Vacation in my own backyard

nothing new to report on the knitting front today ... although I did have a fabulous, busy weekend ... Friday was pretty quiet; Wes and I went to a new place for dinner and had great Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches and watched ESPN. Saturday with Wes at work, Tia and I ran an easy six (okay, a hard six ... Thursday's workout was INTENSE and I was sick after it, so didn't refuel as well as I should have. my legs were hating me for it on Saturday, good thing we didn't have to run 12 miles!), then after quick showers we headed up to State Street in Santa Barbara with Amanda to shop shop shop!! We'd been planning this trip for a while and after my lenten shopping fast we were all ready for some new springtime fashion! We hit all my favorite places: A Tropical Affair and Anthropologie (got a versatile jersey dress that will look awesome with flipflops or my cowgirl boots and the skirt to the left ... don't know what to wear with it, but I love it!), some way-expensive boutiques (no purchases there!) and of course Gap, Express, Macy*s and some shoe shops. We had great lunch at Ruby's too (not the '50s diner, a local deli with the best sourdough patty melt I've had in a long time). After a long afternoon (and aching legs!), we headed back to Ventura to take in the DeLaHoya-Mayweather fight at a friend of Tia and Omar's. Wes met us there and we enjoyed meeting lots of people who we'll get to party with at the wedding! It wasn't a late night for us though, Wes had been up since 4am and my credit card wasn't the only thing that was worn out, so we didn't stick around too late after the fight.
Sunday was HOT and wonderful. I met up with my friend Charlene and we drove out to Malibu for lunch at Paradise Cove. Apparently half of LA had the same idea and we had to wait over an hour for a table, but enjoyed the outdoor bar and feet in the sand while we enjoyed a Corona and nachos. By the time we were seated we were sweaty and exhausted, so luckily our table had a little bit of shade! But it was great to be outside enjoying the weather ... we even had a star sighting - Jon Lovitz! It would have been fun to see someone younger and hotter (doesn't Matthew M do his yoga on the Malibu beaches?), but I liked Jon in The Wedding Singer and A League of Their Own, so it was still interesting to see a "star" ... I guess that's what people go to Malibu for!
Overall it was a spectacular weekend. It almost felt like I was on vacation, except I got to sleep in my own bed!!

babies

Tia teases me on our runs because I can never decide if I am going to resign myself to my husband's desire to be a father, or maintain my no-baby position I've held since I was 11 and realized that being pregnant makes you throw up and giving birth could be the most pain I will ever be in (more than the eighth and fastest 800 repeat or running a full marathon after no training), or if I will fully embrace motherhood in all its glowy, baby-powder-smelling, liquid-poopy diapered glory.

Since she is anxious to start a family soon after her September wedding, babies are often something we talk about on our runs and every day I have a new reaction to proposals that Wes and I might have kids. Some days I say "if Wes and I have babies ..." other days its "when" ... I have introduced her to Mom's special phrase for me - "new day, new deal" - and she says it to me now whenever I change my mind.

Wes and I have names for two girl babies that I love, however he says we'll never need them because we are only having boys. We have nothing special picked out that we would like to name a son.

Sometimes I think I want a baby. But usually is more for company when Wes is working night shift and I'm lonely, than because I want to be a mother. That to me is no better than women who decide to have babies without husbands because they think it will fill some hole in their lives that a man has never fulfilled (did you see Grey's Anatomy last night?). When I think of the responsibility that will come with a baby, I change my mind and decide that I will definitely want Wes around as much as possible, even more than I already do!

The bottom line is that someday I will be ready for kids. Someday I will have a Chloe middle-name-to-be-determined and a Layla Beth (and maybe even a little Sean Wesley). It won't happen anytime soon, but when we're all ready (me and Wes and God, who teaches me lessons every day that will someday help me to be a good mom), I will knit this for my little girl to wear.

what to do with a little leftover yarn?

I presented Grandma's bittersweet socks to her on Saturday at brunch. They turned out really cute and I think I need to get more of that color to make myself a pair too ... but it's getting warm again and knitting socks isn't really a priority. HOWEVER, my attention span for knitting has been short lately as there are still boxes all over my new apartment and work has been slightly hellacious too. I was trying to decide what to do with this little bit of yarn that was left over from Grandma's socks and while reading the latest posts on pieknits, got some inspiration! it's always nice to find a pattern that I don't have to buy any supplies for, even if I don't have a reason to make it ... don't worry, this isn't my way of breaking any big news :)

changing the subject quickly! I was in town to have brunch with Grandma on Saturday because Tia and I ran in the Great American Adventure Race on Saturday a.m. It was on the westside of Central Park (with Edwards Hill!) and was sooo fun to run there again! my last race on that course was Cross-Country League Finals senior year of high school, almost 10 years ago! (omg, 10 years?!?!?!) anyway, I think being back on that course brought back some competitive juices and we ran pretty hard, but it yielded in second and third place finishes for our age group. We were in the top 25% overall ... my time for the 4.8 mile course was 39:06 ... pretty good for all the hills too! Next race is the half-marathon in Santa Ynez! Hope we're ready for it ... training for this one hasn't been as deliberate as the Rock 'N Roll in January. I would love to PR again, but with the hilly course and less miles under my belt this time, I am not too optimistic.

first finished socks!

today at lunch I officially finished my first PAIR of socks!! sooo exciting :) I think I did the toes wrong ... I'll have to ask Grandma how they feel, but hopefully, since these weren't made to go inside of shoes, the fit will be okay. I wanted to hurry up and finish these since I'll be having lunch with Grandma tomorrow and have been working on these socks for her for months! I am behind on all my knitting due to the move and lots of running to get ready for the Wine Country Half-Marathon in May. Plus, with Wes on day shift I am not as bored at night!

April Showers

a rainy day today - the hardest rain all year, I think. All week I have been wishing spring on with cute springy outfits and today I am back to jeans and socks and a coat. sooo, to make myself feel better :) I'm going to review the things I am most excited about in the warmer weather months:

Wedge sandals are work and weekend appropriate so I really get my money's worth out of them. also, it is so much more comfortable to wear wedge heels over pumps, especially at the height of race training ...	... speaking of race training, Tia and I are gearing up for another half-marathon next month. This one we'll actually get to run together! After this race, we'll need to find another event to keep us motivated to keep running! Tia's getting married in September and I have a couple of vacations coming up ...
... to Las Vegas in June (temps in the 100s?) and Colorado in September (to celebrate our two-year anniversary!). both trips will be close to week and I can't wait! other than a couple long weekends here and there, Wes and I haven't been on a real vacation since the honeymoon!	I already have a new dress picked out that I'd like to wear in Vegas, but I'm hoping it will go on sale before then!

more stuff I like about this time of year: wearing shorts to work (when it's not raining, of course), baseball season!, NHL PLAYOFFS (gooooooo Ducks), swimming - so good for back and shoulders and a nice way to balance out my runners legs, knitting fun things like Sahara and mom's shawl (if I can ever find the time), currently Wes is on day shift and I like seeing him every night - even if that isn't a usual "spring thing"

almost back to normal again

it has been a crazy couple of weeks with the move and everything, but I think life is getting back to normal. there is still too much to do at the new apartment (or too much sleep to be had) for me to be knitting in the evenings still, but I have gotten to enjoy some lunch-hour knitting. today I worked on Mom's shawl and got a few more inches done on that ... the picture is a little funky! cell phone cameras have come a long way, but still aren't that great, I guess! I'll try and take a real picture with my camera (once I can find it in a box somewhere ...) so you can see the colors ... I think it is turning out really well and I love the moss stitch for a little bit of texture. other than a little bit of lunchtime knitting on this shawl, I haven't worked on anything else since we got back from Arizona three weeks ago. I am to the toe decreases on Grandma's second sock, which means from here on out I just need to have an hour or two of uninterruptedness so I can keep track of where I am at! I haven't had that luxury for a while, so they are still on hold :)

good enough to eat

another slow day at work today, so since I can't knit at my desk, I had some fun at becomeanmm.com. Click there and you can make your own personal M&M, choose from a plain, peanut or almond body in whatever color you want, then add expressive eyes and mouths, accessories and shoes, then place your M&M in the background of your choosing! Soooo ridiculous and fun. Here are the M&M people I made for Wes and I ... can you tell I am anxious for our vacation to come?? can't wait to get by the pool with a tiki drink in my hand! for now I'll have to live vicariously through my M&M creation!


