An inadvertent rise

That's all I had left with about three more inches to go!

Y'all know I was working on my hat this weekend because I wanted to finish it.  Well, then I had that unfortunate situation where I was running out of yarn to actually complete it... and we still have our Rise to Challenge contest going on, right?  Y'all remember all that stuff... well, I inadvertently rose to the challenge this weekend.

Initially, I was going to work on color working since I had not done it... and running out of yarn forced me to learn.  When my spindle arrived I was going to use that as my challenge but I am such a spastic monkey when it comes to working with it that I haven't done anything that I would consider an accomplishment yet.  I'm still learning and I practice with it several times a week when my shoulder and neck cooperate.

Anywho, here is my entry (even though obviously I can't win my own contest no matter how badly I want a Crafter's Tool Butler).  This photo is unblocked and as soon as it's dry, I promise to get a few really good shots to share.  The color change wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be - partly because it was during the decreasing and changing from circulars to dpns so my mind was in overdrive at that point.  I think it's a pretty clean transition and nothing went wonky on me... and I'm proud to say that it doesn't look like a bad attempt at a watermelon homage either.  All in all, I'm pretty tickled with the results.  My favorite parts are the pompom and the buttons... you'll see, once it's dry.

Not bad for a "straight off the needles" shot.  Better ones post blocking are forthcoming, I promise.