and it was on his head and he was out the door. Papa got one in brown and blue. Adelaide one in blue and white. And Annabel brought me some yellow and grey to start another.
So much for amassing a pile of handmade hats to give. But really, to a knitter, is there anything better than someone waiting with gratitude and excitement on the other end of that cast off? I think not. I'll keep knitting...
