I made nine pompoms. (And all without the help of my knitbuddy and pompom-maker extraordinaire, Dani - so wrong of her to move away before I made this hat!) Three go on an i-cord at the top of the hat and three each on i-cords that will be attached to the ear flaps.

I've been on a bit of a Goldilocks roller coaster ride with wee's Flap Happy Hat. First, it was too big. Then, it was too blue.

After I changed the original red to pink (for my pink-loving princess), I found that the original blue was too... too... too something. It just wasn't the right blue for this new combination of bright pastels. I searched the stock at my lys for a similar yarn (no, they don't carry the fabulous Spud & Chloe Sweater) and ended up with one of my old faves, Nashua Handknits' Julia yarn, in a fun bright blue.

I ripped out the old blue, reknit the hat and even made it through the dreaded crown shaping. (I'd read some warnings about the crown shaping in this pattern but I'm not quite sure what all the fuss was about, except that it's too big. There's a corrected version of the crown shaping posted on the Spud & Chloe website, but it just has the same instructions written out line by line. So, nothing really wrong with the instructions at all. I just skipped about 15 rounds in there so it would fit my daughter's head.)

And now, it's just right. That makes my Goldilocks very happy.

"But where are the pompoms?" she asked. "They're coming...."

Wee one spent a half hour this morning making this little lego scene. When I asked her what everything was, she pointed out the house you go to when your car gets bumped and the other house your car gets brought to to get fixed and the house you go to to fix the bumps you get when a car bumps you. You see, we were in a car accident this weekend and, although wee is fine physically (her doctor checked her yesterday), it seems that psychologically she's got some stuff to process. Also on her little diorama: a black ring for catching oil that has spilled in the ocean. Man, does this kid have a lot on her mind!

In the meantime, there is knitting. I've started the Spud & Chloe Flap Happy hat.

Wee did an early try-on, because I read on ravelry that this hat tends to run large. And large it was! I've since cast on again (for the second size) and have worked the first few color stripes. The pink isn't in the original pattern, but any hat for my girl needs pink so I had to add it. It doesn't hurt to lighten things up a little, right?

Knitting on the candy stripe jacket continues. I'm almost twelve inches in on one front panel, thanks, most recently, to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. I was watching an old favorite, the 1940's version with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson and lo and behold, there's Lizzie and her mother winding yarn.

Greer Garson made a beautiful Lizzy Bennet and Olivier is still my favorite Darcy. And then there's the cashmere, of course, mmmmmm....

Another night, another show, same three inches of the candy stripe jacket.

I ripped out the few inches I'd already knit (sans slip-stitch edging, doh!) and reknit them correctly, this time while watching MI-5 (hubby and I are only on the second season, so no spoilers, please!). It was certainly a different experience knitting to MI-5 than Miss Marple. A bit more distracting and intense. But when things get scary, I can get lost in my cashmere. Mmmmmm, cashmere....

We were busy celebrating the boys' birthday this weekend with a pool party and a big trip to Six Flags. So all regular Sunday activities, like knitting in the evening or watching Masterpiece Mystery had to be postponed until yesterday evening. Last night, I set out to knit one of my new Spud & Chloe projects while watching Miss Marple, inveterate knitter herself, solve a good old fashioned English countryside who dunnit. (I'm a week behind on my Miss Marples because of my trip to NYC the weekend before, so no comments on this week's episode, please!)

I knitted a good three inches on the start of my Candy Stripe Jacket. The yarn is the to-die-for soft Jade Sapphire Cashmere. I wanted to get the exact yarn as in the pattern picture, but the Spud & Chloe yarn isn't actually red like I'd thought from seeing the pattern picture on my monitor, it's more of a dark burnt orange. I had so fixated on that red color that I was determined to find something at Purl that would match the image of it in my mind. There was some Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton that I rejected as too bulky and some basic Rowan cotton yarn that wasn't going to be special enough. They didn't have enough of a shade of Koigu KPM I'd considered and some Koigu Kersti was going to cost a fortune (there's like no yardage on those hanks!). In fact, it would be the same price for me to just make the sweater in cashmere. Mmmm, make the sweater in cashmere, mmmmmm. Once I'd had that thought, I was pretty much done shopping. They were knitting up a swatch of the Jade Sapphire which looked and felt marvelous and it came in a bright coral color that always appeals to me. Sold!

The yarn is everything I'd imagined. It's so soft and light, it's heavenly. Indeed, I enjoyed knitting these first three inches so much that I'm not even annoyed that I have to reknit them. (Doh! I read the pattern wrong and forgot to knit the slip stitch edging along one side.) Mmmaking the sweater in cashmere, mmmmmmm. Did you say something about slip stitch? I was wasn't attending. Cashmere, mmmmmmm. If Miss Marple had had this cashmere to knit with, I'm sure she wouldn't have bothered solving half those cases.

... a Purl bag full of Spud and Chloe!

Birthday shopping in NYC was great. I got myself a whole new wardrobe practically. A sort of I-just-turned-40 thing took over and I decided I needed new everything from undies to pajamas to clothes and makeup. I also picked up some fun summer reading for the kiddos (current favorites: Captain Underpants and the Magic Tree House Merlin Missions) and made sure to hit my favorite crafty shops as well. I picked up a few fat quarters from Purl Patchwork and Brooklyn General (such a great store!) and made a bee line for the Spud and Chloe yumminess at Purl, finding everything I needed to make both the flap happy hat and the candy stripe jacket.

Finally back home, I've got to clean, do laundry and then get knitting!