UPDATED THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2007 at 4:45PM TO ADD:
finished my work early today so had some fun with more M&M friends ... can you identify these four of my nearest and dearest? there seems to be a trend in footwear as well ...

reprieve

took a little break from knitting the last couple weeks because Wes switched to day shift and he's been home every night. yay! also, Tia and I have ramped up our running program in preparation for the Santa Ynez Wine Country half-marathon on May 12 and by the time I get home from running most nights I just want to eat and then pass out. Blogging has also been on hold because work has been totally insane ... However, I have a couple of projects still going and this weekend when Wes and I flew to Arizona for Taylor's adoption party I got back on track and work today is slow, so I'm playing catch-up on lots of things!
Mom came up to visit a couple weeks ago after we went to see Wicked at the Pantages Theatre in LA. She'd been talking about wanting a shawl for a while, so I took her with me to AFY to pick out the yarn herself. I am glad I did because I never would have picked out what she picked (Louisa Harding: Impressions. click here to see Mom's color choice - it's #1), but it has been really fun to work with and I think it will be gorgeous and go with lots of items she already has in her closet. No real pattern for a shawl (sort of patterned after this one but with different yarn, larger needles and no buttons); I did a swatch to figure out how many stitches I would get per inch and figured out the cast-on from there. Now I just have to knit (in moss stitch on 10.5 needles) until it is long enough. Hopefully we have enough yarn already - it was kind of pricey!
I am also working on finishing up my first two pairs of socks. I got some more navy yarn to finish up Wes' socks when Mom and I made our AFY trek and in the interim I have been working on the great bittersweet socks for Grandma, although I've only been getting in a few rows at a time on lunch breaks lately. Hope to finish them soon because it's starting to warm up around here and the need for socks to wear to bed won't be as urgent.
On Friday I joined a KAL (knit-a-long) with the Sexy Knitters Club to motivate me to cast on for Sahara. I've had the yarn for this since the Super Bowl Sunday sale at AFY, but I am a little intimidated by the crochet cast-on and mostly haven't had the time. the KAL officially starts April 1, so I'm going to try and finish up the socks before then, but no promises since we're packing packing packing to move to a more affordable apartment next week (yay for saving money for a real house!). Knitting has always been more of a leisurely, relaxing project for me, so I am not going to kill myself trying to get projects finished instead of packing, but I do need a break from boxes and sorting every once in a while.
p.s. after the party on Saturday I had my first attempt at teaching when Renee asked me to help her get started on a scarf. Her girls came to her asking if they could all knit together, which is awesome, except first Renee has to learn how! She was a fast learner, I just had to help with the cast-on mostly! I love new knitters :)

married to bigfoot

i sat down to do some knitting last night in between baking and cleaning and getting ready to move, but I didn't get too far on Wes' blue socks because I ran out of yarn! I guess for Wes and his big feet I need to buy more yarn or not make them so high at the top because with his giant instep, I can't get both socks out of one ball of yarn ... this was a big 100g/200yd ball too, but maybe next time I will try larger needles. The recommended needle size for this is 8, but I was using 4 as the pattern recommended (though the pattern also recommended worsted weight). Maybe a compromise of size 6 needles will stretch the yarn farther.

a hat for me!

stayed up way too late last night finishing up this hat ... the pattern is the Adults-Only Kittyville hat from the first Stitch-N-Bitch, but I left off the ears and braided the cords instead of making an i-cord. I know how to make i-cords (did it on Mom's neckwarmer), but at 11:30 last night, I didn't really have the energy ... zzzzzzzz ...
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is of the impression that a hat is a better first project than a scarf because scarfs are just long and boring while hats are over quicker, plus allow you to learn new skills. Although I learned on scarves and completed three before I couldn't take it any more, I am way more enjoying my new foray into hats, socks and half-gloves for smallish quick projects. So far in my knitting life, I have not started a project just to put it away when I get distracted by something else for a long period of time (yes, my brown sweater is taking forever, but so far, I do keep going back to it!) but I must confess that there are two half-finished scarves sitting in my yarn bin that I can't bring myself to complete.
p.s. as I mentioned yesterday, the hat yarn is Lorna's Laces bittersweet worsted weight and I am making socks out of it too!!

my own personal "one with the jam"

