Basic Cable Hat (from "Stitch and Bitch Nation")

Did you know I can knit? 

I started knitting back in early 2002 and made a boatload of scarves, a couple of wraps, a beer cozy, an ill-fated sweater (frogged!) and an unfinished pair of socks and then promptly quit knitting. I think it was the socks that ended my knitting career at the time. You can only take stabbing yourself under the fingernails with 00 sized bamboo double-pointed needles so many times before laying the sticks down. Plus, knitting was KILLING my wrists. The English method (throwing) that they teach here in the US is horrible for folks who work at any sort of desk job as it employs bending your wrists constantly. The fear of carpal tunnel was too great for me. I knew that there had to be a better way, but I was sideswiped by the desire to learn to sew clothes for myself in 2004 and set my sticks aside for the love of a good machine (and another expensive hobby!).

Fast-forward to 2008 and knitting entered my life again. This time, instead of taking a class, I decided to teach myself the Continental (picking) method. Boy, was I awful at it! My scarves were all loopy sorts of messes, but I got good enough to knit another ill-fated sweater (Frogged again! Will I ever learn?) and set the sticks aside yet again.

Like any other hobby, knitting called my name again this year, when I decided that I needed to learn cabling while watching all sorts of terrible TV during our sloggishly cold and wet winter. Plus, I've got this super hot guy in my life now who likes to wear hats. What better incentive does a girl need? With sticks in hand, I found a good pattern from this book, some delicious yarn to work with (in Mermaid), and set to making my fella a hat!

Isn't he handsome? That's my guy!

Get a load of those cables!

I enjoyed cabling so much, I'm currently making a pair of arm warmers. I hear spring is around the corner in my neck of the Pacific Northwest, but I'll probably be wearing them until July (sigh).