Every once in awhile, we all need some affirmation that what we do has been worthwhile. I received that affirmation in abundance today. I wore Elfin to the office for the first time and people fawned all over it. I’ve been on :cloud9: ever since. (I really should take a new picture of it. I fixed all the little things that were bugging me about the sweater last spring…)

I’ve put aside my sweater projects for awhile and have been working on smaller items. Nearly instant gratification is the name of the game around here. I finished my multi-directional diagonal scarf:

It turned out really pretty. I especially like the effect I achieved with the fringe. I was really careful in grouping together similar colors so I ended up with a rainbow stripe sequence. :rainbow:

I also started knitting clogs for my mother. At first, I was intimidated by the pattern, which looks complicated for the simple reason that there are multiple sets of numbers everywhere. When I actually sat down and started knitting the thing, I took it one step at a time, and lo and behold, it was really quite simple. Before I knew it, I had the first clog finished:

I’m thinking about purchasing the non-skid slipper bottoms from Elann. Has anyone had any experience with those? Good or bad?

I admit this doesn’t look very impressive, but I’m proud of myself for knitting something without using a pattern, so I’m posting a couple of pictures of it:

 
Poor, sleepy husband, caught unawares with a funky hat on his head and a camera in his face…

I’m still trying to decide if this hat is worthy enough for my father. Last year, I knit Coronet for him and made a terrible mess of it. I waited until the last possible minute to knit the darned thing before he came to visit during the holidays and I didn’t have any time to rip and redo. In my haste, I somehow missed the instruction (printed in red) to pick up stitches around the hat band with the wrong side facing out. Well, you can guess what happened. When I finished, I realized that I couldn’t turn up the band as you were supposed to do without the wrong side facing out. Poor dad got a very tall and ill-fitting hat, which he still insists on wearing because his dear daughter made it for him.

Awww.

I vowed to make him a much nicer hat this year, and the project pictured above was my first attempt at it. I like it. I think it’s cute…but still, it’s finished off with a different kind of yarn. It’s imperfect, and my father really deserves a perfect hat. Thank goodness there are weeks and weeks left before Christmas!

And just because it’s my blog and I can post cute photos if I want to:

If you’d like the easy hat pattern, read the extended entry
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I’ve finished the first of my holiday knitting projects:

This is the Sophie Bag from Magknits. I did a couple of things differently than specified by the pattern. First, it said to graft the handles to the bag. Now, from a previous felting experience, I knew I would have trouble keeping my sewing loose enough so the yarn in those spots would felt, so I thought I’d try the three-needle bind-off instead. I was worried that it would leave a little ridge where the handles were joined, but my concern was unfounded. It worked beautifully!

My other creative maneuver was to skip the complicated construction of a blocking form using pieces of cardboard. I just stuffed the newly felted and still wet bag with plastic grocery bags. It worked like a charm!

As cute as the bag was on its own, I thought it was a little bit plain. Maybe next time (and there will be a next time) I’ll use a fancier yarn (I used Cascade 220 for this one) or multiple colors. To add a little pizazz to this, I knit a rosette out of silk garden and sewed it onto the bag. I found the pattern for this flower in Scarf Style.

Next up, a multi-directional scarf made from the fabulous silk garden my erstwhile secret pal Eileen sent me: