Jeanie continues to progress, but it looks pretty much the same. The Argyle scarf hasn’t moved in weeks. I have a FO that is all done but the blocking, but that will wait for tomorrow’s post.

So, I’m going to post about a different WIP. I’ve been doing some thinking about what I want to do with Hats for Alex this year, and one of the things I decided to do was move the info from Blogger to WordPress, hosted on its very own domain – hatsforalex.org! I’m still updating the site, but it’s mostly there. I’ve also got some ideas for this year – details on those will be forthcoming.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year’s – we celebrated here with friends and had a grand time!

291 hats!!!!That’s right – we’ve officially made the goal of 250 I set for this year! Thank you all so much for making this project a success! And don’t forget – you can still get in on Weezalana’s contest if you get three hats to me by the end of October.

As far as the rest of the weekend, it was so amazing. I’m not sure I can really put it into words. There were so many people I’ve wanted to meet for so long (including some who I didn’t recognize at first… sorry about that, RosiG! I blame the yarn fumes for that…), and some I’d met before who I was thrilled to see again. The food was incredible – we found apple cider doughnuts that were SO yummy, some of the best hot cocoa I’ve ever had, the obligatory fried and French artichokes, fried pickles, and fried garlic cloves. I was pretty well-behaved on the fiber front – I bought one more hank of the purple alpaca/silk that I bought from Ellen’s Half-Pint at Stitches so that I have enough to make an Icarus shawl, and I bought four hanks of Brooks Farm Solana to make Cherie Amour. And that’s it. (Well, ok, I also bought an amazing handwoven basket, a curly purpleheart lucet, and some matryoshka stitchmarkers, plus a couple of dragonfly buttons, but that was all the yarn I bought.) And I didn’t buy any fiber at all – I’m not allowed until I actually get through some of what I already have. Here’s hoping I can be that reserved at SAFF next weekend…

Instead, I want to bring up a different project I’ve been working on for a little over a year now – Hats for Alex.* My goal for this year is to collect 250 hats to send. As of today’s mail (Thanks, Poops!), I am at 116 hats so far – 46.4% of the way to my goal. The lovely Weezalana has come up with an idea that she hopes will help us get to that goal, and I’ll post the details of it here as soon as she does. So, please, if you haven’t done so, and you would like to contribute to a project in memory of a beautiful little boy, consider making a hat or two. Contact me, and I can tell you where to mail the hats. And please, spread the word.

Thank you!!!

*For those of you not familiar, I am collecting handknit hats to donate to Children’s Hospital in Omaha, NE. They cared for my dear friend’s baby boy when he was fatally injured by his daycare provider. You can see more details on the Hats for Alex blog I linked to above.