You never saw this woman...

I have a friend in the witness protection program who is therefore able to wear this hat in public. What a coincidence that she'd recently bought a striking orange ski coat! Actually it is just Deedee modeling her new ski gear, complete with dew-drop Unabomber-esque shades! I couldn't believe anyone would be PLEASED to receive this well crafted ;) yet HOMELY hat! I kept telling her, "Look more ASHAMED!" when I was taking the picture. I think I might try another one of these with my newly acquired local artisan yarn from K-town. I thoroughly enjoyed Elizabeth Zimmermann's commentary throughout this pattern. The last line reads, "Make the tassel of your dreams."

Frontier Hat

A gal on our floor is leaving us next month. She is the mother of one of 4 boys born in our last floor baby boom and I've always had the best intentions of knitting "coonskin" caps for them all. I knit this up for her little boy the other day since they are relocating and it would be my last chance to get his done. The other 3 will just have to wait a little while I guess. I used Patons Classic Merino Wool stranded together with different shades of Lion Brand Fun Fur and I am very pleased with the results! I used just over one ball of the light grey fun fur and maybe half a ball of the Patons, so I have plenty of yarn to make a few more of these! Every little boy needs one of these to wear when building a fort! Heck, I might want one of these for MYSELF!

Zig Zag Mittens!

My dear friend Deedee has had a pretty crappy year this year too, so I thought she could do with a pair of mittens too! She is my mentor, my friend, my confidante, etc. She is planning on finishing her BSN (she has WAY more strength than I do!) and then she plans on TRAVEL NURSING! I admire travel nurses. I am much more of a "comfort zone" nurse! Her plans include Colorado or California. Either place is a great place to make money. I have traveled this big ol' world, but I can not brag about traveling withIN the USA. When she gets established, I'll have to pick up a few extra shifts and I PROMISE I'll be CHEERFUL about it and actually EARN the money so I can go and VISIT her! She has been to Red Rocks more often than I can MENTION and that is number one on my list of destinations! :) Plus if she goes to Colorado, I can go and visit my Great Uncle Stuart and bake kringlas for him in PERSON rather than just mail them to him in a box! I love my friend Deedee and I love my friend Melissa and I am so thankful for them every day! I miss my Deedee at work though, as do a LOT of us! I like to think of it as Deedee blazing the trails for the rest of us! And I was lucky enough to be knitting on the second of these dizzying things earlier in the week, because when I peeked out of the window, there was a mere dusting of snow on the ground to take this picture!