indian summer

For Shanti


From the knitty Fern Glade pattern in bright turquoise yarn, this pattern was fun to knit and came out beautifully after my second try. For my friend Shanti, who is as bright and interesting, full of color and always smiling, who kept my heart light in Riverside, who I miss greatly.


Thus ends the great hat knitting project and my life in Riverside, just as life begins again in Colorado....

crossing

For Sean


Crossing from one place to another, over the mountains and ending here in Fort Collins, Colorado. I saved the best for last; the people I knew I would miss the most and would want to stay in contact with. This is for Sean, a kindred spirit who hated the desert as much as I did, and who will be using my gained knowledge to follow my footsteps and end at a masters come fall. Hopefully wherever h e goes he will actually get some use out of this hat.

The pattern itself is the Ring of Fire knit on dp 6s and fair isle brown and changing fall colors, an ode to the seasons of Oregon and friendship found in too bright places.

spirals

For CrissyMade from the Berroco Dizzy pattern, this elegant hat was slightly frustrating at first, and then intriguing as I learned how to keep track of the pattern without being able to count stitches. The instructions for closing the hat was especially confusing, and I ended up making up the pattern on my own, and to my delight, it looked amazing; a little like a snowflake:

I wish I could tell you what I did, but I have no idea. I mark it as a success anyway as it turned out. This is for Crissy, who was one of the first and best people I met when I moved to Riverside. This hat fits her unique personality and I hope she loves it.

thinker

For Dr. Rodgers


At the Christmas swap, Dr. Rodgers said that if I made him a hat, he would wear it, so I figured I better. Made using the Tychus pattern, this hat was really fun to make, and even though Dr. Rodgers may have badly messed up my time at UCR, he really did mean for the best. I left all these hats as the hat fairy would have; in the evening when no one was around so they would find them after I had alreay left. When he found his, Dr. Rodgers sent me a text message saying that the hat "is so beautiful I wanted to cry. " So now that we've tradded tears, I'm glad to have known him.

matching circles

For Aliana and Arodi

From Knitty's Center Square pattern, I made one for my grad school co heart Aliana, and a smaller one in inverse colors for her daughter Arodi. She is the cutest little girl you have ever seen, and she wore her hat to my going away party, which made me cry.

camouflage

For Chris


Knit in the round on 8s with seed st brim and mixed media stripes plus poof, this is a big hat for a guy with a big head. (No really, he just has a large diameter head.) Chris was one of my first and best friends when I came to UCR, and he knew before he opened it what this would be. He is off in Japan now, so hopefully he can make good use of it.

red flower

For Yan

Perhaps a bit too girly for my normal taste, but just perfect for my Asian friend Yan. The hat is a simple white pattern with pink trim, and the flower is from the Stitch-and-Bitch Nation book and throws in some nice color. I will always remember the first thing Yan asked me when we meet, which was if I had any brothers or sisters, and when I said that I did she asked me what it was like. She grew up in the age in China when more than once child was illegal, and was fasinated with my stories about my little brother. Internatinal diversity does have a way of changing your perspectives.