Hat!

I finished a thing! It's the first project that I have made in 2011 in its entirety.

Don't mind me, I just look like a total dork in these photos. But I just took a couple quick snapshots to show my dad and stepmom, who were the ones who actually bought me the yarn. (We communicate mostly through emails and the occasional phone call, so I was concerned that he would not be able to open the attachments. I think Ellie helped. Dad was suitably impressed with the knitting. :D )
I realize that you can't see the dark red particularly well against my black sweater, but the high was like.. -a billion that day, so I was chilled. I might take better pictures later.

..In fact, I might reknit the whole thing. :| I want it to be at a slightly tighter gauge than the pattern recommended, and I want it to be a little longer before the decreases. (That's my fault though. When the pattern says knit for 5 inches before decreasing, do it.)

I am, though, knitting one for John, who was very excited about it. So we went to my LYS and he picked out some blue alpaca grande with sparkles (hee!) and I will cast that on as soon as I am not too lazy to actually gauge swatch. He apparently made a positive (and adorable) impression on the people working there, as well. :D