Knitting in the New Year

The start of the new year will be celebrated by me spending an entire day in my pyjamas, knitting.  First some pale blue bootees for a new nephew who was due to be born on Christmas Day but who has held on long enough to be a January baby at the start of a new decade. Surely he'll be here any day now?

Then I'm going to start me some socks with this lovely German sock yarn that I bought at a shop in Royston, Hertfordshire in a spare few hours before a friend's wedding last August.

I never like to waste a yarn buying opportunity.

I pretty much ended last year knitting as well.  I finished a hat for C right before New Year's Eve.  He wanted a hat with earflaps so I made him the Roman Earflap Hat by Minty Fresh on Ravelry.

I love the way the hat looks, but it has come up smaller than I wanted, so next time I would make it bigger.  There will be a next time, I want to make it without the earflaps for G.  Just look at the shaping on the crown - so beautiful!

C moaned a bit about the hole in the top, but stopped quickly when I pulled a face at him.  Next time I will pull the yarn tighter before weaving the ends in, but I think part of the reason the hole ended up that size is that I had to really stretch the hat when blocking it to make it fit.  I don't particularly care - I just love the way it looks.

C has bought himself a skateboard with his Christmas money, hence the skater-chic earflap hat. I am apprehensive about the possible broken wrists and skinned shins that are heading his way. Life was harder but simpler ten years ago when he fitted items as small as these knitted bootees.