The things we do for love...

Yesterday I went to pick up the kids from daycare, and the lady who runs the daycare, Isabelle, asks me if I've got another hat for Émilie. I'm afraid I dropped the ball with the whole "providing my family with warm woolly winter accessories" obligation every knitter in Canada seems to take upon him/herself, so I can't say I'm surprised when she points out that the hat Émilie's currently wearing is no longer appropriate.

"Why, is this one too small?" I ask innocently. I know perfectly well it's too small. Both my kids have big noggins, and I bought this hat for her LAST year. I'm surprised it doesn't shoot off her head with a loud "Pop!" sound every time I put it on her.

"No" she says, surprising me. "It's too hot"

And she has a point. Not only is it too small, it's also lined with polar fleece. Clearly, it's too hot for Spring.

"Oh. Sure, I can make her a little cotton hat, no problem".

She looks at me dubiously. "Yeah... I mean for, like, tomorrow".

We stare at each other in silence for a few seconds. It's a tense moment... Tumbleweeds blow past us in silence as we size each other up, she with a look of incredulity, I with calm certainty in my abilities as a devotee of the needle arts AND a mother.

"I can make her a cotton hat. No. Problem". I repeat calmly. And with that, we depart.

On the way home, my mind was already going through the stash, trying to see what I could use, what I would do. I quickly decided that I would crochet rather than knit a hat, as crochet is so much quicker. Desperate times, people. Desperate. Times.

Fresh from my bag success using the Katia Jamaica cotton, I remembered that I had a leftover ball from the Baby Pinwheel Blanket I made a few months ago, and how Émilie had commented that she really liked the colour.

It was settled then. I'd make her a little rasta beanie using the Katia Jamaica cotton. This was going to be so a cakewalk. Mwahahahahaha!!!

I cast on (hooked on?) at Kate-the-Enabler's house, where we were having one of our all too infrequent local knit nights. I chatted, I laughed... I enjoyed a lovely glass of red French wine. It was looking a little... holey, but I assumed it was because I was using a thinner yarn than the last time I had crocheted a hat. I had a piece of chocolate and chatted and hooked. At one point, Kate commented that it was looking sort of pointy at the top, and it was.... But I just shrugged it off and kept right on crocheting. It was 9:30, and I was practically done!

I pulled out Émilie's frog beanie, which I had planned to use as a reference for the length of the cotton beanie...

And that's when it hit me, the truth I had failed to see all evening.

The pattern called for a double crochet stitch. I know what a double crochet stitch is. I've done double crochet. And yet, for reasons that are unfathomable to me, I was doing a triple crochet stitch.

That's why it was looking so holey. And that's why there was a point at the top, because I was beginning each round with a 3 stitch chain (as one would do for a double crochet stitch), and the rounds were pulling.

What could I do? You guessed it. I frogged.

I was down but not out. I cast (hooked?) right back on again, and crocheted faster than I ever had before. My reputation was at stake, people! My little girl was counting on me! (OK, she had no idea I was making her anything. But Isabelle did, and that was enough for me.)

I finished it at 12:04 AM, but I FINISHED it. I was Mother. I was Crafter. Roooooooaaaaaaarrr!!!!


And the best part? Émilie loves her hat. She put it on as soon as she found it at the breakfast table this morning, and wore it to daycare with pride.

As for Isabelle... Apparently her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw the new hat. THAT'll teach her to doubt the awesome power of the knitter/crocheter!

Happy Knitting Everyone! I've got a hockey game to watch.