New Stuff and Unfinished Business

Yesterday I made a trip to Joann's to return some stuff that I had bought a while ago and didn't need. Because I also had in hand a 50% off coupon I decided to make the trek to the the larger store in Canton (the one by my house is pretty teeny tiny). I spent close to an hour scouring their small selection of books and decided on this one: Boutique Knits by Laura Irwin. I had recently seen the cover cloche done in some amazing champagne colored alpaca blend on the Never Not Knitting blog and felt inspired. Now, I'm not much of a hat person having grown up in a region where there was never really a need to wear one. I live in northeast Ohio though, and winter here calls for a warm, cover-your-ears, type of hat. I want to use stash yarn for this hat, but in the event that I can't find anything suitable, I may just have to visit one of my favorite yarn shops and see what I can find.

During last night's trip, I also picked up a hairpin lace frame. I've been wanting to try this scarf from Kristin Omdahl's book Wrapped in Crochet. I haven't done hairpin lace before, but I've really been feeling the urge to flex my crochet skills and perhaps this will be the project that does it. I've crocheted for close to ten years and have lately been getting that "what's next?" feeling which is part of the reason I took up knitting in September. But I really do love crochet and would like to see what else I can do with that skill...

This morning, I met up with my friend Brookelynn (of Akron Dog Stuff) for some much needed coffee. I met Brookelynn soon after I moved here in 2007 and during the following year we became good friends. Any who, during the summer we had set up a crochet lesson in which the goal was that she learn to crochet a simple cloche. The pattern is very simple and consists of single and double crochet. While I was there she made some great progress on her cloche. After I left, she put it all back into the bag from which her yarn had come and did absolutely nothing with it. Fast forward to December and I offered to make her something for house sitting and taking care of my pups while Adam and I were in California for Christmas. She asked if I could finish her hat. No problemo.

Pattern: Floral Cloche by Julie Bueno

Yarn: Red Hear Soft Yarn Solid and Multi

Hook: I 5.5mm (hat) and K 6.5mm(flower)

Began: January 8

Finished: January 9

Ravelry Link