Charms - Done!

Early Tuesday morning (when I should have been rushing out the front door), I finished my Charms project. The assignment was: Rememberall - "Craft a item which represents your family's past... Tell us a little about the person/event." Since both my husband and I are each the offspring of two sailors/scullers, and we each grew up influenced by the military (me, Army; he, Navy), and as my husband refuses to wear his grandfather's (still perfectly good and able to be used) WWII watch cap because he doesn't want to hurt it, I decided to find a similar pattern and make him another one. I think I found the actual pattern, however - an official U.S. Navy/Red Cross Watch Cap pattern from 1941.


I made a few (possibly unwise) changes to the pattern. For one, I didn't use wool (I will next time), and two, I used bulky yarn, instead of worsted-weight. Once I hit the crown, I was worried about bundling all the thick stitches together, so I did three sets of two rows/decrease row (decreasing every 3, 2 and 1 stitches respectively). With less bulky yarn, I think following the pattern exactly would work.

What did work is, for the first time ever, I generated a hat that was actually long enough to both cover the ears and fold up - I've clearly been making all my hats far too short all this time (sigh). And it's actually snug on my husband's head without squeezing his brains out, which is preferable to brain-squeezing. Since it's Not Wool, it's machine washable/dryable, so it will hopefully soften up over time.


At any rate, he'll be willing to wear it in public, and his grandfather's watch cap will remain safe.

I'm also forging along in my quest for Challenge Rabbits. I've got three rabbit "skins" knitted now - I just need ears and to fold them into rabbits (the first part)...


... and then decorate for whichever holiday they represent. The little brown one is Thanksgiving, the beige one is Christmas, and the white one is New Year's Eve.


There's a really strong possibility that the Christmas one is going to grow antlers and be a Jackalope!