In Which the Pirate Crosses Off.

Three weeks ahead of schedule, I’ve finished the second of the Fleep-Tops’ hands. Either my tension was much tighter as I was working on the second glove, or the first one was stretched out from all the trying-on – the second seems slightly smaller than the first. I’m sure it will stretch and can be blocked out to match the other one.

This gives me six weeks to finish Mom’s sock and Dad’s hat. Plenty of time. No worries at all. I wound up the Cascade 220 into a neat yarncake and worked up a small gauge swatch, since I can’t find any of the notes that I took five years ago when I knit Pirate-Husband’s hat. Grr, frustrating! At least I wrote down that I used a US 6 (4mm) needle, or I’d probably have been swatching on a US 7 (4.5mm). I measured 5.5 stitches to the inch, did the math, and cast on 116 stitches. Since Dad requested a smooth hat with a ribbed brim, I’ll be using the same Basic Hat Formula that I’ve knit up several times before.

The stitch marker I’m using came from a cat-themed set of markers I received in a holiday gift swap a few years ago. It’s an adorable pink cat with an articulated tail. I’d nearly forgotten about the set but I’m glad to have a chance to use it now! This is the kind of thing I’d probably never buy for myself, but getting it in a gift swap was really cool.

Due Date …… Project
10/3 ………… Angie’s gifts
11/1 ………… Second Fleep, hand section
12/1 ………… Mom’s sock #2
12/1 ………… Dad’s hat
1/1 ….………. Gift for Janis’s baby boy
2/1 ………….. Mitten tops and thumb caps on Fleeps
2/1 ………….. Jacob Hat
3/1 ………….. Twins’ sweaters

P.S. I had to add three words to my spell-checker’s dictionary for this post: Fleep, grr, and swatching. I think I say all three of these things often enough that they can be in my dictionary!