Christmas countdown.....

Fourteen days and counting.  Time's running out but this year I won't be finishing things right down to the wire.  At least I don't think so.   So far I've made one pair of socks, 3 1/2 scarves (one's not finished yet), and 3/4 of a hat (not finished, either).  I may try to push the window and get another hat done before 12/25 but I'll have to see how the rest of the things go.  I still have papers and final exams to finish for school, so time will be eaten up by that.  In fact, I should be studying now for an exam tomorrow.... ooops!  Yeah, well, whatever.  Sigh.

Since the things I'm knitting are Christmas presents I won't be posting pictures.  And I won't be talking about them.  So much for this blog post, right?!  Well, it turns out I *can* talk about one of the hats because it is for someone that I am absolutely certain will not be reading this.  It's a lovely yellow hat, made with yarn from The Kangaroo Dyer ( http://www.kangaroodyer.com/) who, (lucky me!) is also local.  She calls the color Papaya, which you can find here:  http://www.kangaroodyer.com/our_products/yarns/all.html.  I think it looks like daffodils in the sunlight, which is why I bought it.  The person I am making the hat for loves daffodils and when I saw this yarn at Metaphor Yarns in Shelburne (http://metaphoryarns.com/) that's all I could think of - lots of yellow daffodils.  In fact, I actually walked out of the store without it and, before I could get in the car and actually leave, I had to go back inside and get it ~ that's how much of an impact it had on me!  That was last May and I have been anticipating working it up into this hat ever since then.  It has not disappointed me, either ~ it's a lovely yarn to work with.  Nice, defined stitches, and it knits up into a fabric that will be soft and comfortable to wear.  It does have a little sparkle in it ~ just enough but not too much ~ but the sparkly stuff doesn't make it at all scratchy (which some can).

Here's the hat in progress:

and here it is with the brim turned up:

You can see the subtle color changes in the yarn but the sparkly bits (which are also subtle) don't show up in the photo - too bad!  I can't wait until it's done - only a couple more inches to go!  Don't tell anyone, but I think I'm going to try it on myself and, if I like it, will probably be making myself one in a different color!  I don't usually go for sparkly yarns - most of the ones I've seen are just too much for me - but this one is just subtle and tasteful enough that I'd love to have one for me, too.  I'll let you know if I do.