I've got a hat

I've got the crown decreases down pat!  This super slouchy hat is a success:

I'll get the final touches set and post the pattern here and on Ravelry for anyone who's interested.  I'm calling it Half-Giant Hat, because it reminds me very much of a certain half-giant Keeper of Keys and Grounds.  When it's finished it looks positively huge, but once it's slouched down around the ears and back of the neck it's perfect!  Also, it's probably as one-size-fits-most as hats come.

Feeling kind of slouchy

Only where hats are concerned, of course.  Being slouchy elsewhere just leads to bad posture in the long-run.



This is a hat I've been inventing.  It's a very straightforward, slouchy cap with a 1x1 rib brim and the simplest of waffling patterns on the body of the hat.  I haven't figured out how I want to do the decreases for the crown yet, but that's ok because I'm not there yet :-)

I would very much like to keep the tidy little ribbing pattern going nicely with some accurately placed, symmetrical decreases.  Hopefully this is possible without too much fuss, because then I can write up the pattern and release it into the wild internet.

I'll have to let you know how it goes!

Here's what was on the stove for dinner:



And here's what's on the needles for evening TV knitting:



That would be a simple marinara sauce, chock full of summer zucchini in the top photo.
The sock would be Monkey in a microfiber yarn. The yarn might be a total bust for socks because it's not very elastic, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I checked Ravelry to see if others had used this yarn for sock-making and many knitters have, so I feel good enough about the odds to keep going.

The pattern is beautifully simple and easily memorized; my favorite kind!

New things to share!

This term over in the HPKCHC I'm helping out with Quidditch, and the first 'challenge' is the tidying up one that I love!  Call me nosy, but I really enjoy seeing other people's craft spaces; especially the before and after photos.  Everyone has such great ideas and grand plans for their crafting!  It reminds me that I really need to whip my queue and favorites into shape, not to mention the yarn that still hasn't been unpacked since I moved.

Instead of doing that though, I've collected just a few new things to share with you from this past weekend.  I started a couple dishcloths, just to have something on the needles during these last super-hot days of summer.

This one is Corrugated Cloth, made out of Sugar n' Cream Scrubbie yarn.  This yarn is actually a really long strip of t-shirt material cotton with a rough edge for extra scrubbiness.  It seemed pretty unique when I spotted it at the craft store, so I made it into a simple cloth that seems like it would be well suited to car washing.  It's cotton, so it won't scratch anything, but it's rugged and durable.  Unfortunately, it's already been discontinued, so this will be a one-of-a-kind.



Also over this Labor Day weekend, I made some granola bars that turned out very well!  Some of the recipe reviewers stated that these bars have a tendency to fall apart, so I sprayed some PAM on the bottom of a flat drinking glass and packed the mixture down a bit before baking.  They were easy enough to cut with a sharp knife (I couldn't wait and did it while they were still a little warm).  I think I diminished the 'healthy' factor a little by adding chocolate chips, but if chocolate chips are wrong then I don't want to be right!  The dried fruit portion was made up of blueberries and golden raisins, and it's a good pairing.  I can see a million ways to customize this recipe for on-the-go breakfasts, so I think I'll file it in the ol' recipe box.  I bet those yogurt chips would be amazing in here with dried berries!