Needles on Fire

It was a real knitting streak this weekend. On Thursday we RSVP for an annual cocktail party on Sunday afternoon. Last year I showed up knitless and decided it just could not happen again!

So after work on Friday I got down to business. I needed two knitted gifts and they needed to be fast. Really fast. The first step was to peruse the many pattens I've queued up, printed out haven't tried before. A little stash diving, a little quick comparisons on Ravelry and I cast on for a Birthday Cowl (Christmas cowl?).

The Malabrigo was already wound into a cake. And it's endorsed as a go-to for this particular pattern. By the time I went to bed that evening, it was nearly done. I finished it over breakfast the next morning.

Saturday was a busy day, Mom wanted to buy a new mattress and decided Macy's was the place. How crazy was that - shopping at Macy's two weeks before Christmas for a mattress. When that woman gets a bee in her bonnet....

We plowed through throngs of tourists and holiday shoppers just to reach the elevators. It was a little more sane up in the mattress department (surprise, surprise!), and while she tested beds, I cast on for a hat.

The Marsan Watchcap has been in my queue forever. And I knew it would be a really quick project. It's perfect for a guy and I had some guy-perfect yarn from my recent swatching experiment. The color is called Sparrow, and though it shows as dull beige in this photo, it really reads like lichen on rocks on the top of a mountain.

By the time we returned to Brooklyn I'd stitched up 3 inches. But I was pooped and ended up falling asleep while knitting and watching Persepolis. So Sunday was crunch time and aside from the weekly Fairway run, and some chores, I was a knitting machine. I finished the hat by 4PM and barely had time to get the one photo before completely losing the light and dashing off to the party!

Whew! Two years ago this could never happen. And this is one of those rare times I actually met my 'knitting deadline'. Yay!

Details:
Pattern: Birthday Cowl by Nova Seals (Ravel it)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, Stone Chat, less than one skein
Needles: #7 US
Started and finished: about 4 hours

Pattern: Marsan Watchcap by Staceyjoy Elkins (Ravel it)
Yarn: Cascade 220, #4011, Sparrow, less than one skein
Needles: #7 US
Started and finished: about 6 hours
I made some modifications on the hat. The pattern says knit 88 stitches for a large. I knit 96 stitches, in keeping with the 8 stitch sequence. I also knit 10 more rows after the turn. My friend tried it on and it fits, but to me it looked a bit snug. He's a big guy, I suppose 104 stitches would have been better, but it's okay.