Stuff and Things and Whatnot

Okay. On Monday, when I got home from work, I found this on the dining room table:

What’s that yellow thing down there at the bottom? Here’s a close-up:

That’s right: it’s a gold medal. Complete with that odd hole in the middle. My husband, marvelous man that he is, bought me flowers and made me a gold medal/card. The front says, “To my knitlympiad.”

The resolution — and Mike’s handwriting — isn’t that good, so here’s a transcription:

I figured you should get some roses like all the medalists. And even though you did not finish all of your projects, you are still a gold medalist in my heart. I love you.
-Mike

I might as well have been on the podium in Torino with the anthem playing with the tears that were running down my cheeks.

Here are the finished projects:

Hat for my brother, Matt
“Hat” from The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd
Artyarns Supermerino, color #119
I totally love hemmed edges. I had no idea I loved them so much. I also wasn’t sure how I liked the way the color was pooling, but it makes this kinda nifty spiraling pattern that I think is just fine.

Hat and mittens for Lisa, to match Chaucer’s sweater
“Ryan’s Hat” by Pam Allen from the Cover Your Ears web-feature in the Winter ’05 Interweave Knits
-and-
“Flap-Top Mittens” from Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick (with a little help from “Gloves” in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns)
Cascade 220 Superwash in various colors
I’m quite pleased with the way these turned out. Once I gave up trying my own too-clever “person walking dog” fair isle pattern, the hat went very quickly and easily. The mittens went pretty well, too, although adding the partial fingers was kinda fiddly. I much better appreciate the beauty of the i-cord finger now.

Scarf for my sister, Sarah
“Misty Garden” by Jo Sharp in Scarf Style by Pam Allen
Jo Sharp Kid Mohair Infusion, color #615, earl grey
This knit up so quickly, and was such a boost, because even after working on it for only an hour, I could see substantial progress. This pooled a little more than I expected it to colorwise, but again, I like the effect of the swirling mauve-ish color — it looks almost fluid. The contrast will pop off Sarah’s black coat quite nicely. Also, I didn’t block this a bit, as the feather and fan pattern combined with the mohair seems to take care of itself.