Grey, grey Monday

Mondays? Yuck.

We've been pretty busy here, my mom and dad came to visit last week and we had a great time. There was some shopping done and lots of the M. cuddling. I brought M. and my parents to Friday Knitting at Wool and Co. My mom sat and chatted and my dad and I picked out yarn so I could make him a sweater for his birthday -- it's not until August, but I'm starting early so I might finish this year. I'm making an Aran-type sweater, so we ended up getting the off-white Cascade 220.

Saturday we all smooshed into the car (getting four adults plus a baby in a car seat into an Outback is doable, just not ideal) to go into Chicago to the Art Institute. We bought tickets to see the Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper exhibits. They were fantastic. We saw a little of the rest of the place, but not much. It's rather overwhelming and there is only so much you can absorb at one time. I am already planning a return trip during the week. This February (which is almost over?) the museum has free admission, which is great, but oh my, it was getting really crowded by the time we left. I am glad we came a bit early, I don't do well with crowds. M. on the other hand was great, when she was awake she was quite, and mostly she slept. I carried her around in our Ergo carrier for quite a while, then D. carried her. I was more overwhelmed with all the people than she was.

So, anyway, our great week last week with grandparents and fun is why this Monday is especially sucky. And due to car issues, D. took "my" car to work today, so M. and I are without transportation. Not that I want to go anywhere or had plans to go, it's just that when I can't go anywhere, I feel like maybe I want to go. But I wouldn't want to today, it's supposed to snow 3-6 inches starting this afternoon.

The hat in both the pictures was finished last evening. It is a Sirdar pattern (not in Ravelry yet) that I've had for years. I made a store sample for Accents on Knits back when we lived in New Jersey and I pretty much lived at that shop. I started this hat with the left over Sirdar yarn and it's been sitting on a 12 inch size 3 needle with the ribbing done for years. Well, a week and a half ago, in my attempt to finish "lost" projects, I ripped and started over. I decided to do one of the bigger sizes and I didn't know how much yarn I had, so I did a provisional crochet cast-on and started with the pink above the ribbing. I knit the loops until I ran out of pink, which, as luck would have it, was at the start of the decreases. I had used a green cotton for the cast on and liked the color combination, and was lucky enough to find a green Cascade (Cherub Collection D.K.) of the right weight and fiber to finish it. I used a tubular bind off on the bottom of the ribbing. With the green and pink combination my mom thought it looked like a clover flower, and I agree.