My life in Fish Hats

So at the beginning of the year when I decided that I would photograph and keep track of all of my knitting (there are people out there who actually do this. They catalog everything that ever appears on their needles. I have always been fairly lazy about this...it's on the needles, then it's off the needles and out of my mind until my sister says "hey, I love those socks! What pattern is it?"). But really I've knit so many of these hats since January 1 (5 of them so far!) that I don't really feel compelled to note the pattern (dead or alive fish hat) or the techniques I used to knit it (whatever entertains me at the moment, same with my color selection....I'm more governed by whatever odd skeins I have hanging around).

A friend asked if I'm tired of knitting these hats, and the answer is yes......and no. I've knit so many of them now (I've knit a total of 8 or 9 of them) that it's a fairly mindless knit and they're quick to do....which is good as I still have 4 or 5 more of them to knit for gifts.

I remember when

I have been a knitter for most of my life. I can remember when it wasn't "cool" to knit. It was okay that my mother knitted sweaters for me, I preferred her knit sweaters to match my school uniform to the scratchy uniform sweaters. But I remember being that age when knitted gifts were looked down upon. You know, like in "A Christmas Story" when Ralphie's aunt made him that Bunny costume for Christmas. Doesn't everyone have a gift like that costume? For me it was a woman my dad dated, she gave me this lime green sweater. She didn't knit it, a friend of hers did for me. It was horrid. I thanked her for it and wondered what in the world I would ever do with it. (for the record, I did wear it. It was warm and perfectly suited for wearing around the house and in the yard).

This whole thing crossed my mind as I asked my son's friend what kinds of things he might like for his birthday, since my son is invited to his party and, of course, a gift is customary. Several of the boys in my sons class have asked for a hat. So when asked this boy piped up "A fish hat". The party is day after tomorrow, I got the invitation yesterday. I know, I know I could just go buy a nice gift to give the kid. But I already had started another fish hat because I knew that if I could get a fish hat or three or four ahead that they would make perfect gifts. So, I'm madly knitting away on this hat and wondering how it is that now hand knit items for the middle school set have become so popular?

So life has slowed down my knitting a bit, it feels a little bit like the last couple of weeks have been a blur of activity and work. But I still have managed to squeeze in a little knitting time. This guy here needs eyes, he's for a friend who wanted one for her daughter's birthday. As soon as I talk to my friend about whether or not this guy gets "live eyes" or "dead eyes" (a button in the middle or an "X" in the middle), I'll give him eyes and be on to my next project....which is actually on the needles right now. Socks. For me. From yarn my friend in England dyed and sent me. Socks I am hoping I'll have done before I go to visit her next month. Of course, soon, very soon, another fish hat will be on the needles. I'm thinking I shall call 2011 the year of the fish hat.