the hat

There's this funny little song by Ingrid Michaelson called "the hat" and it's about this guy that she likes and she knitted him a hat to show him how much she cares.  A couple of the lines are "I knitted you a hat of blue and gold/to keep your ears warm from the bitter cold/it was my first one and it was too small/it didn't fit you at all/but you wore it just the same".

I wish I had the "first hat" excuse.  I knitted Rob a hat for Valentine's Day out of some sock yarn that I've had for years and it's too pretty for my feet.  I started, made about 3 inches and Rob tried it on and said it was a bit snug.  So I added 16 more stitches and tried again.  He said it was still a bit snug when he tried it on when it was around 4" long and I told him that was because it was still on the cable needle and it wouldn't really stretch out until it was farther along.  I mean, I added about 3 inches to the "slightly snug" hat- surely that would cover it? (Here it is having a soak before I find something head-sized to block in on)

And I bound off this morning and I'm not sure it's big enough.  It fits me- might be a little loose on me for that matter.  But it's blocking now and when I see Rob I'll make him try it on and see.  It's finished, so if it's too small then I have a new hat (or someone I know has a new hat) and I'll try again for Rob in a different yarn.  I just don't understand why after 18 years of knitting, I can't make a hat that flippin' fits!

In better news, I finished my mom's mermaid.  She has a head full of hair and is in a big box, headed to Florida.  She has no mouth (I tried 3 times and they kept getting worse) but I'm otherwise very pleased. Hopefully my mom (who embroiders- or at least used to) can figure out how to make her a mouth that doesn't look like she's had a stroke (mouth 1 & 2) or look like a blow-up doll (mouth 3). She does at least have eyes and a belly button.  Here she is at the Sunday Starbucks knitting group!

And I know this last bit isn't about knitting...but I've had a very needy cat lately.  When my parents left to go back to Florida after Christmas break, they took their little cheetah-devil with them, and it's been the first time in Madeline's life that she's been an "only child". She was really clingy after I got back from Florida after New Year's, and the clinginess might be getting worse.  She has also been really fussy for the past few days and gets cranky when I don't drop everything and hold her.  It's adorable...for a while- but I have stuff to do!  Any suggestions?  And getting another animal is not an option right now- I think Rob and my parents would be doing rock-paper-scissors over who gets to kill me.