Hats ahoy!

I have finished making a family of knitted gifts,



had a terrific time making them, and hope the recipients like them! it's a watch cap for the guy, a neckwarmer for the mom, and a watchette cap for the little boy (and there's a little item inside that one as a surprise which will fall out when he opens it, and might just fit into his current enterprise, which seems to consist of digging and playing in the dirt and making roads, right outside his front door!). Hats are 100 per cent wool, neckwarmer is 100 per cent cashmere, and were all fun to make.

The neckwarmer has a slot that one end slips through and it stays in place. I tested it out and think this might be a wonderful gift item for other people, too.

I saw it on the great Mason Dixon blog, go google it (two women, one in Manhattan, one in Tennessee, hence the title, both screamingly funny writers and skit makers via video as well as expert knitters and writers of knitting books, which are worth the price of admission even if you don't knit, they're that well written).

Anyway, panting a little from that lengthy sentence, this is what comes of studying Latin and Greek at an early age, there. And it seems that Martha Stewart had put it in her mag, evidently letting readers imagine it as an original design by her talent team, but not so fast, a lot of knitters pointed out that it was created years ago and named the actual designer, and if I can find her name, I will credit her! as Martha should have back then.

As to the designer of the hats, that was me. K2P2 rib throughout, with decreases after 9 inches or so to fit the crown. I had HS test the smaller one to make sure it was a bit too snug for a man with short hair, which would make it okay for a small kid. They do have bigger heads than you think, but not as big as a man's. Then I increased the size of the man's and tested it on me, and it works, so that's the extent of the test panel's efforts.

Then came the hard part. Finding wrapping paper and wrapping it and finding a nice presentation bag to hang it on their doorknob to surprise them when they come home.



I swear, all my talent is in other directions than that of wrapping and presenting stuff. Honestly, I can make all kinds of things just by thinking a while then Just Doing It. Wrapping gifts? I'd be fired in a nanosecond from one of those gift wrap counters in the retail stores I never go into. Just can't get the paper, after the lengthy search for it, it to do what I want, then I forget to put names on and have to go back, then I forget to put in a card of explanation, the recipients not being mind readers, and have to go back.

Then I need a cup of tea to recover from the Wrapping Toils. Speaking of which, I have been directed by friends who think I need tranquillizing, can't think why they ttttttthink tttttthis, anyway, to Holy Basil, an Indian herb. I found it in tea form, Tulsi Tea, certified organic and all that, Tulsi being the real name of Holy Basil.

Had the first cup yesterday, these come in teabags, much to my surprise, I was expecting little wooden boxes of loose leaves or something, and I don't know how tranquillizing it is exactly, since I nodded off within a couple of minutes of the first few sips....it has that wonderful smell that I associate with Indian textiles and homes, warm and sort of deep, and before you even drink it, you feel calmer. Highly recommend it.

So while HP has his afternoon Lapsang Souchong, or Eau de Asphalt, as Rhonda put it, not a fan, I sip my Tulsi. He's in China, I'm in India. Works for us!