Here are the finished armwarmers. I could not get a good picture of them "on," so here they sit on top of a journal article.

I also finished a hat this weekend:



I'd had this one on the needles for a while. It's the simple bulky watchcap pattern that was in Real Simple several years ago (I wish they would run more craft items...). The yarn is Lion Brand Landscapes. Originally, it was going to be a Gift Box Project item, but I kind of fell for it as I was knitting it...I also began a moebius style neck gaiter that is on the label of the yarn. I will have two balls of this stuff left over from all of that, so I plan to make another one of these hats for the Gift Box. I might go down a needle size or two, to make it a denser warmer fabric. Because although the hat feels like it should be good and warm, what is necessary to be a "warm hat" is different for southern Oklahoma than it is for, say, Mongolia.

I like the hat pattern; the decreases are not as elegant as they might be, but it's a good basic functional pattern for bulky yarn.

Here's a better shot of the hat, to show the colors:




The colorway is called "Country Sunset" but it makes me think more of algae. (There's green algae, and redddish brown algae, and yellowish green algae, and also "blue green algae" which are really bacteria... but then I suppose most people would be turned off if the colorway were named "Algae.")


I did hit Tuesday Morning yesterday. I did some Christmas shopping, and bought a really cute little single-serving size heavy saucepan with high sides (sometimes you need one of those - it should be good for poaching eggs and the like). There WAS some Gedifra yarn but I didn't buy any because there were a couple of one-ball lots of fairly plain yarn in okay colors, and then a multiple ball lot of one of their boucles, but, it was fugly. I'm sorry, but it was. It was a mustard yellow-grey-taupe colorway. I suppose that was why it hadn't sold. They had some of the Balene II needles also, but only the reeeeeaaaaaly long (14" or so) lengths. Even though I've been using straight needles more lately, I prefer shorter lengths - I suppose if you were one of those Scots-style tuck-the-right-hand-needle-under-your-arm knitters, they'd be ideal.

I also went to Target, and saw the fabled "$1 Spot" yarns. And yeah, I bought some. I got some of the weird extra-fine furry yarn in a color that's vaguely reminiscent of a tabbly cat, and I bought the little book 'o' patterns - I plan to make the shawl. I bought four balls of the yarn because YOU CANNOT TELL ME that you can make a shawl out of two balls of that. I don't care that it's as fine as baby hair and you're knitting it on size 11s. I'm not even convinced the four balls I bought will be enough, but whatever. It's not a lot of money if it doesn't work out.

I also bought - and this is one of those moment-of-weakness, what-was-I-thinking things - some of the screaming pink boucle. Enough for a scarf. I'm not even sure the resulting scarf would be appropriate for the Gift Box, because it's an acrylic, and I know most charities want all or most animal fibers for warmth. So I've got five balls of bright pink boucle, and not a plan for it. All I can say in my defense was that it looked so cheerful sitting there, and it was only $1 a ball. (It's a good thing I don't live closer to Target, it really is.). Heh. Maybe I could knit up a scarf out of it right quick and use it as the "white elephant (but not really white elephant, we just call it that so people won't spend big bucks)" gift exchange that my women's group does. (Except I already have a nice tote bag to give for that. So I don't know.)

And dragon knitter: The highest I saw "regular" (the cheapest grade) gas here was like $2.98. I suspect that we never got quite as high because some of the gas here is produced in-state. (The gas I bought most recently was $2.50 a gallon at a Love's, which is an Oklahoma chain, and I think they have some refineries right here). The better grades of gas, though, are still high. Luckily I have a pretty basic car and don't need to use the "better" gas. (My brother and sister in law just bought a new Subaru and found to their dismay, the particular make they own recommends not going below a 90 octane gas.)