I’ve been a bad blogger. But I got tired of the “almost done” posts about the cowl. Truth is, it’s still almost done. Well, it’s knitted, and half sewn together. The Phil Eponge is *murder* to seam with. Nice to knit with though. But it keeps getting caught while seaming and tries my nerves. That coupled with freelance deadlines and a nervewracking coding project and I was just in no mood.

So, I put it down for a few days. And last Saturday, on a hot and sunny day, I took a walk over to Purl and picked up some cotton. I admit it, I was jealous of all the pretty summer buckets in Becky’s knitalong and I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to have a beachy hat? So, there I went. And there I bought. And now, less than a week later, despite other projects and too much, here is my Summer Bucket.
It was made with, believe it or not, Rowan 4 ply Cotton (the white and pink) and Rowan Cotton Glace (the blue and green). Yes, I know these yarns are insanely thin. But I wanted those colors and couldn’t find anything else suitable. So, the brim is knit 3 stranded and the rest of the hat doubled. And you know, it came out great. I also made the brim longer than called for and here’s a tip for a more beachy floppy hat - I knit it a size larger, and wove a strand of yarn under the purl row right above the brim, so I could pull it a little tighter and cinch the brim more, and you know, I love it. I might even try, if I ever knit another, doing decreases on the purl row which might have a similar effect.

So there you have it. I have family plans tomorrow and so will stay in tonight and seam the rest of the cowl - I’d love to wear it tomorrow since it’s supposed to be on the cool side. I might make it to the beach on Sunday, so will take my new hat. And I have to work on Monday, grrrrrrrr. But I hope everyone else has a great holiday weekend!

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Quick update: We are cowling. I’ve been so swamped this week with tight freelance deadlines, and I’m at the paper an extra day today, so I’ve had almost no time to knit or blog. The sleeves are done and the cowl has begun. And it’s big, alright. I’m gonna do as much as I can this weekend.

I am also gonna try to make the Critter Knitter’s Knit Out on Sunday, hopefully with my own critter in tow. Attendance depends on weather, and how much I get done with various things over the next few days.

Hopefully I’ll be posting again soon with photos of a finished sweater.

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Still working on that second sleeve. I did some on the bus ride down to Mt. Laurel, NJ on Sat, but the trip is less than 2 hours, so didn’t get all that far. On the ride back yesterday, I slept, since my insane friends got me up at 7:30 yesterday morning after a bed time of past 2:00 (god, we are so old).

Weekend slumber party was fun though - felt like we were teenagers again. It’s too bad we live in three different cities, we have some good times together. I guess I’ll just have to make some more trips this year down to Atlanta and Cherry Hill/Philly.

One thing that is concerning me a little bit about the cowl sweater is how I am halfway through the second sleeve, have only the cowl neck after that, and haven’t finished 5 skeins yet. The sweater calls for 7 and at this rate, I doubt I’ll need to start the 7th. Unless the cowl uses THAT much yarn, which I guess is possible. I haven’t checked to see how many stitches/rows that cowl is.

My new goal is to have it done by next weekend, despite another crazy week of deadlines. Cross your fingers!

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I didn’t mean my deadline of having the cowl finished tomorrow. I’m only about 5 inches into the second sleeve. Work, and just general distraction has kept me from doing much on it this week. Well at least I’ll have a chance to work on it on the bus down down to NJ/Philly tomorrow (I’ve elected not to drive).

So, nothing big to report. It’s a dreary gray day, I have work I don’t want to do, and the guy in the greenmarket this morning gave me a chocolate scone instead of the chocolate croissant I asked for. I don’t care for scones and this one also has nuts, which I’m mildly allergic to, although I’ll eat it anyway. So now my throat is a little itchy, and I just think it’s going to be one of those days.

Have a good weekend everyone.

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