Saturday Wes and I drove down to the Staples Center with a buy-one-get-one-free coupon in hand for the Kings game vs. the Nashville Predators. The coupon (and a low-attendance due to an afternoon game the same weekend as the LA Marathon and the Kings general suckyness) enabled us to get ice-level tickets behind the Kings home goal. From this vantage point we had a great view of seven of the nine goals scored in the game (6 from Nashville, yeah!) including two awesome goals from Paul Kariya to make my stalker trip complete and happy. I also realized that Peter Forsberg is one scary Swede when he's skating full speed towards his opponents goal. He already scared me, but seeing him from that angle brought new levels of terror.
I brought along Wes' second navy sock to work on during the 65 mile trip and made significant progress, I also knit on the way home and my 130 miles of knitting produced a too-tall top of sock. oops. When I sat down yesterday to do the heel and gusset, I realized I had knit an extra half-inch on the top of the sock. I have some more heel decreases left to do before I knit a jillion rounds for his huge foot, but I was anxious to move on to another project last night. I couldn't take any more of the plain blue on tiny (size 4) needles so I cast on Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted weight (color bittersweet) on two size 8 circulars to knit myself a hat with seed stitch edging and ear flaps ... soo cute. the color is the same I am making my second pair of socks out of too. I am almost to the decreases on the hat, so hopefully with a couple good nights of knitting tonight and tomorrow while Wes is at work (only FOUR more night shifts left!) I can get his socks and my hat done this week and get on to finish that second pair of socks too. I have half decided to shelve my brown sweater until after summer as it is getting warmer here and I have two other spring/summer sweaters I want to make. I checked out Wendy Bernard's blog this morning and I swear she lives here in town. I already thought she lived somewhere in the county due to comments about local places (Ronald Regan Library in Simi, Santa Barbara Zoo, pictures of the Ventura pier, etc) but in yesterday's post there was a picture of an AFY shopping bag full of yarn! I feel like a bit of a stalker realizing this (too much stalking for one weekend!), but mostly I am soo anxious to knit up my Sahara now. She had pictures of more finished Saharas from other knitters and I want mine! I already decided I am going to do the sleeveless style and have bought (more than) enough yarn to complete it. Now I just need to cast on and get started once I finish the socks and hats and more socks I have planned ... better do it soon or I will be shelving Sahara to go back to the brown hoodie in September!

it's true, I hate being bored!

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer. You are through those knitting growing pains and feeling more adventurous. You can follow a standard pattern if it's not too complicated and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've started to experiment with different fibers and you might be eyeing a book with a cool technique you've never tried. Perhaps you prefer to stick to other people's patterns but you are trying to challenge yourself more. Regardless of your preference, you are continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as well you should since your non-knitting friends are probably dropping some serious hints, these days.http://marniemaclean.com Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

no TV for kitchener stitch

last night I finished up the first one of my second pair of socks (pink and orange!), I can do toe decreases with the TV on, but had to pause it (yay TiVo!) do do the kitchener stitch to close the toe. but it looked great - the first kitchener stitch I did that turned out right (the navy blue on Wes' sock makes it very hard to see the stitches so I messed up a little bit on that one). I absolutely love this yarn I am using (I keep forgetting to take a picture!) but I think I might go get another skein today at lunch and make a hat out of it. I still want to make myself a hat like the pink one I made for Marge before it gets hot again. anyway, since I keep forgetting to take pictures of my new socks, here is a picture of Reese Witherspoon at the Oscars on Sunday (I watched the Oscars with Stine while knitting the pink and orange sock, does that count?) and I totally want her hair cut ... what do you think?? my side-swept bangs aren't really working for me anymore so I am ready for something different! but if it doesn't look cute, then I will definitely need that new hat!

first-ever sock finished!

had the second day of sock class on Saturday afternoon and learned how to pick up stitches on the gusset and make decreases to make it fit. It wasn't as hard as I anticipated, but I definately think I should have chosen a lighter-colored yarn to learn on. It was hard to see all the stitches to be picked up along the edge of the heel and when it came time to kitchener-stitch the toe together, I had a very hard time seeing the stitches, but it all turned out. and guess what? it even fits my enormous-footed husband! hopefully I have enough of this navy yarn to make a second sock because I don't want to buy any more of this color. I did pick up some beautiful varigated yarn for my second pair which I got down down the leg and turned the heel last night while watching the Oscars. I wanted to do another pair quickly so I could remember how to do all the steps, but needed something more interesting than the plain blue yarn to look at. I'll do a sock in the pink/orange and then go back to Wes' second blue sock, then the second pink/orange one to finish out my socks for now. Too many distractions from my hoodie!!

