Whew. 2009 is over.

I think the year was messing with me yesterday. Just to make me grateful it was ending.

I woke up late; it was -22C in the morning; I was very busy at work on what was supposed to be a half day. A crisis with a customer came up at 11:45am and I stayed to see it through to ensure the customer was okay so I didn't leave until 1pm. I had intended to stop at Ikea and then go pick up some groceries but when I got to Deerfoot Trail (a freeway/highway running through the city) it was completely backed up. When I finally got to Ikea there was not a parking spot to be found so I just carried on to the grocery store, which was equally busy. I found what I needed, finally got through the check out lanes and hit more backed up traffic. When I finally got home I started to make dinner (I had planned to make butter chicken, rice & garlic naan for new year's eve dinner). I had no trouble with the butter chicken until I pulled out the jar of minced garlic I had picked up and thought it smelled a little strange so I used the fresh garlic and press instead. Then the dough for the naan was a disaster for some reason (I suspect it had to do with my impatience or something) and had to completely restart it. Again I pulled out the jar of minced garlic and couldn't figure out what smelled so off about it. I was about to use it anyway, being lazy/impatient and wanting to avoid using the press again when I looked more closely at the label. It was minced GINGER.

The good news was that dinner was so so good. Canada won an amazingly exciting world Jr's game against the US (Sorry American friends) and then Calgary beat Edmonton (sorry Edmontonian friends) and then the Comedy Network was showing every episode of Corner Gas back to back. You may need to just trust me on how awesome that all was. It wasn't a traditionally exciting New Year's Eve but we enjoyed it.

I also finished the Boy's new toque last night, making it an FO for New Year's!



Pattern: Doubled Chullo by Kenny Chua from Interweave Holiday Knits 2009. The Boy picked this one out and asked for it specifically. What's a knitter to do?
Yarn: All colors are Galway Highland Heathers. I picked these up in Jasper last weekend. The Boy picked out the colors (they matched the magazine picture pretty closely). I always forget how much I love this yarn.
Mods: I did a round of single crochet for the edging rather than the pick up/bind off specified in the magazine.



He really likes it, which is always good. I plan to use the pattern to make one for myself. I love how it's constructed and the double layer is really nice and warm.

To be honest, this was the 2nd one I knit. I had started one in the size I needed (or thought I needed) and ignored the part of me that was trying to tell me it was too big.



After I decided to frog I checked my gauge and it was spot on. I'm not sure what happened. What matters, I guess, is that I learned something (one would think) and that he was happy. See?



Happy New Year everyone!