Moving Onward, and FO: Santa Cruz Winter Hat

Finishing the Snowflake Shawl was a really nice milestone, completing the last part of one of my "13 in 2013" goals.  As soon as that project was done, I was already moving onward!  Besides starting the Dude Sweater, I also began began a little hat for a Climber friend's soon-to-come little baby boy.  Susan B. Anderson's book "itty-bitty Hats" is one of my go-to books for forthcoming babies, and never disappoints.  This hat is going to be striped in various shades of blue, which will be really cute but require a lot of weaving in ends (why do I do that to myself?).

It's a really nice "easy" knit right now, especially with school officially being in full gear.  This is what I get to grade this weekend:

even though I've avoided starting like the plague.
Besides finishing the Shawl, I also was able to finish up a (belated) Christmas present for a friend living out in Santa Cruz, California!  Leonie spends odd months teaching self defense for women, leaving her schedule open to do giant trips in the back country of the Sierra Nevada mountains, something I envy.  I knit her a pair of commuter mitts awhile back, and decided to send off a matching hat to keep her warm on her treks!

Pattern: Kathleen, by Jane Richmond (I'm a huge fan of all of her stuff- link goes to the Ravelry page)
Yarn: Cascade 220 in a pretty green
Needles: sizes 6 & 8, bamboo.
Gift/Barter? Gift!  A non-expected gift- one of my favorite types to give ;)
Time frame: November 22nd, 2012-February 11th, 2013

Mods: None, though if I make this for myself I may go down a needle size for the brim.
Worst Part: I shouldn't have taken a month or so off between knitting the brim and doing the cable part.  Oops.  My argument is that I had bigger fish to fry...
Best Part:  I love giving gifts that aren't expected, especially to another knitter who has a lot of the same traits as myself.
I think more often than not, giving knitted goods away is my favorite part of a project.  Does anyone else find this to be the case?  Maybe that's why I knit so few projects for myself- I'd rather give it to someone that either is really excited for the finished product, or has no idea, and I know they're going to like it. :)
Scott and I are having our Valentine's Day celebration tonight, since I had dance last night until 9:30 pm.  We're doing climbing, dinner, and a movie!  Sunday night will be Scott's Birthday present- a trip to the Twin Cities to see this:

SO EXCITED!! Check out the opening number if you've never heard of this musical- pure awesomeness, and a good musical to ease Scott into the world of musicals. :)  I'll post more on that later.  For now, more grading, maybe more coffee, then a pretty sweet date night. :)
Have a great Friday, everyone!