Can You Stand Another Ida?

The monogamous knitting continues! Here is the latest Ida's Kitchen hat, knit again in Berocco Ultra Alpaca Lite.

Why so many of these? Next week I'm going Up North with some friends, where we hope to spend a lot of time cross country skiing. I'm planning to pull out my pile of Ida Kitchens and let my friends pick one if they want.

In the meantime, I'm luxuriating in the first week of winter break. My daughter Rachel is home for the whole week, so we have been shopping and movie-going and playing Set. This is her first year out of college, so it's the first year she hasn't been home for a month at the holiday time. I have kept my schedule very open so I can spend as much time as possible with her.

I've seen a lot less of Seth, who goes to school right here in Madison. He is planning to apply to vet school next fall, so he has been busy volunteering at the zoo, the Humane Society, and a local veterinarian's office.

My job is really hard, but I have to admit that the breaks are nice!

Ode to Ida

When I bought my first batch of yarn for Ida's Kitchen, the hat designed by Kirsten Kapur, I hoped I'd like it. Because it takes seven colors, I knew I'd need to make a handful to use up all those partial skeins. Fortunately, I love the pattern.

 

Here are my two most recent:

The striped hat uses up much of my original yarn. The solid pink hat is for my daughter, who has very subtle taste. It looks boring, but this hat has the cutest silhouette ever!

I seem to be hooked on this pattern. I bought a few more skeins of yarn and I'm having great fun trying out a different palette:

The yarn is Ultra Alpaca Light. The pattern calls for Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight, but I've been so happy with the Ultra Alpaca that I haven't been tempted to go for the more expensive Blue Sky!