FO: The Warmest Hat in the World

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have done it. I have created The Warmest Hat in the World. (Don't worry, this isn't like a Highlander "There Can Be Only One" type thing. There are other warm hats out there.) I started with the Thorpe pattern, and then added a star pattern that I made all by my little self. I modified the earflaps as well; the original were a little too Roman gladiator for my taste.

I used 100% wool yarn from Finland - it was gifted to me without a label, so I'm using my powers of animal fiber recognition to guess. But, that wasn't enough - I also lined the hat with fleece. I used TechKnitter's tutorial, which I highly recommend.

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Yesterday I saw a guy standing on a median holding a hand-written cardboard sign that read "Help for Haiti" and a ratty plastic can. I don't know what upsets me more, the fact that someone would use a disaster for his own personal profit, or that some people probably gave him money thinking he really was going to give it to Haiti relief. Yesterday I also saw a bus hit a parked car (which was illegally parked, so they sort of had it coming) and today I saw someone have a seizure at a bus stop. Ah, city life.

Some Things

1. Someone stole my space at the train station yesterday morning, and then someone stole my locker at the gym. By "my" I mean I've been using the same ones for 8 months and therefore the entire DC metropolitan area should be aware and accommodating. You see, I always use locker 6, and if it's taken, I use locker 12. Today I had to use locker 16! Outrage!

2. Our electric bill for this past month was $300, and we weren't even warm! If I had jacked up the heat so that I could lounge in tropical temperatures I could at least comfort myself with the idea that it was worth it. But no, I eat dinner wearing my down coat and wear a hat constantly, even when I sleep. It takes 3 times as long to change my clothes because I have to wear a minimum of 3 layers.

3. The odometer on my car hit 88,888 miles yesterday. It was probably the most exciting thing that happened to me all week. Am I OCD about numbers? I'm so excited that our anniversary will be on 10-20-2010 this year, and I'm so glad my mom carefully planned (not really) to have me on 5-25, because 5 is the square root of 25. My house number is also a palindrome (and see item #1).

4. Twitter. What's up with Twitter? I understand the basic premise, but the whole # @ thing confuses me. I just think it all should be a little bit more organized.

5. I haven't knit anything in 2 weeks. But, this upcoming weekend includes a bonus day off, so the office printer, Ravelry, and I had a little private time this morning before everyone else showed up to work.

Home Improvement: Bedroom

The first time I looked at our house, I knew that I would have to paint this room. The previous owners had good taste in color, but I think they went a little nuts with this green:

And hot pink curtains? I'm not sure how their eyes didn't explode out of their sockets every time they went into this room, but someone they managed to survive living in it with their vision intact.

I painted this room shortly after moving in, before we got the carpet replaced, so I had the luxury of spilling paint wherever I pleased. Here's a "during" shot, after the first coat of primer went up. (Proof that it has to get worse before it gets better)

I do not take responsibility for the leopard print pillow. Before we met, Jason bought several items from the previous owners of his house, and that pillow came with a daybed. The cat became obsessed with it because she obviously has very bad taste.

Here's the after. I stayed with green, but toned it down. See those two closets? They're both mine.

One of these days I'll get around to making a quilt for our bed. But until then, I have more rooms to paint.