finally! some knitting!

Yes, here at Curlerchik Knits, there is actual knitting going on. For those reading that are also members of the York Region Knitting Guild, what you are about to see is a repeat of the live performance from last night.
Presenting, the Alien Hat:

This is a modification of the "We call them Pirates" hat, a free pattern from Hello yarn. I've made the pirate hat, and love the shaping of it, and Hello Yarn kindly provides a blank template, so my son (the Alien fan) and I sat down and designed the Alien Hat. (Actually, since I am such an Excel geek, I transferred the pattern grid into Excel, and DS and I sat down at the computer and designed it. He created the basic shape of the Alien head, and I made it more knittable, by putting the shapes in between to get rid of extra long floats. He did a pretty good job, I think! The green is a little brighter than it appears here.
As I said, I do like the shape of this hat - it fits my head without giving me the lovely "Yarn Harlot looks phallic head" look, so I grabbed a skein of Wellington Fibres Merino/Mohair blend, and voila!

I love this colourway (called "Royalty" no less!), and it is slightly more muter than it appears. The only thing is, this one is slightly bigger in circumference - because there is no stranding to "pull in" a bit, it comes out bigger. But that's ok, it still fits, and the Truffle merino/cashmere blend I used for a lining is delicious against the ears and forehead.

I also did a little work on the machine - trying to stock up Christmas gifts, and decided slippers were good for this year. It's a simple pattern - simply a large gauge, loosely knit stockinette stitch rectangle, seam up the back, gather the toe and seam the instep/ Toss in the washer, and felt away. Here's the interesting part - different wools will felt at different rates. These three pairs were all knit to the exact same size, and all felted at the same time - Can we say that the striped Needful yarns "Joy" felts at a slightly faster rate than the Gjestal Naturyarn? I guess my size 9 wearing sister-in-law is not getting striped slippers yet.

Anyone know a little girl with about a size 13 - size 1 foot? Scratch that - I just thought of someone...

On another random note...
LuckyCanuck and I were talking recently about blocking boards. She was looking at a blocking board to order, and I told her what I have recently acquired. I thought I would show her (and anyone else reading this). This is a great product - easy to use, easy to store.

There are 4 squares in the package, each 2 foot square. They store easily behind a door or under a bed, pins stick in beautifully, and they can be configured to fit just about anything - a square, 4 feet along each side, and rectangle 2 feet by 8 feet, or for triangular shawls (my upcoming Icarus comes to mind...) I'm thinking three across, and one below to handle the point.
The foam is very think (almost an inch), and very sturdy. A bonus? The black side is great for photographing knits (see above). Matte black, no glare. I bought mine at Home Depot for less than $20, but I'm sure they are available all over.

And for those that were asking about my Mom - many thanks for your concerns. We had the surgeon's appointment yesterday, and we are looking at some major surgery in the next two weeks. Nothing that she won't get through, but the next month or so will be a little tense around here. There will be some leave time taken from work, and some emotional time with my Mom (she's French, overly emotional times are de rigeur for her). My brother and I will get her through this, with the help of friends and family that has already been offered. The upside? (other than the fact that Mom will be out of pain and way more mobile soon) - Lots of knitting time. Waiting rooms are great for that.