first sleeve syndrome?

last night I finished my first sleeve for the cabled hoodie. it wasn't hard figuring out the increases, but I was a little frustrated when I realized that one sleeve had more stitches than one of the fronts (hello, my arm is skinnier than my boob). I thought I was on the fast track to finishing this thing, but it's going to take a little longer. I cast on for the second sleeve last night (2x2 rib is boring enough to do during Heroes) and hopefully can get that done faster than the first one since I am anxious to get started on the hood and the finishing touches of this sweater.
I am also not sure it will fit which is making me very uneasy as I have spent many many evenings, car trips, lunch breaks, plane rides and phone conversations working on this since I first cast on in August. I am afraid it will be a little too big, which is especially frustrating since when I first started it was too small. I also had to raid AFY of it's last two matching dyelot balls of yarn (and three non-matching because I knew two wouldn't be enough!). what is my problem and WHY do I use so much yarn?? this project called for eight balls of yarn, I have gone through nine and still have a sleeve, a hood and all the front ribbing to go! I went to a larger needle size when I realized my gauge problem after I had finished half of the (too-small) back so that I wouldn't have to keep buying yarn, but now I have cleaned Lois out of the flecked brown tweed so I hope this is it ...

learning socks, part I

Saturday I headed over to Anacapa Fine Yarns for the first of two sock-knitting classes. I had wanted to take this class before I made the Christmas stockings, but found a pattern for those easy enough to figure out myself (no turning heels or gussets!) once I found out the prior-to-Christmas sock class was full. Lois put me on the waiting list for the next class and I signed up, even though I wasn't sure if I wanted to wear knitted socks. The month of cold weather and no heater working in our apartment convinced me that I would love to wear knitted socks, but of course Saturday was 85 degrees and I had no interest in wool. but off I went to learn new things. I already knew how to knit in the round using dpns, but wanted to learn how to knit circularly with two circular needles. I found it was much easier to cast on and of similar difficulty to get the first round started, but then it was smooth sailing. I don't really mind using dpns, so probably I will go back and forth between two circulars and dpns, depending on my mood when I start a project. But Lois did warn us that if we knit one sock in a pair using dpns, we should use dpns for the second as well because gauge can be affected. once we were all comfortable knitting in the round (some in the class had never done it before) Lois had us put that aside and cast on with new yarn and needles to practice the heel, which she wanted us to complete on our own before next class on our real sock. I was nervous about the short rows and slipped stitches, but it came pretty easily and before I knew it, I had a little heel cup sitting in front of me (teal arrow pointing to it in the picture).
Saturday night Wes and I just hung out and watched a movie at home so I was able to finish the ribbing at the top of the sock and get in most the knitted rounds too. Yesterday I had a hard run at Wildwood with Tia and Wes' soccer game, then dinner and Wes left for work. I sat down to work on my sock again. I finished the rounds and started in on the heel. It didn't take long and I even remembered how to do the slipping and short rows. I wanted to keep knitting, but Lois has only shown us this far and I am even more nervous about the gusset (what the heck is a gusset?) than I was about the short rows on the heels, so I guess I'll put this aside until class next Saturday. but of course I couldn't resist trying it on :) p.s. glad I gave myself a pedicure on Saturday before class. love this pink from Sephora ... it is almost ridiculously too '80s pink, but it makes me sooo ready for summer but then I wouldn't get to wear the brown hoodie ... just the sleeve cap left on one arm, then another arm and pick up stitches for the hood and edging. the end is so close I can see it. maybe that is why I keep picking up other projects instead.

happy candy-hearts day!

it's a good thing Valentine's Day finally came, Wes and I have already eaten through eight mini-boxes and a bag of candy hearts in the past few weeks and I don't think my waistline can take it anymore! I don't know what it is about those hearts, I just can't get enough. Even when my head is pounding from sugar and my tongue is stained an unrecognizable shade of magenta, I keep eating them! I like the green, orange and yellow ones the best. yum yum. and for the record, I only like the Necco brand hearts and no, I do not eat Necco Wafers during the other 11 months of the year to take the edge off.
no knitting last night, I was busy making a cake decorated with candy hearts! (what is my problem?!?) I wanted to crush up the candy hearts and sprinkle the bits in between the two layers of cake, but someone (who shall remain nameless, but I know now that I should have found a hiding spot for my last box of mini-hearts that was not up high ...) ate the box I was using all my willpower not to eat myself. anyway, it's Valentine's day ... check out Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog today, she has a great perspective on love, it is very refreshing as I come down from my sugar high!
p.s. Wes and I were featured in a Valentine's Day section on the CLU website too ... so cute it makes me want to barf a little bit. Tonight for we are going to see The Departed at the cheap theater. very anti-Valentine's. I love it.

birthday and more!

