Eat Dessert First

You might choke on dinner.

I know.  All this time, I've been spazzing about getting on to the Faery Ring, and the minute I get a chance, what do I do?  Start a totally unrelated impulse project, of course.  And this is so sweet! - too much sugar for a nickel, as my sister-in-law used to say.  But I just couldn't leave it alone, and the closer I got to the end, the faster it went.  I am such a sucker for the little stem on top of a beret.  Here's a side view:

Can you tell that's a corrugated rib on the band?  So sweet my teeth itch.  My mom will love it. and so do I.  This is my first entrelac, and my first Noro.  Making it was just like going on a jelly bean binge...just one more and then I'm stopping, honest.  Right after this tier is done.  Big Fun, lack of self-control notwithstanding.  And a bonus:  Almost no yarn left over!  It's almost as though I could break the endless one-project-begetting-another spiral.  Unless I take to knitting thimble-cozies, the fat lady has truly sung the final chorus on this one.  Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen, I'm here all week.  
 

Confection

As we move into the time of year when sweets are everywhere, I have to admit to having fallen prey to this delicious morsel.  About twelve minutes after my family collectively decided that we would not be exchanging Christmas gifts this year (we decided to plan a fun weekend of experiences together instead of material gains this time), I realized that I simply HAD to make this hat for my mom.  My  mom (who neither has nor desires internet access, so it's safe to talk about here) is crazy in love with entrelac, but never has tried to knit it.  She points it out to me every time we see any, and it totally fascinates her.  I've never tried it either, but if I were a person for whom a lack of experience were any kind of limitation, there would be a whole passle of things I should have thought better of before starting.  Someday, I will tell you about the time I tried ocean kayaking, and the time I tried rain forest horseback riding, and the time I tried writing a knitting book.  For now I'll leave it at this: All of the above could have been more carefully researched before I attempted them.  But when I spied the adorable Fourth Grade Hat, It was True Love.  The best kind of True Love: the perfect thing for someone who will really love it, and isn't expecting it.  And if all that weren't enough, My mom is one of the few people I know who reliably wear hats.  She loves them, in all their different forms, and all their bad-hair-day-cloaking ways.  Her head is my canvas, and has been for years.  There could be no better recipient than the woman who introduced me to yarn, for heaven's sake.  AS IF I needed such a brilliant excuse.

Even though I have not quite finished the stealth peasant blouse.  Even though I have not quite jumped into the Faery Ring with full gusto.  It's time for a little immediate gratification.  Sweets to the Sweet, you might say.