Dispatches from Vacation

Good morning! I am amazed that I remember what day it is after the weekend we had and how upset my normal schedule was. I was up at 3:30 on Saturday morning and we were out the door an hour later for our 6:45 a.m. flight, which amazingly (or perhaps not; I have a feeling the scheduled departure and arrival times are padded on purpose) got in a few minutes early. My parents were waiting at the airport and took us to brunch before we headed home to unpack. I went for a walk and showered before we went out to dinner, and I finally crashed at 9:30, having not taken a nap. I slept until a little after 7 yesterday morning. The day of travel was exhausting but went as well as it could have, and I feel 100% more relaxed.

Before we left town, I was working almost up to the last minute to get my niece's gift done so I could deliver all of them to my brother. I won't win any prizes for my embroidery, but I think they turned out pretty cute!

Pattern: Cat Stack by Claire Slade (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bona Fide (100% superwash merino) in Light Silver Green and a light brown (colorway name unknown), Fibernymph Dye Works Beguiled (75% superwash merino/20% nylon/5% stellina) in Love Notes, and Knit Picks Palette (100% wool) in black for embroidery
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm
Started/Completed: December 8/December 19
Mods: simplified the ears

These were a fun little knit, if a bit fiddly. They're worked using a series of short row wedges and finished by seaming the bound-off and cast-on edges and cinching the short ends (which become the top and bottom) tight. Though you can't see them here, they have tails at the back. Other than failing pretty miserably with the face embroidery, the only real modification I made was to simplify the ears. The pattern calls for knitting up two sides, seaming them, and putting a bit of stuffing inside. I was running out of time and patience, so these cats' ears are a single layer. They've all got a pouch with some poly pellets inside the stuffing, so they have a bean bag sort of feeling to them, and I hope that means my niece will enjoy playing with them.

I cast on a new project before we left so I'd have something to work on while we were on the plane. Surprise -- it's another hat!

When I found this skein in a bin in my stash, it had a Fibernymph Dye Works ballband on it but no label, so it took me a minute to remember what it was. This is Lisa's Nyan Cat colorway, and though I don't remember exactly when it was that I bought it, I know I did so because she had said she wasn't likely to be dyeing it again for a while. This is on her sparkly Bedazzled base. I'm making my pattern again, and this time I've ensured that both needles I'm using are the same size.

Speaking of hats, there's one I didn't finish before we left town, and in fact I ripped it out and started it over again yesterday. This is for my father-in-law, for whom I've knit several hats in the past that he seems to have misplaced, because every time I've seen him out recently in a hat, it's either been a baseball cap or some ugly synthetic store-bought thing that is fuzzy and has seen much better days. I decided to try my had at crochet, using this pattern (Ravelry link).

I originally followed the pattern, which has you work double crochets through the front loop only. But I thought the fabric was way too loose for my taste, and for a winter hat, you don't really want fabric with a lot of holes, so I ripped it out and started over, working the DCs through both loops as you normally would. What you see here was done in just a couple of hours yesterday, which gives you an idea of how fast crochet is!

We've got very little on the schedule for our trip, and that's just the way I like it. I have plenty of books to read, plenty of yarn with me to knit up, and a perfect forecast for running and walking. I'll admit I am missing Ruthie a lot, and she did have a rough first night with the dog sitter, but I've gotten videos of her running and playing with her new dog friends and I know she's in good hands. I'm resting and relaxing now so that when we're home, I can give her my patience and attention!