Holidays and 2 FOs

Well, not that it will make a huge impact since I've been lazy about posting, but I'll be away from the blog for Thanksgiving. I'm driving down to my parents' house tomorrow evening after work, and I'll be returning Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully I'll get a lot of knitting done, assuming their cat doesn't attack the yarn (as he's done before).

On a completely different note, I'm totally hooked on the History Channel. Tonight I watched Cities of the Underworld (looooove that show) and Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler. I knew pretty much nothing about that part of the war, and plan on doing more reading about it. The only problem was they kept showing clips from the upcoming Valkyrie movie, and holy good goddamn, Tom Cruise doesn't even attempt a frickin German accent! Hello main character of the film, kind of leaving out a crucial character trait there. Though I imagine that he tried and was so bad at it they said screw it (of course, I would've said screw it, get someone else). Sorry, I just had to let that out.

I've also fallen in love (again) with Labyrinth. When I was in college I would play the soundtrack as I was falling asleep (silence and I don't do well together), and I've been watching it a lot in the last week or so. Mike thinks it's cute that I've been humming the songs nonstop. I'm sure he'll get tired of it soon.

Anyway onto the FOs:

Spartan Tux (#58)


Pattern: Spartan Tux by Paola Navarro, available from the DeliciousCrochet Etsy store
Yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy (50% acrylic, 50% nylon), partial skeins, in the following colors:
#1 - black
#13 - gray
#18 - white
#20 - red
#99 - pumpkin
Hook size: F (3.75mm)
This was far more time consuming than I imagined--I didn't think about the ridiculous amount of sewing needed to put this thing together. She tells you to sew everything on at the end, but holy hell, do it as you're going along or you'll go nuts! Of course, that leaves him looking completely wacky at some stages--at one point he looked like a giant Dr. Mario pill with googley eyes.


He's one brave penguin. Don't poke the dragon!

---

Amanda Hat (#59)



Pattern: Amanda Hat by Gina House (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Handpaintedyarn.com Colonia 140 in "Sapphire Magenta," 1 skein
Needles: US #9 (5.5mm)
Modifications: I left two rows of garter stitch off the brim.

This is one of those yarns I've had in my stash for quite a long time because I've never found a worthy project. It's just too pretty to knit. As I started making this hat I thought "No, it's too pretty, I have to rip it out because this hat isn't good enough." Then I thought "God, I'm a moron." Perhaps this will prompt me to use other too-pretty yarn in my stash.

I've started a matching neckwarmer as well. May as well make more pretty things.