Several of the bloggers whom I read regularly have these very cool mannequins that they use to model their completed sweaters. i'm always envious when i see them. this morning when I was taking photos of a cancer cap that I sent today to a friend who's going through chemo for breast cancer, i realized that i too had a mannequin, well, not really, just a styrofoam head model, but it did the trick. I got it originally to use in braiding a Halloween wig for 10 year old Nathan's Legolas costume a couple of years ago and it was languishing in the Halloween box, the wig itself lost long ago.
The pattern for this cap was fast and simple. It's Beach Beanies from the Spring 2004 Knitters Magazine. I used Brown Sheep cotton that I've had in my stash for years. I modified the pattern to add an inch to the body of the cap so that it would pull down a little farther. This one is the second one I've made, actually. The first I made and gave to a friend earlier this summer, before blogging was a gleam in the corner of my eye. Marnie, a designer whose blog I read, has done a similar design that she calls a nautilus cap and I'm thinking I'll use that pattern the next time.
I ordered several pattern books today: the Debbie Bliss Angora Silk because I've decided to join the Lara knitalong (although I'm thinking to use a different yarn), Rebecca #27, because I want to make the Apricot Jacket, and Rebecca #28, because several patterns looked interesting.
I also continued my intermittent research to find a place to purchase labels from. I've been giving so many pieces away, having personalized labels seems like a idea whose time has come. But I don't want to have my name added to the stock labels that you see in most catalogs, I'm not even sure that I want to use my name, just something that the wearer might identify with me if their eye falls on the label. Google turned up a place I hadn't found before but I didn't have time to complete the form and now I can't find the site again. Hopefully, it's still up on the screen of my computer at home. Someone plugged into the knitting blog world would do really well if they offered cool labels in smallish quantities.
Making slow progress, but progress nevertheless, on Perkins. In an ideal world, I might be able to finish the body by the end of the weekend. Have to aim high, right?