The Dog-Eared Days of Summer

Hey Y'all,
Well I'm down here in Texas where it's a balmy 100 degrees today. Not exactly conducive to knitting some big project that covers one's lap and causes one a big perpetual hot flash. But it is a great time for small projects-- I'm working on a little sock right now. And it is also that delicious time of the year when one of two biannual ROWAN issues arrives. I just got mine and can't wait to dive in and start dog-earing all the pages with patterns I swear I'll make.

Pictured along with my ROWAN mag above, is a cable hat that I really enjoyed making, so much so that I almost didn't mind when I had to frog a few rows. But there was a sad side-- the hat was part of a gift kit ROWAN sent me, which is part of the excitement of being a member. Allegedly three balls of yarn, which they included, was enough. But no. I got to the end of ball three and still had about six rows to go. I tried my LYS and they didn't have any of the yarn. I went online looking and couldn't find anyplace that listed the dye lot number. So I had to take a guess.

Well guess what? The color was off just a bit, but definitely noticeable. So yeah, the top of that hat looks like one lone stripe. But there was a lesson in that-- I sat there looking at the difference, debating if I should just keep trying to find the right yarn. And then I decided I'd just go for it with what I had.

Which for me calls to mind those lovely ways we console ourselves when our projects don't turn out precisely as we imagined. I said to myself, "It's a prototype!" and "The kooky little stripe is a design element!" and -- a favorite fallback -- "Who cares-- it'll still keep my head warm."

I did worry that once I was done I'd change my mind and wish for a do over. Nope. I like it just fine. And I really will make another one. Super groovy little pattern and making cables always makes me feel kinda smart. One of these days I'm going to go for it and make a cable sweater.

Hope you're doing lots of cool little projects.

See you on Monhegan Island in two months and change!
Spike