10 year olds are interesting creatures, they seem to be caught in the vast web of inbetween, not quite a kid anymore, and not quite a teenager they are constantly straining against the pull back to childhood. Or at least our 10 year old is, she seems to want it all at once, to enjoy all the aspects of being a more independent teenager (read "Mom I need a cellphone") and yet still needs her kid time too (read "Can I just play instead of loading the dishwasher"). She is becoming increasingly hard to please in the fashion department and I have to admit that I have almost stopped trying.. almost. Part of the strangeness for me is that most of what is in fashion right now was in fashion when I was about her age.. which is some manner of bizarre time paradox. And it makes me feel uneasy, and old, and very strongly that the fashion industry might be trying to mess with my generation, but I digress.
It had been a while since I knit anything for our 10 going on 17 year old, because I don't actually go searching for disappointment and heartache and having her constantly change her mind after project completion was wearing thin. But when I came across a few skeins of Bulky yarn in the stash, neon yellow and 2 shades of grey they seemed to fall into the 'cool and acceptable' category. I said to myself "Self, let's be honest, this might not last long, get that Bulky on the needles NOW!"
I went with a geometric design that had the bright yellow as the main color and the two greys as a transitioning background color. I love the flicker it gives when the work moves from the light grey to the dark grey mid diamond. It was important that this hat was slouchy AND had a gigantic pompom, which actually is pretty cool (but maybe don't mention I said that). And since I was using Bulky yarn it ended up being a 2 day knit! RIGHT!?! I know, she never even had a chance to second guess it!
So when the hat was finished she starts happily bopping around the house in it, that's when Hubs turns around and says "Hey! I really like that... and I mean reaaaally like that"
It was a two day knit.
I went stash diving.
I had some random skeins of Wool of the Andes Bulky leftover from various other projects, Hubs chose a russet orange for the main color and two shades of blue for the background. Turns out that the non slouchy Beanie version is actually a one day knit.
And when the two younger kids ask for pompom hats too and you design a smaller size it happens to be a 2 in a day knit.
So here they are, totally adorable (but not the 10 year old, she is infinity cool) in their matching hats. When I say that this pattern is perfect for gift giving I mean REALLY perfect for gift giving. And the original yarn Schachenmayr Boston Original is actually on discount most places as I write this. And there are 23 days until Christmas, and at the possibility of 23-46 hats in 23 days? well.... your gifts are covered
