Two weeks ago, the jet stream dipped a little bit lower than it normally does this time of year and, in so doing, delivered near-record low temperatures to the Bay Area. It was a rough time for California: 75% of the citrus crop was destroyed, heating bills skyrocketed, and I lost my Halfdome hat somewhere between my car and the front door.
I realize that our spate of just-below-freezing temperatures won’t earn any sympathy from anyone living east of here, but my hairless head cannot go a single day without a hat this time of year. Oh, I have other hats, but I don’t . . . I don’t like any of them. We all have articles of clothing to which we get attached, and I am attached to that missing Halfdome. So, I did what any self-respecting knitter would do. I knit a new one.
It wasn’t getting any warmer outside, though, and I needed my hat sooner rather than later, so I whipped out my interchangeable circular needles, turned on National Public Radio, sat down in my comfy chair and overcame my abhorrence of knitting stockinette stitch in the round.
That was on a Friday afternoon. I wove in my yarn ends on Sunday morning. Stockinette in the round might be boring as all hell, but it is fast! Special thanks to Woolgatherer for showing me how to work the jogless color change. Now my head is warm again.
And the temperature is back up to normal. And my wife found my old Halfdome in the coat closet. Oy vey.