Recently in den Arend Category

Oh, where did the time go? This has been happening lately; I look up and 3 weeks have gone by. I think I jinx myself quite a bit sometimes. I say I'm going to carry on blogging and then nothing—all the background stuff gets in the way. But. I was waiting for this. And you too, dear reader (all one of you!), will want to read on.

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Meet Lucien den Arend.

He's wearing a den Arend! (Cheshire cat smile)

Isn't that a fantastic picture too?

Here's an interesting story. Some months ago Lucien found my hat design and wrote a really nice letter to me about it, and I responded that I'd be honored make a couple for him. Some time later I went to take my mom out to dinner and she asked, "Have you made the hats yet?" I frowned, wondering when I'd told her about this—I was planning on telling her during dinner. (My mom has a habit of pre-empting surprises, which can be annoying, if not for the fact that she gets overly excited about them and they just come out of her. I swear. Do not tell my mom about surprises. Also, I love you Mom!) Anyway before I had time to answer, she blurted out, "[Neighbor] knows him!"

Come again? She repeated, "[Neighbor] knows him! They went to school together here in the US!" I could not believe her. I said, "You're kidding." And you know what? She wasn't.

We went to Neighbor's house and it turned out that she did, indeed, know this famous Dutch artist. Years ago they went to school together, then lost touch, then found each other over the internet. One day Lucien told Neighbor about the hats, and asked if she knew of me. She admitted knowing someone with that name but wanted to confirm with my mom. And of course it was. We spent about a half hour with Neighbor that evening talking about coincidences; my jaw just hung open that entire night and I kept laughing and shaking my head. The world just got even smaller.

There you go, dear reader, that was a good one, wasn't it?

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I cannot stop tinkering with my own pattern, but sometimes knitting requires a bit of improvisation. I worked with different yarn weights, head circumferences, and hat lengths. Oh, and the brim was knit in garter stitch, which makes for a rather cushy bit of padding around the ears. I adjusted the length so they can be pulled down low over the ears when it's absolutely cold, snowing and grey outside. But in the meantime den Arend can be worn folded up, as on Lucien, or low on the forehead with the rest of the hat slouch down in the back.

Lucien, I'm glad you liked it! And I hope you get a lot of use out of them both!

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Blue version: Cascade Yarns 220 in Red version: [Ball band lost] in Red on US9 (body) and US8 (brim) needles.

Absence means lots of things.

I've been blog-negligent for 7 months, which is quite a bit, but there have been changes. There was knitting. And traveling. And celebrations to mark occasions of all sorts. Rock climbing, of course, and with that, injuries. And other things. Always, other things. I've been slightly more visible on other online communities, and it's made me wonder if blogging, at least for me, has reached its logical conclusion. Perhaps?

But this voice on this blog is different, this audience is different, and maybe those are 2 good reasons to say. For now.

And so, an inaugural fall/winter entry, a new masthead, and new projects. Below is just one of them.

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I'm particularly proud of these two den Arend hats. I'm quite excited about them; they're for two very special people whom I'm sure I'll introduce you to later this year. I made changes to my original pattern but I'm always tinkering. I had a hard time letting go of the burgundy one (ahem)! A couple of ladies we know expressed interest in them (ahem), so I guess I'll be making more in the future.

Blogworthy:
:: From Paula's Pinterest board, Everyone deserves a teddy bear. Aw. Warm and fuzzy!
:: I've been catching up on my blogs, finally; the graphic design blogs, mostly. This is old, but still newsworthy. UnderConsideration looks at the redesigned Gap logo and the bloody aftermath where designers everywhere bitched about its craptastic nonqualities. I hated it at first sight. And hallelujah! It's gone.
:: The Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival is happening this weekend! Dudes, we need one in (Southern) California badly.