Poppin' FRESH!

I am feeling SO cute in this self-portrait, evidence of how pleased with myself I am with finally knocking off another UFO, with how much I love this hat, and with the fact that the rain stopped! What more could you want out of a Friday anyway?

Once upon a time, this hat was called 'Wrong Number', after the Scraptastic handspun of the same name on the top of the hat (above left). But after spinning up yarn to complete it, a Singleton style in what I called 'Retina Burn' (above right), and subsequently finishing it last night, I realized that it reminds me of the hat worn by the Poppin' Fresh Pillsbury Doughboy & it needed a re-name: Poppin' Fresh was born!

This hat got started waaay back in May 2008, as a top-down beanie, but it got set aside (read: abandoned), and despite my best Ravelympics 2008 intentions, sat until I went to SOAR in October 2009. There I trotted it out and realized that I not only didn't have near enough yarn to finish it, but that it was pretty FUBAR: too many stitches formed a ruffle, & I don't know if you've noticed, but my head doesn't have a ruffle. But my friend Jimbobspins was there when I was thinking of frogging & stopped me with a design idea: what IF I did some rapid decreasing, & left the ruffle in as a design element? Intriguing.

So that's what I did! I spun up that 2nd yarn, left it unset and unbalanced so the stitches would bias for additional textural interest - 'cuz really, all that scrappy goodness on the top wasn't enough! This last photo shows the top to good effect.

So, in the waning days of Ravelympics 2010 I have earned another WIPs Dancing medal. Now I'm working on my square for the Handmade Memories charity blanket to benefit Haiti. Just me, some Cascade 220 leftovers, and Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs. Happy Friday night, crafters!

Tags: knitting, handspun, ravelympics