2011 - FO #1

Last night, I had my first finished object of 2011 - a Drawstring Hat. I've wanted to knit this hat since I bought the Knitsimple Holiday Issue of 2008, but kept putting it off to knit more urgently needed or "important" things. In this year of knitting what I feel like knitting, and the fact that Little Girl was complaining about last year's hat falling in her eyes, and the fact that last year's hat is hot pink and this year's coat is purple, I decided that I wanted to knit this hat now.

Actually, I started the hat last year. December 26th to be exact. But, I had already decided upon this knitting resolution, and I need something that I could knit in the dark in the car on the way to my parents' house. I used Encore worsted, and adjusted the number of cast-on stitches for the heavier yarn and larger needles (I believe I cast on 88 stitches). I worked the 2X2 rib in the car once it got too dark to work on my aunt's Olympic Hat. I worked the 2x2 rib in the evenings at my parents' when I sat in the dark trying to keep Baby Girl from climbing out of her pack 'n play and go to sleep. I also got some significant length by knitting my way through "Yogi Bear" at the movie theater (thanks to my other aunt, who sent us a check and note telling us to "take the kids to the movies." I got enough time to finish the ribbing yesterday when I took Big Boy to his hockey game.

I started to crochet the edging at the game as well (I used some Marble Chunky left over from my cabled sweater). I didn't get very far - crocheting edging takes me a while. In fact, I only edged the top of the hat, because I was afraid my bad crochet skills would stop the hat from being stretchy enough to fit to Little Girl's head. I crocheted a chain to cinch the top and spent most of last night trying to make pompoms. I settled for the ones you see in the picture, but they're not as nice as the ones my mom would have made. I'll have to add pompom making to my list of skills on which to improve.

Have you finished anything yet?