tammed if I do

We all know from previous posts that I am not the most fashion-forward of people. In fact, I am pretty much fashion ignorant (and happy that way) and I tend to highly value my personal comfort and wallet's well-being over any particular trend.

(My first confession/apology of the day: My mother has provided a great role model in this regard and like any good daughter, I completely did not appreciate this fact while I was growing up. This is not to say that my mother is a frump; as anyone who knows her will attest, she is very stylish. But in my youth I could never understand why she put comfort first, or why she refused to buy into any particular brand name on her heinie or purse. I am only now able to appreciate the tremendous gift she gave me.)

I do recognize that I am somewhat in the minority on the whole "I pay no attention to fashion" thing, and so when I give gifts I do try to take what people are wearing in this century into account. Hence my knitting the 5th Avenue Infinity Scarf (which by the way, is done) for a very fashionable recipient. The scarf ended up using much less yarn than the pattern called for, so I decided to try and make a hat to match it. I knew what I wanted: one of those slouchy beret/tam sort of things that I see all the people on the cover of People wearing these days. I do recognize that is probably not where to look for fashion guidance. This is why I am a fashion loser, people.

I started out with this pattern, but an entirely different yarn and hook size (plus it took me a few attempts before it clicked that Australian and US crochet directions use the same terms for different stitches). I went merrily along and then realized that I was producing something that would be more suited for a rastafarian with a whole lot of dreads to store in it, and I still had a ways to go:



(Yes, I suffer from Forrest Gump Syndrome.)

So I ripped back, and got what I thought was a pretty good hat. Until my LSH started humming the Fat Albert theme song every time he saw me working on it.



So I ripped back again, and now even I realize that it is entirely too small, and my LSH's office manager told me that I had ruined it and it needed to go back to the way it was.


Argh! Back to the drawing board, and this is only ONE RECIPIENT. The backlog of gifts is starting to pile up. But at least I will have the perfect tam/slouchy beret, though probably one that the recipient wouldn't be caught dead wearing because it is so last season or just too darn ugly.

Which leads me to my second confession/apology of the day: I recently stated that my LSH's family did not read this blog on a regular basis. As I discovered during Thanksgiving weekend, that is a big fat lie. My LSH has demanded a public retraction and apology, so here it is, plus a big wave to everyone. I think that he would also like me to state for the record (although he did not specifically request it) that I did not in fact wear pants that I purchased from the thrift store to Thanksgiving dinner. Those particular pants were purchased off a clearance rack about four years ago. Just so we are all clear on that particular point.