You, said Madeleine, are a Bad Hat.
Well, it's finished. My Almanac-a-long January aran hat is now off the needles. On the plus side, you can see the patterning in the picture. It doesn't get any better in person, trust me. I worked very hard making the light hit from an angle so you could see the wondrousness of all that freakin' left twist, right twist, knit-through-the-back-loop-on-the-cable. I even got very clever decreasing as we approached the top of the hat, but the patterning splays so amazingly that all the decreasing barely made any difference,.

So what has the Crazed Weasel learned from this experience?

Well. I have learned not to use lopi for aran work ever, ever, ever again. I have learned for sure how to do left twist and right twist without a cable needle, as much for the preservation of my ever-more-tenuous sanity as for general technical geek-out. I have learned that contrary to my dear husband's claims, there is indeed a hat in the world that does not look good on me. It is this one. This one looks so dorky that if it were a really hideous color, it would probably be cool. As things stand, it's just dorky. I am not certain, but I feel it is unlikely that the addition of pompoms or tassels will improve matters.

Onward to Chapter February! I've wanted to do that double-knit baby blanket for so, so long. I think I'll save the other 10 (20? 25?) skeins of lopi for a December hurry-up-quick sweater.

Um, well, after I finish the re-knit of lace sock #2, get a lot more done on a commission that came in Thursday, finish dh's Hardangervidda and oh, yes, aren't there some Knitting Olympics going on? So perhaps I should be thinking, baby booties. I really am not going to stress about the Almanac-a-long, it's really fun going through the book and I am enjoying it (all grumping aside), so perhaps a little realism is in order.

So double-knit blanket it is. I may even need to buy yarn for it.