the first time I ever went to the great wall of china was in january of 1999, with about a dozen (non-chinese) people from my school. it was really really cold. there were lots of people selling stuff all around the wall. I guess the sellers make it a point to learn some english so they can sell their wares to the americans wandering about. the most memorable were these women selling rabbit fur hats, waving them around in our faces while yelling (repeatedly) "hello! hello! hello, hat! hat! hello! hat!" meanwhile, my classmates (in their broken chinese) would try to dodge them by responding "bu xie!" thinking they were saying "no thanks". it really means something more like "you're welcome". but they got the tones all wrong, so they were actually saying "sneakers", which made the hat sellers really confused. what the heck was I talking about? oh, right. hats!

I just finished bonnie tonight, after much battling with that wretched crochet. it's always trying to get me down. I'm slowly becoming less intimidated by it, but I still think I kind of suck at it. either way, heeeeere's bonnie!

pattern: bonnie, by kim hargreaves
yarn: garnstudio safran, 1 ball, gray
needles: us3 dpns, 3mm hook for edge
finished: august 29, 2008
notes: I was baffled as to why this pattern was written for flat knitting. not that I have anything against knitting flat... I just think hats make so much more sense in the round. luckily, I was armed with graph paper, a pencil and, most importantly, a big eraser, and was able to chart out the pattern. other than converting the pattern to knit in the round, I co 5 more sts to work better with the charted pattern and took out 2 rounds of the crochet edge so I wouldn't have to start a second ball of yarn. I managed to get thru the crochet edge thanks to this great video. thank you, youtube. love the way this came out. winner! side note: my head could also stand to be a teensy bit smaller. (rav link)

I completely forgot to post this other (also gray) hat that I made a few months back. it was based on a hat worn by mia michaels during the auditions for the best show in the universe (next to lost), so you think you can dance. some members of the sytycd ravelry group wanted to deconstruct the hat pattern, so with their help, I managed to crank out this simple pattern, which is available as a free rav download.

pattern: so you think you can hat, by me
yarn: lion brand cotton ease, gray, half a skein
needles: us4 and us7 dpns
finished: may 31, 2008
notes: very easy and quick! everyone needs one!

as long as we're playing catch up with my finished projects... socks!

pattern: embossed lace socks, by mona schmidt
yarn: koigu kpm, 2 skeins
needles: us2 and us3 dpns
finished: july 13, 2008
notes: I have long wanted to make these socks - I think I actually bought that back issue of ik just for the pattern. who knows how long ago that was. easy to memorize lace pattern and fantastic yarn = great socks! also, kind of hate twisted rib. it looks great, but I hate knitting it. (rav link)

one more recent fo that is not a hat:

pattern: feather and fan over 18 st
yarn: fun with yarn handspun merino, frosting, 1 skein
needles: us13
finished: august 8, 2008
notes: made this while watching the olympics opening ceremonies. fun, fast and so not useful for this heatwave. oh, fall, where art thou? (rav link)

quite a productive summer for me. :) but I am seriously so ready for fall. I want to wear my knits! and I need some rain! my car is really dirty.