Thursday evening I found myself in Thousand Oaks with a couple hours to kill, so I headed over to The Oaks to buy myself a birthday present at Anthroplogie. I put on blinders through the front of the store and headed straight to the sale in the back where I and noticed an abundance of knitted headbands. I thought they were cute, but not $30 cute, especially when I have enough yarn leftover from a $7 ball to make four headbands. so I left the store with only a dress and an idea and headed home to finish the pink hat. It turned out great and I hope Margie will love it! I tried it on to make sure there were no bar mitzvahs in there and decided I might need to make one for myself too! I'll make mine with the earflaps (but without the kitty ears, thank you very much) and Wes even tried it on and liked the shape of it on his head too. (he might get two knitted items in a row - I start my sock class this weekend - after all these years of no knitted love. I am sure he's crushed.)
I wanted to give Marge her hat on Saturday when she came over for the birthday shin-dig, but of course forgot, so a picture of that will have to come later. but I had a great birthday weekend ... Friday night Wes took me out to a delicious three-course dinner and we enjoyed the new comedy club in the Harbor. And on Saturday all the girls came over for some wine and fun. (picture to the right is of Marge, Stine and me at Lady Foot Locker fulfilling two of the mall-scavenger hunt requirements: a hat and a green handbag). Sunday things went back to normal and Wes headed to work the night shift, I sat down in front of The Sound of Music (thank you Luke and Kristen!) and cast on for my very own knitted headband. I used the leftover yarn from piggle, used the same needle size (4 dpn) and planned to use the same stitch pattern. I measured around my head where I would be wearing the headband and got 21 inches, I then stretched out my completed piggle that was wide enough, just not long enough and measured. I figured the same cast on would work for a headband as it did for the hat. I cast on 120 stiches on size 4 needles and knit two rows of 1x1 rib before starting in on the four-row lace pattern. I thought that knitting a two-inch wide band would take me an hour, two at most, and I would be done long before the VonTrapp Family climbed every mountain to Switzerland. those of you who are familiar with lace-weight yarn and size 4 dpns can stop laughing now, please! it was another late night of knitting, but at least I saved myself $30 even if I am going to pass out on the run tonight.

improvising

it's a great day outside, cool, but not too cold ... perfect for sitting in the sun without overheating so I took my knitting and headed upstairs for a break this afternoon. of course as soon as I sat down I realized I left my cable needle at home and the next row I was to knit required it. so, I dug through my purse and found a Napoleon Dynamite pen that I got for 50 cents at Target last summer and went to work. It wasn't the best solution, as the pen was slightly larger than the 10.5 needles I was using and I had to physically remove the stitches and twist them before knitting the last three stitches of the cable, but dangit if I was going to stop knitting only eight minutes into my 30 minutes of no phones ringing.
anyway, my plan didn't work that great, I have two funny strands of yarn stretching across my work. one in the back on the c3b and one in the front on the c3f. I might have to use some knitting magic that I picked up at Lois' class last week ... but I already knit the next couple of rows and other than that long strand on the front, it looks okay. maybe I can tie that back somehow instead of redoing that section ...

pink hat to make up for piggle

started on this pink hat Sunday night to make up for the too-small piggle. the pattern is the Kittyville hat from the first Stitch-N-Bitch, but I won't be adding kitty ears. I may or may not add the ear flaps and ties, I guess it depends on how much yarn I have at the end. I only bought one ball, and I'm already nervous that I should have bought two, so with two balls of yarn, I should definitely have enough leftover for ear flaps and ties. But I'm feeling better about this one actually fitting. As you can see from the picture, it is too short now, but I haven't even started decreasing yet. This is how piggle looked when I was done binding off! I love the variegated yarn, it is only the second time I have used non-solid colors and I think I am going to have to use more!