New FOs in New Orleans

Another work trip and another chance to get hours of undisturbed knitting time, if you don't mind security checks and boardings of planes, and a few times when I actually had to work. I went on a trip to New Orleans (not one of my favorite cities, FYI), and instead of taking a new project with me, I actually took 6 UFO's in hopes of finishing at least on or two. I took so many, because I couldn't decide which ones I'd want to work on, plus I wanted to be able to just pick up what I was in the mood for.

The first thing that got done, was a We Call Them Pirates hat, in the works since over a year ago:

The yarn I used was the same as last time, Rowan Wool Cotton. It is super soft, holds up well, and is the perfect yarn for a hat. You need just one ball of each color for this hat. I made a couple of modifications (shocking, isn't it): I left out part of the colorwork in the bottom to make the hat slightly shorter, and I sloped the decreases a little slower, because I'm not a fan of the squarish top in the original pattern.

The second thing I finished was a pair of socks for Mr S, in the works since maybe a month ago:

I even managed to make them match! I usually don't even try, so this was one of the few times I actually made matching socks.

The yarn is one of the OPAL sock yarns, another bright colorway, perfectly suitable for kids. The socks are size 4yr.

I also worked a little on the Eyelet Cardigan that I started about a year ago:

This yarn is Bluemoon Fiberarts Cotton. I still need to make one more sleeve, piece it together, and add a collar and button bands. Maybe I'll get it done by the time the weather is warm enough to wear it.

I also made a little bit of progress on my Seawool socks:

These I'm continuing to work on today, so I should have them done by Sunday night.

I was quite proud of myself for being so productive, and also for not taking a brand new project along. :) And like I usually do where ever I travel, I found me a yarn store and bought some yarn as a souvenir. Now, I know Louisiana is probably not the knitting hub of the world, and my expectations for the yarn store weren't great, but even so, I was just a tiny bit disappointed. The store was large, and had a lot of different yarns, but the color selection for all of them was extremely poor. The store was also messy and felt dirty, which never gets me excited about shopping. And I was after some pretty basic stuff (for example, more yarn for Pirates hats), but couldn't find anything I was looking for. I did find something, though:

It's Chrystal Palace Maizy, a yarn made out of 82 % corn fiber. It's really quite soft, and I think it's meant to be mainly a sock yarn. I might still use it for something else, such as a hat. The gauge is pretty small, in the picture I used a 2.25 mm needle.