This hat is a Quill, by Andrea Mowry. This is for Zooey’s treasured first grade teacher. Z loves her so much that has a period of time where she wrote, “I love Mrs. Lawson,” on every single worksheet. It seemed like she should have some kind of hand knit for that kind of love. 
I used Malabrigo Rios in Bobby Blue. This isn’t technically the correct weight of yarn, but it worked out well. I altered the pattern slightly by skipping the non-decrease rows in the decrease section. My row gauge was slightly off and I was worried it would be too slouchy, so I just sped those up. The hat is reversible and both sides look great, so I tried to be careful with hiding the ends nicely.
This year I was on my game with the teacher gifts in terms of timing. Z is out of school after Wednesday. Last year was our first year of public school and I assumed they finished out the week prior to the holiday like Charlotte’s school. Nope. We didn’t realize until that week that Z was going to be out Thursday and Friday. Surprise! We love her school, but it was definitely an adjustment moving from a private pre-k schedule to the public school schedule. This year I was prepared and her teacher is getting her present two whole days before the break. [Patting self on the back].
The teacher gifts for Charlotte’s teacher will be up on the blog later this week! I don’t do many holiday gifts because I don’t like the time pressure, but a few little things are fun to do. I also have a sweater for Matt (that he knows about) that is the remaining gift knit to finish.
What are your feelings on holiday knits? Do you embrace them and the time crunch/pressure?
I usually end up making one last-minute knit gift, most likely because it’s the one person for whom I have no other ideas that year 😀 This year I’m really into knitting aran-weight socks (to be used either as bed socks or as slippers for around the house). I’m using a fairly cheap yarn and they look more rustic than fashionable, but boy are they warm! And they take no more than three or four evenings of relaxed knitting to complete, which is amazing. This is the pattern I use (no idea why it’s not more popular): https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/colour-block-slipper-sock
Love the hat! I went to add the pattern to my Ravelry queue and discovered it was already there! Thanks for the reminder.
It looks great! I’m done with my gifts for this year … PHEW. But I’m already working on a shawl for my aunt who will be celebrating her 70th birthday right at the beginning of January. 😉 I don’t want to knit that much for other next year, but then, I’ve said this every year so far, and I’ve already got four other projects queued up … Keeping my fingers crossed that you won’t drown in stress until Christmas!! 🙂
The journey of life is with many twists and turns. But with faith and courage, no obstacle can stop you from reaching your goals. Keep faith, peace and kindness in your heart, and you shall always shine. Merry Christmas.