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The local knitting guild I belong to sends baby hats to the NICU at a local hospital -- they have plenty of preemie hats, but not everyone who ends up in the NICU is a preemie, so they need full-term baby size as well. Every once in a while I go on a binge and knit a heap of them. All machine washable, acrylic yarns -- not my favorite, but they need to hold up to industrial laundry, and the cause is worth it. And knitting these is a little like potato chips -- you can't do just one.

I'm not a huge fan of pink for girls and blue for boys, either -- but one of the main purposes of these hats is to make life feel a little more normal for the parents who (usually) went in expecting an uneventful birth and hospital stay and now find their world tilted off axis.  Even if the baby is just there for 1 day, it's a big stress -- and the normal pink or normal blue can be very reassuring.

My assortment is not entirely traditional, though (that would be a lot to ask). I'm particularly fond of the Easter egg striped ones. And look at that rogue purple (see how it's waving at you) and that dark blue one. Hmmm, just two blue hats this time - it looks like I may have to work harder at being even-handed in the next batch.

I got distracted

We won't talk about that scarf quite yet, OK? I still have half of March. . .

Meanwhile, I've been swept away by a sweater. I am in love with this yarn. I am also convinced that I will be knitting stockinette for the next 47 years. . .

The yarn is a natural sheep's wool from Maine. I got it from an on-line acquaintance in 2007; she had purchased it, at some point, from the Ledoux Family Farm in Wilton, Maine. I don't know whether they still have their fleeces spun into yarn, but I sure hope so, because I want more. This yarn is springy and warm and smells wonderful when our unseasonably warm March sun hits it. The color is most clearly shown in the upper left corner of this photo:

Because there are no landmarks in this desert, and one inch looks like the next, I've taken to inserting a little marker each day, to prove that progress is indeed occurring:

out of the box

First of all, for those who have wondered, there has not been a coup here at Two Left Feet. Pat is still out there, and we are still speaking to each other. The problem is that the work that she does for pay has been refusing to respect its boundaries, taking big chunks out of the time she would prefer to reserve for knitting and photography. She will be back.

It's March! Time for a new category. This month's category is Scarf.

Now, those who have seen any of my blog entries have a pretty good idea of what I like, I think. Lots of color, simple clean lines. . . But as I was searching for those four balls of red to make a really nice scarf that I've had my eye on for a while, I stumbled across this:

The color is almost true; the rumply skein is 100% silk, and the other one is 70% mohair and 30% nylong. I am not sure when I bought this. I think I know which friend it was intended for, but it may be reassigned. This time of year calls for a departure from predictability!