Level up

January is always a difficult month for me.  The holiday season is over, and it seems like it will be roughly forever until there's another long weekend, never mind the time until the snow melts!  I'm fairly certain that I don't have seasonal affective disorder, but I do notice a dip in my mood in January every year.

This dip used to be much worse, however, before I started knitting a lot all the time.  The Januarys (Januaries?) of 2011 and 2012 didn't seem so bad to me, and I thought that it was because I had my knitting.  I was contemplating this recently and realized that those two years had fairly mild winters compared to what we've usually had here in Winterpeg.  That's not to say that it wasn't still as cold as a witch's teat (at least for a week or two), but comparatively they weren't that bad.

This January has confirmed for me that the knitting definitely helps, as it has been a very cold, very snowy month.  When it's -40 degrees outside (Fahrenheit or Celsius, take your pick, it's the same at that point), when it's so cold that your eyeballs will freeze if they are exposed for longer than 5 seconds, when it's colder than a witch's teat after said witch has gone skinny dipping in the Arctic Ocean, it's really nice to be able to stay inside and knit.

And knit I have.  I've been so busy knitting that I kind of forgot about blogging (sorry about that...).  I knit to keep myself occupied of course, but also as a way to keep myself warm.  Whenever I'm knitting winter accessories I feel like I'm knitting a woollen suit of armour.  This armour is physical and psychological.  I feel like if I'm wearing something knitted, or if I'm busy knitting something, it keeps the winter chill and the blues away.

It totally worked.

BAM!  Knitted socks for the Enabler.  Take THAT, cold floor!  +1 Damage for also being apple green and the complete opposite colour of everything outside!

BIFF!  Idlewood sweater.  More than one ball of Cascade Eco down, who knows how much to go.  And I'm sorry but I have to say it... those are big balls.  Of wool.  Take THAT, cold neck.  +1 Armour because oh, what's that?  Forgot your scarf?  Don't have a hat?  Well don't worry about it because the giant cowl on this baby has got you covered!...  Literally.

KRUNCH!  Honey Cowl, knit out of Three Irish Girls in a colourway called Serengeti.  Take THAT, cold grey skies!  +1 Lion Taming for making me sing the song "Africa" to myself the whole time I was knitting this.

ZZZZWAP!  Ariosa Pom-Pom hat (pom pom not yet attached).  Take THAT, cold head!

+1 AWESOME because... well, it has (or will have) a pom pom.  Obviously.

And that's how I survived January.  February is just around the corner though, which is only marginally better than January.  I'm prepared for it, though, I have a lot more yarn.  Bring it.

Ready...  KNIT!

Pom Pom!

Let me just start out by saying that I totally love knitting tiny hats.

I am getting to the age now where other people around my age have started having kids. For some reason though, very few of my close friends are among these people. My brother is nowhere near having kids (as far as I know), and I do not have kids yet and probably won't for at least a few years. All this is to say that I am often at a loss as to where I should direct my desire for tiny hat knitting. This may not sound like a real problem (and I guess it isn't), but I'm talking about it anyway.

When I recently became a step-auntie-in-law to two adorable little boys, I realized immediately that my tiny hat knitting inclinations were going to have a new outlet. Christmas knitting still got in the way a bit but I was still able to do some quick post-Christmas knitting for my newly acquired nephews!

Both hats were knit over the course of a weekend. The pattern for the more red one is called Aviatrix, and the more orange one is the Ky Baby Ear Cozy Hat (but it's sized up to adult). I will definitely knit these again, and I might not be able to wait until I have more little ones to knit for. I can just fill my house with tiny hats, right? Right??