But first, this blog entry....
So, I survived the three day waste of time/hazing ritual/bonding experience known as Bridge the Gap. This is a thing that the South Carolina Bar makes all new members (no matter how long they've been practicing law) do. You sit in a room for three days and listen to other lawyers tell you how to be a lawyer, with only your willpower and free pastries to keep you awake.
If one comes prepared, however, it can be a productive time. To wit:
Owen's hat (he has a thing about not looking into cameras. Whatever.)
Andy's hat (cool view of the spiral decrease).
Both hats are made from KnitPicks' Natural superwash merino, dyed with Kool-Aid. The "pattern" is as follows: cast on an appropriate number of stitches (I totally guessed). Knit plain for an inch or so, then knit three rounds of whatever ribbing suits you (I used K1P1) to stop the roll. Knit plain until the hat is as deep as you want it to be, then start decreasing every other round at appropriate intervals (e.g., round 1 = K12, K2tog around; round 3 = K11, K2tog around, etc.) until you do a round of K2togs. Run thread through remaining stitches and pull tight. Hold it up and amaze the people sitting around you, who have been bored out of their minds ever since they got yelled at for reading the newspaper. (I quote: "This is Bridge the Gap, people!" Which was pretty much why the newspapers were being read, after all.)
So that was Monday morning and Tuesday morning. Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning (you get out of the afternoon BTG sessions if you've been licensed for five years or more, thank God), were a scarf for the Red Scarf Project:
I am really quite proud of it. The yarn is a freebie from the Atlanta Braves' Stitch and Pitch night this summer--some non-knitting friends of mine went and gave me the yarn. It's Amherst by Valley Yarns, and it's a really, really lovely 100% merino--ever so soft and easy to work with. It is very likely to be the yarn I use for my mother-in-law's afghan, should I ever get around to that project.
That's actually my second scarf for RSP07--here is the first:
That one is done in Knitpicks superwash merino, in "Brick."
Okay, on to the contest winners....
The winner for cleverest blog title is Dawn, who offered just one word: "Beans." Such a simple word, and yet one with so much potential, given that I have boys and that we are essentially vegan, for religious reasons, for about half of the year.
The "new commenter" winner, pulled at random from all the new commenters (thanks!) is the apparently blogless (or at least, linkless) Angela of the comments.
Since there were only two referrers, the most excellent Patti (go congratulate her on the new family member, won't you?) and the Japanese-snack-food-reviewing Kristen, both get prizes (heh, Kristen, yours is going to be fun).
Y'all send me your snail-mail addresses, please, and I'll get the swag in the mail later this week. I'll post pictures of at least some of it on Wednesday.