It’s Furious Balancing

I am (finally) on my days of vacation surrounding Christmas.

This is the best time of year for me: celebrating Yule and the winter solstice.  I am far away from the misery of summer.  This is the time when I get to unplug from the stress and deadlines and demands at work and thoroughly enjoy the quiet, the warmth, of the heart of winter.  Call it the Peace of the Season; call it what you will.

Oh Winter! ruler of th’ inverted year…

I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem’st,

And dreaded as thou art!  Thou hold’st the sun

A pris’ner in the yet undawning East,

Short’ning his journey between morn and noon,

And hurrying him, impatient of his stay,

Down to the rosy West; but kindly still

Compensating his loss with added hours

Of social converse and instructive ease,

And gathering at short notice, in one group,

The family dispers’d, and fixing thought,

Not less dispers’d by day-light and its cares.

I crown thee King of intimate delights,

Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,

And all the comforts that the lowly roof

Of undisturb’d retirement, and the hours

Of long uninterrupted evening, know.

The Task, Book IV: The Winter Evening — William Cowper

Two.  At least two.  One lightweight, fluffy, lacy one for when autumn (or spring) days are too chilly to go without a hat, and a denser one for the winter.

Pattern: Crooked Paths Slouchy Hat

Yarn: Berroco Lustra, 50% Peruvian wool, 50% Tencel, Montmarte colorway.  The Tencel gives it a lovely, luminous sheen, which is hard to photograph.  Some knitters on Ravelry had issues with itchiness and/or splittiness, but I didn’t.  Splitty-yarn issues are easily remedied by using super-pointy needles, so this was my first project done on the Addi Lace Click interchangeables.  The yarn softened considerably after being washed in Soak.

Size: One size.  You could play around some with it by changing needle size, but I’m not an expert on doing that.

Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 8 (5.0 mm)

Mods: None

Those little white bits in the photo — ice crystals.  It was darn cold this morning.

Comments: I love it, and it came out perfectly.  I was somewhat concerned because this was my first project with the Lustra, and I wasn’t certain how it would behave.  I’m seriously considering a pair of mittens to go along with the hat.  I’m normally against the matchy-matchy crap, so I’m going to have to ponder the mittens.  Maybe if if find the perfect pattern…