Cereal Killers

Nothing like kicking off a new week by pouring a bowl of cereal with ANTS in it. We've had an ongoing battle with ants in the kitchen for the last several weeks, but this is the first time they've gotten inside a closed package. All previous attacks have been on crumbs and dirty plates (and one unexpected coup on a cup of coffee sweetened only by Splenda -- I guess it really IS just like sugar). A few weeks ago we put down ant traps and we thought we were making some progress, but after this morning it's pretty clear we need a new approach.

First Hat

I finished my first hat over a week ago, but have only now gotten around to posting about it. There are many wonderful things about this hat, but the aspect you are likely to notice first in this photo is probably the one that doesn't make me so happy. The hat turned out a bit LARGE. It's supposed to be a rolled brim style hat, but if I roll it up so that I can actually see, the brim is a) enormously fat and b) immediately starts unfurling. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong. The hat is spot on for circumference, so it's not like I messed up and made the whole thing too big based on a bad choice in yarn substitution (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted was a joy to knit with, by the way). And I swatched! However, I did swatch on straight bamboo needles, then knit on circular bamboos, before I learned you're supposed to swatch on circulars if that's what you're going to knit on. Furthermore, after I frogged my first attempt, I switched to metal circulars... Could that have something to do with it? And what about the uberpoofy brim? The mystery continues...

Now, on to the positives. The yarn was indeed a joy. The texture and colors were wonderful to work with and I love how they knit up. More importantly, although this hat was a very simple pattern, I learned a lot, which was my goal in the first place. I sorted out circular needles and double points, neither of which I had tackled before. I was especially thrilled with how well the crown turned out, given that I'd never done decreases before either.

362 days and 100 degrees

It was 100 degrees in Austin yesterday. In fact, the temperature has been hovering around the record-breaking century mark for the last week or so and should continue to do so for the next several days.

Besides the fact that this is crazy hot even for Texas in late May, it is also 362 days until my wedding. I find myself wondering if May 31 is the new Texas summer (according to global warming) and if I need to change the date or start reserving a LOT of fans.