I hate having cold ears, and experimented with earflap hats. Unfortunately, that didn't work, so I went back to double-brim hats.

(Sorry for the bad quality of the pictures - but if I took pictures only in daylight, I wouldn't post till March).


(Click for bigger pictures)

From left to right: hat with earflaps of my own design (far too small) from this pattern, Army Girl Hat from the Interweave website, with extra ugly, and a hat in 2x2 rib started from the top (cast on 11, increase 11 stitches in pattern every other round until you have 88, then knit until you're at the end of the yarn or your patience or your ears are warm enough). The folded brim is warmer than earflaps (unless you tie them with strings, which looks way too childish even for me). The yarn is "Kolibri" from Loops in Berlin, and I knit this at the last Berlin knitting group meeting.



Last weekend, on a spontaneous trip with no room for a bigger project, I finished the Embossed Leaves Socks from Interweave Knits Winter 2005. I only do lace socks as short summer socks, so only 4.5 repeats of the pattern. My opinion: not too fond of the cast-on, and I exchanged the given heel for my standard Boomerang heel. Loved the toe, and the pattern is easy to read and remember. Since you do pattern stuff every round, it seems to progress quicker than the standard 1 lace row, 1 plain row patterns. Next time, I would try and do them toe-up!