Sock and hat update:

The digital camera is broken. Garr! I'm taking it into an authorized repair shop in NYC sometime soon and hopefully it will be back to me for less than the cost of a new one. This was sooo not in the budget. In the hope of not boring you too much with just text (who am I kidding, nobody reads this), I will bravely sally forth without visual aid. Ooo, that was a fun sentence.

Socktoberfest concluded without a finished sock, but I did get around the heel and past the gusset decreases before Halloween. (I had a long train trip last weekend). I am loving this sock. I have a feeling there will be no second sock syndrome because I want to wear these now!! The sock has been dominating my knitting time, so the Clapotis and Fetching gloves are sitting by the wayside for now. I haven't touched the Maze hat or the Beret since finishing them, except to wear them around a bit and gauge reaction. Everyone loved the Beret (the pattern shows off the yarn so well) but it's itchy and too loose and I have yarn left over. The current plan is to frog it, knit a tighter rib for the brim on smaller needles, and make the top bigger to use up all the yarn. It would be a pity to have some of that yarn wasted. No ideas yet on the itch factor. Maybe I can attach something non-itchy on the inside of the brim? We'll see. Let's just hope that I don't completely ruin the yarn in frogging.

As for the Maze hat, reaction was mixed between "oh, what a cool pattern!" and "I don't think a 12-yr-old boy would wear that." I will block it as soon as I get my head. That is, my ceramic head that has a phrenology map on it. I spotted it in an antiques shop and had to have it. My neuroscience friends and I love to mock it. There may be a phrenology hat pattern there somewhere. Anyway, it's fabulous for blocking hats.