WiP Wednesday - This Week, I'm a Trader!

Thanks again to Tami for hosting these WiP Wednesdays on her blog!  I really enjoy browsing through all the links people post there - if you haven't yet, check it out!  And feel free to join in!


I have to admit, since last week I haven't put the work into my WiPs that I had hoped.  I got sidetracked...

...my fingers needed a rest from knitting :)  

So, my WiPs remain the same as last week - the Hippo and the shawl - both with no progress worth mentioning.  I plan to cast on a hat this week for my friend's 5-year-old son.  He had a very specific request for me.

I hang out at their house a lot and he had been watching me knit for a couple of months.  Every time he would ask what I'm making and who I'm knitting it for.  He would even remember a week later what project I had been working on the last time I saw him and ask if I was finished and, if not, when I would be.  A few times went straight for my knitting bag, pull out my project (still on the needles) and, before I could tell him to be careful, ask me what it was and who it was for.

One day, I was working on a project in the morning as he left for school.  When he came home, he immediately asked if the sweater for baby Lucy was done - it was.  He laid it out on the couch, smoothed out all the wrinkles and said, "Ohh!  This is really nice!  Baby Lucy is really going to like it!".  Heartwarming!  

Then, one day he put in a request.  He asked if I could make him something - a hat with a duck part, as he showed me with his hands a shape coming from his forehead.  In red.  I said I could.  So I went on Ravelry.com and found some patterns for duck hats.  "Like this?" I asked, "but in red?".  "Yes", he replied, "but without the eyes".  I confirmed that he wanted the duck hat in red, with the yellow duck part but no eyes.  No, that wasn't what he wanted.  After a lot of questioning and clarification, I realized that he wanted a hat with a bill!  Nothing resembling a duck at all - just the duck PART!  Oh, and it was to be "like a hard hat", so that he couldn't ruin it.  I explained that I would make it so it wouldn't fall apart, but that knitting would not be as hard as a real hard hat.  I don't think he actually wanted it hard, perhaps he was trying to tell me he wanted it to be stiff?

So, I eventually got the yarn and got his approval, but finding a pattern was not easy!  I did find one that I think will work in the book Son of Stitch n' Bitch by Debbie Stroller; it's called the "Half-Pipe Hat".  I need to learn the tubular cast-on; looks like some people on Ravelry gave up on it and used a different cast-on.  I'm determined to learn! 

I need to get on it, the poor kid requested it back in the spring and now is the perfect time of year for him to wear it!  Pressure is on - I'm already worrying that he won't like it!