Purple rain, purple rain

The vestiges of Tropical Storm Fay have hit Virginia, meaning we've had pretty much non-stop heavy rain since yesterday afternoon. The chill of the rain, the start of school and everyone's constant talk of the coming of fall have all forced me to come to terms with the fact that autumn is indeed on its way, meaning I have to return to Minnesota in a few short weeks. Luckily, I will at least have some hand knit goodies to keep me toasty as I long for the comforts of home. (And bonus, they coordinate with my new black North Face fleece!)

I made this hat on a whim way back at the beginning of the summer, when the days (and, incidentally, my hair) were longer, and the whole summer was spread before me. If only I could return to those days!

The pattern is the popular Foliage by Emilee Mooney from Knitty's Fall 2007 issue. I chose the worsted weight hat, and used the yarn called for (Malabrigo) in the Pearl colorway. It was very fast and fun .. only took two afternoons to make. Once I made it, I realized I didn't have a scarf that would match with it. A quick visit to the Loopy Ewe fixed that though ... I ordered some more Malabrigo in darker purple to make a coordinating scarf (so things wouldn't get too matchy-matchy). I've had the yarn sitting around for a few weeks. On Monday, I was particularly stressed and upset, so I decided I needed a new, simple project to cheer me up. So I started on a simple moss stitch scarf.

I've never done moss stitch before ... for a long time, I thought moss and seed stitch were interchangeable names for the same thing. I really like it though .. the bumps of the pattern sort of remind me of little berries which is appropriate since the colorway I'm using is called Sweet Grape.

Here's one more shot of the scarf ... you can see the stitch definition better. And I just couldn't resist including another because I'm proud of the pictures I took today while Mom was at the office. Usually, I can't get a decent picture unless I go outside (and the rain precluded that). The flash always messes things up, and I can never seem to get the right amount of light, natural or otherwise, in the photo so that I can take an indoor shot with no flash. The other day, Mom suggested we try out her bedside table lamp. I did it today, and it worked! The color is accurate, I didn't have to use flash, and no blurriness! Woohoo!

Today would be the perfect day to stay in and just knit, knit, knit, but there are errands to be run. So I'm off to face the rain. Happy knitting ... and if you're around Virgina, good luck staying dry!