I travelled to the Isle of Fair...

...and had a really good time! This is my husband's ski hat out of Rowanspun Chunky. (This is the Super Secret Present that I spoke of in earlier posts. He reads my blog sometimes, so I couldn't mention it. He's off work now until after Christmas, though, so I feel pretty sure he's not going to visit my blog. Reading knitting blogs is not his idea of a fun way to spend vacation time.) I used the Jayne Cobb hat pattern floating around on Craftster and used part of a chart out of the Handknit Holidays book. I'm planning on doing a Fair Isle sweater for myself after Christmas (or should I say Festivus? I'm watching Seinfeld right now) and wanted to get some practice in. I think I did a pretty okay job! It was fun. I'm looking forward to the sweater. I'm also looking forward to giving my husband this hat. He said he wanted a fun ski hat with ear flaps and no pompom - this fits the bill! He'll be really surprised because he won't be able to figure out how I fit this in, especially without him noticing.

And while we're on the subject of my husband's Festivus gifts, progress on his sleeves was thwarted today by my ever-so-precious son. After lunch, Hayden found the Kool-Aid and said, "Dye yow, Mommy? Pink!" It didn't take much twisting of this Mommy's arm - we got dressed and drove up to Angel Hair Yarn Company to buy some yarn to dye. Although I don't wear shoes that show off my socks, I've been inspired to do those cute Jaywalkers that everyone is crazy over. So we bought some Sheperd Baby Wool 4 Ply and went to Kroger to pick out some more colors. Then we came home,


wound the yarn,


picked our first color (he chose Pink Lemonade),


and dyed the yarn. (Looks like I need to clean my stovetop!)

My original thought was to dye the whole thing pink then go back and do part of it red (Tropical Punch), but so far I like the way the yarn didn't soak up the color evenly, so I may keep it as is. It'll turn out different shades of pink, I think. That's if I can wind it into a ball from the mess I have hanging to dry in the bathroom. I tied the hank in 4 different places, but I think my knots were so loose that the yarn slid out. What's drying in the bathroom is such a mess that I didn't want to take a picture of it. If it works out - if my husband can untangle it without divorcing me - I'll take a piture then. Wish me luck!