First, thank you to Melinda for her computer savvy and investigative skills to get me back on track with photo upload. It seems that Blogger and Internet Explorer 8 aren't the best of friends, so a switch to Firefox as my browser enables me to add photos once again. It turns out that she found an answer to this computer issue by combining her own experiences with experimentation, so, knowing that, I hope to resolve my own problem next time. I did add photos to my final 2009 blog and 2010 will continue with more photos!

 

First, I've been on an accessories track.

It began when I was entranced by the Leaf and Vine hat on the cover of the fall Vogue Knitting, so I used some creamy Plucky Sock Club yarn combined with a subtle Kid Silk Haze and knit a sumptuous hat. I wear it whenever there's a hint of chill (due to our very mild winter here in the Northwest) and have received compliments from complete strangers who don't even realize it is handknit. The photo is before it was blocked into beret shape. A really great thing about this hat was realizing that my somewhat overwhelming sock yarn stash can be so much more than socks or scarves.

I tried the basket weave stitch design on a pair of scarves knit from Plymouth Yarn's Grande Baby Alpaca Hand-Dye; LOVE the yarn and the wonderful colors! They were elegant and appreciated gifts this year, as shown on my brother here - he's a green kind of guy.

Next, I decided to pick up a long put off project and started Zeitgeist Yarns' Selbu Modern hat using Mini Mochi for the pattern and Baby Ull for the solid color (shown here with the Leaf and Vine hat). It was immediately apparent that with my stranded gauge, the sizing was going to be too small for my head, so I stopped and began again, adding a repeat. While that and blocking to a beret shape helped, I realized in this yarn, a snug fit is inevitable. I've been thinking of using Mochi Plus and a complimentary solid color yarn to make another one, but haven't taken any action yet. And, about this pattern... I think the designer is amazing! I loved how the pattern incorporates the decreases for the crown with such elegance - it is beautiful and ingenious!

The Mochi colors and Mochi Plus interested me enough to buy several balls of various colors and I knitted George a hat for Christmas using Lisa Ellis Designs subtly cabled hat in the worsted weight (it's great that the pattern includes child and adult hats as well as for lightweight or worsted weight yarn). I managed to knit the hat without him knowing, and when I gave it to him, he loved the colors but didn't get excited about the hat. When I got him to explain, he demonstrated how he likes to wear hats - not so snug to his head, and he likes to roll them up as needed - so I bought another ball and knit a second hat, this time with an extra repeat and adding a 2 1/2" cuff. He loves it, and my friend, Cindy liked the original, so nothing is lost.