Happy New Year! And Getting My @ss Kicked

I've started and frogged the Flannel Scarf project several times. The last time is because somehow the pattern in the third pattern block doesn't match the pattern in the first pattern block. So I've frogged back to the beginning of the third pattern block for the second time and will try again.

Did I switch the main colour with the contrast colour? Am I not paying enough attention because I'm knitting whilst watching TV? Is there a mistake in the pattern? Am I going 'tweedly'? Good grief.

I may have to frog the whole damned thing and start over, possibly with other yarns, possibly with some of my handspun.

I had Jen1, Barb, and Jeanette over for some stitching on Tuesday and got a little bit more done on Miss Hazel:

While Jen1 was over, we discussed what hats we'd take on our Iceland/Norway trip. She and Poppy found lovely ones on Etsy which will be custom knit with, I believe, fingering weight.

I have many hats I can take like this one, Bonnet l'Hiver on Ravelry. The instructions were in French but Google translate helped me out. I knit it with Icelandic wool so will need to line it so as not too be too scratchy. A lot of the Icelandic hats I saw when I was there last were lined with t-shirt/knit jersey fabric so I'll do the same for mine.

There are several free Nordic hat patterns on Ravelry. I may do this one with worsted weight non-scratchy yarn. It's the Basic Norwegian Hat and is a free pattern.

My winter coat is dark grey (almost black) so I would use grey, black and white yarn. I would also make the ribbing 4" long to have double thickness over my ears.

I also plan to take one of my Musselburgh hats and this one I knit for Skip.

I bought two patches on eBay and affixed one to the hat and the other to the sweater sleeve.

It's the Dale of Norway 'St Moritz' pattern from 2003. I used Dale of Norway Heilo yarn and the now-discontinued KnitPicks yarn, Telemark. I recall this being a very fun knit and used the rolled Italian cast-on for the cuffs. It was not Skip's favourite sweater because of the bulk under the set-in sleeve but he would haul it out from time to time in the winter.

Years ago I came home from shopping to find him wearing it whilst decorating the little tree we always put in our front window.

That man sure was an appreciative knitter's husband. 

Getting back to the Basic Norwegian hat, I will raid my stash first before buying any yarn. 

I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions but stitching wise, I am continuing my pledge to finish or fully finish a project before starting something else. I have several projects kitted up and need to select the fabric (again from my stash). But lots of finishing work to do first.

I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home, attempting to knit the Flannel Scarf, sipping my 200mL bottle (Piccolo) of Henkel Trocken and watching TV. Look how little the bottle was compared to the champagne flute! LOL. That's 4/5 of a cup for you British measurement holdouts.

I was surprisingly exhausted by 10 pm and got to bed by 10:30, having PVRd Anderson and Andy on CNN to watch later. Skip and I used to watch them, crack open a couple of the little bottles of sparkling wine, and sing "New York, New York" along with the folks at Times Square. That song has special significance for us. First, because we had many getaways to NY state. Secondly, we happened upon a big celebration in Sackets Harbor one June day in 2003. Funny Cide, a racehorse owned by locals was running in the Belmont Stakes, and hoping to win the third race for the Triple Crown. The whole town was out in the street preparing to watch the race on big TVs. We all belted out, 'New York, New York', the theme song of the Belmont Stakes. Sadly the horse, which had won the first two Triple Crown races lost. The only reason we were there was that I had left my credit card at the local bar two days before and we had returned to the town to pick it up, getting caught up in all the revelry. We always had fond memories of this once-in-a-lifetime event.