Progress, my friends!

First off, I made an Unoriginal Hat. Mostly Unoriginal. My gauge was a little tighter--gee, could that be because I don't have 7mm needles? Probably. So I added a repeat of the chart, and about an inch of ribbing on the bottom, and all is well.

It's the first of what I hope will be a pile of hats to give to my friends for Christmas. They're what I knit when I'm tired of little needles and want results now now NOW! (Oh, and the yarn is Moda Dea Tweedle Dee. It was on sale at Michaels'.) And yes, the picture is of the back of my head. I've got no makeup on, have had migraines for two days, and would scare you all away.

Next up: my friends, being Very Considerate People (think extreme sarcasm) have all contrived to have babies in late November/early December. Rude. Rude. Don't they know what this does to the Christmas knitters? Dammit, now I'm not accepting any more friends with May birthdays or babies in the two months before Christmas. This is not negotiable.

What you see here are the first two squares--or almost two squares--of a log cabin blanket for a kid who turns 1 on December 9. Will the Crazy Aunt get the blanket done in time? Possible, but she might also go insane. I've decided to do the damn thing in four blocks, because the thought of a four-foot edge of seven garter rows made me want to die just a little bit.

I'm not wholly sold on the pastel madness, but at this point there's no going back. I think having each block have a different main color will help. Only problem: can't find any more of the light aqua-green stuff anywhere. Shit! This means that tomorrow I have to hit one more craft store, and if they don't have it, I have to pick another color. God knows what. People, this is why planning is a good idea, even if you totally suck at estimating how much yarn you need for a blanket. Now we know we should Buy All The Green.

Oh, and I finished the Shedir hat. It's nice, but it's really big. I don't think it's too big to wear--especially since if I make a hat that fits me, it's too small for my mother, so she's getting this one. There is a chance that, if I get all the other stuff done, I'll rip out the top, take out one repeat of the pattern, and re-do the crown, but that's getting real close to the Land of Crazy, so we'll see. If there's a post in about a month that is nothing but incoherent cursing, that's me dealing with that hat.