Late winter storm hat

We had a forecast for a winter storm here in Seattle earlier this week. While a large part of the surrounding area got a decent amount of snow, we, in Seattle, did not. We got some flurries, sure, but not much more than a light dusting stuck -- which was so disappointing to a toddler who has discovered that he loves snow.

Even without the snow, though, it got cold (for us here in the Puget Sound area, anyway...). And of course, I wanted to make sure my little guy stayed nice and cozy as he played outside in the flurries -- especially since his wool hats knit by Mama seem to constantly be left behind at the park, playdates, and all sorts of places. I search through my stash of yarn, and found that I'm running woefully low on soft worsted weight wool yarn for hats. So I had to go with synthetic, and, judging by the way the hat is getting tossed around, I'm not too bummed about it.

This was my first time making up my own pattern, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out -- except that I knit the color work a little tight. But I guess that has nothing to do with the pattern itself... maybe I just need to relax a little! I've been knitting baby hats for a while now, so I had a good handle on  the dimensions I wanted. If you want a starting point for designing your own baby hats, there's tons of great books out there, but my favorite, by far, is Baby Beanies. After knitting up a couple of the (super adorable!!) patterns in the book, you'll be mixing and matching different design elements to come up with your own hat pattern in no time.

Life moves fast; don't miss it.

Every night, as I get ready for bed, I find myself wondering how time can possibly be flying by so fast every day. Instead of the post-holiday slow down I'd been hoping for, I'm finding our days are fuller than before. We're constantly trying to keep up with it all, and finding ourselves frustrated that we can't do it all.

And when things feel like they're getting too busy, or we have too much to juggle, I find that I need to remind myself that life moves fast and I don't want to miss it. It's become a personal mantra, a reminder that it's ok to be busy, work hard, and have a lot on my plate... but it's not ok to sacrifice quality and the enjoyment of life in order to try to do it all.

So this past Sunday, I found myself taking a break from writing reports and analyzing data to enjoy some priceless moments with M. He's so into art projects these days -- stamping, painting, drawing, "writing", and, now, beading. It's delightful watching him finding such enjoyment in the process of creating something. He's so deliberate in his creating process, and doesn't rush through it at all. The end product is a plus, of course, but his real enjoyment comes from using his hands to touch and make. Our home is overflowing with his artwork these days, little bits that remind us to keep things in perspective.

Life moves fast; don't miss it.