Couple things finished

I did finish two fairly long on the needles hats.

The first one is another iteration of the Sockhead Hat, this is one that I called sort of a badge of honor, because I started it right before traveling up to Illinois last summer when my father died. I worked on it on the train, I worked on it sitting at the counter in the kitchen when my mom and I weren't attending to paperwork or clearing stuff out. I worked on it off and on (mostly off) during the time I've been here.

I finally got to the point where I felt like I either needed to finish it, or just pull it off and rip out all the work and do something else with the yarn. But I tend to feel like projects have memories embedded (encoded?) in them, and I couldn't bring myself to do that, so I finished it.

I made it shorter than the full length - done according to pattern, the hat is very large and floppy (I think it would probably accommodate a sizable set of dreadlocks, or a large "natural"/Afro hairstyle) but it looks silly on someone with flatter hair like I have.

My intention is to wear it with the brim turned fully up - the double layer there will keep the ears warmer in winter, and also keep the sensitive part of the sinuses covered, so fewer headaches.

It is a slightly looser fit than some hats.

The second hat is the one I'm calling "not quite Bankhead." This is actually the last project I started in the before-times; it was to be an invigilating project. I got the brim (which is a twisted rib) all knitted and then I forgot when I started the crown that you alternate the rib rows with a knit-plain row to get the distinctive "railroad stitch" texture - I just did the rib.

I thought about ripping back, but again: it didn't look bad, and anyway, that would be a lot of work to unpick (I didn't want to totally rip back and have to re-do the brim

This is a worsted weight (sockhead is a sock weight) so it's thicker, and this one also fits a little snugger.

I will admit as I was finishing this, I ordered another skein of yarn - this, a Madtosh in a variegated brown called "Superb" - for a second iteration of the hat, this time doing it "right" (as per the instructions).

Though I do also have the "soft hat" I talked about (which might be the next hat I start) and also some sockyarn in two shades of brown/tan for the simple colorwork hat in the big Interweave 100 book.

I guess since it's the July Armpit Weather, I'm longing for fall. (And, please God, let things be better in fall so it's actually okay to be out of the house much once it gets here. Or that there are some good purely-outdoor things that I can do)

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I also took another quilt in to be quilted, on the vague thought of "well, the quilter did say if we had another lockdown, she'd still be able to do longarming on quilts she had lined up" (our R0 went up again after a few days of being stable, and while locally the case count is down, I suspect it will go up in a few more days, reflecting July 4).

I was going to take the green floral quilt out, but it would require  a 96" x 96" backing, which is more trouble to piece than I felt like at the moment (eventually, I may just invest in an extra-wide backing: there are some that are 108", and I could just get 2 2/3 yards of that). Also, I didn't have a big enough piece of a single fabric to do that kind of piecing so meh.

Also, I realized that that interlocking-circles orange peel design might not look great on that one, but it would look kind of cute on this one:

Not a great photo - that's an older top, it's been perhaps 10 years since I made it? It's a very simple pattern from the Material Obsession book. I used a line of "folklore" style fabrics - they look kind of alpine - and added in a few others.

This one is the last few scraps from a dress I had as a small girl

And I had bought backing fabric for it back when I made it, and it was an easy thing - just one seam up the middle and press it off

So it was good to get that in, and I also bought more thread and a big piece of plain white fabric to be the background on another quilt. (You know, just in case we have to lock down again. This time I think I'll be less freaked out and may actually be able to get some projects done)

The quilt top is supposed to be done in October if everything goes well. Here's hoping the landscape in re: COVID looks a little more hopeful then, either with better treatments or more hopefully, some kind of preventative.