In Triplicate

This year, the Christmas order from my boss came in March.  She sent me an email with a subject line reading "These are really, really cute… Christmas presents for the boys this year?" The body of the email contained one image.

I sat on the pattern for a couple of months and decided to get them done so I could be wide open for the start of the Christmas Sweatshop.

My son happily modeled one for me.  It's small for his 10-year-old head, but that's okay.  It's made for a 3-year-old head.

I must say, these are impossibly adorable.  I left off the buttons, but otherwise I made no modifications to the pattern whatsoever.  There were none needed.  I even used the recommended Thick & Quick.

They worked up fast as lightening, the only finicky bit being the ears.

I will most likely end up making one for myself.  Because a grown woman wearing a fox hood is completely acceptable, right?

Cowl Jag?

What constitutes a jag, exactly?  The Oxford English Dictionary says that a jag is "a period of indulgence in a particular pastime, emotion, interest, etc."  In that case, my entire life is nothing more than a series of jags.

The summer included a bit of a Spectral jag.  I really liked the one I made for my mother-in-law, so I decided I'd make another one for me.  On the Yarn Crawl back in May I found this lovely kit at the second to last store.

The colors are a bit more "me."  The only thing I would wish to improve is the size.  There was significantly less yardage in this kit than the other, and although I decreased stitches, it still came out a bit narrow for my taste.

Now I know better for next time.  Can time elapse between projects for the jag to continue, or must it be one continuous period?

Who knows... The OED also says that a jag is "as much liquor as a man can carry; a 'load' of drink."  So there's that...

Blink And You'll Miss It

That's how I feel about the last 4 months or so.  

Once upon a time, I stumbled on the pattern for the Spectral Cowl.  I fell immediately in love and promptly ordered a gradient kit.  This one came from Black Trillium Fibres and is accurately called "Mint."

This cowl was my travel knitting when I went all the way to Australia.  It went on a couple of planes...

it drove on the left side of the road…

and it even saw a kangaroo!

While we were there, I realized my mother-in-law loves bright colors and it never really gets cold enough in Australia for scarves or wool socks or sweaters or hats.  But the night wind is definitely chilly enough for a light cowl.

I finished it up when we got back home and boxed it up just in time for Mother's Day.  We're still not convinced she knows exactly what a cowl is, but she's pretended to like it and I suppose that counts for something, right?